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ID????

Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Softies
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions soft corals.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=79254
Printed Date: March 29 2024 at 6:21am
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Topic: ID????
Posted By: funkapotomus
Subject: ID????
Date Posted: February 27 2016 at 8:46am
I've been trying to google this thing for a while now with no luck. A guy gave it to me when he gave me a bunch of sand. At a distance it looks like someone put green paint on this little piece of rock. Close up there are little pink projections. 






Here are some after pictures. I think it looks like it's growing. Tough to tell when you're not in person. 






Replies:
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 27 2016 at 9:42am

Is it attached or encrusting that large rock or is it a separate piece?

Is it part of the dead skeleton protruding up to the left?

Was it living on the sand when he gave it to you? If so I would put it back down on the sand for now.

A couple of possibilities come to mind, but it would help if we could see a pic in whiter light or using the flash option on the camera.

Aloha,

Mark  Hug



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Posted By: BADM
Date Posted: February 27 2016 at 10:24am
Like mark said, it's really hard to see from the pics. From those, it looks like a few ricordias together? Or a trach?


Posted By: funkapotomus
Date Posted: February 27 2016 at 10:58am
Yes Mark, it's attached to the dead skeleton to the left. 


Posted By: boysty
Date Posted: February 27 2016 at 2:49pm
looks like a elegance coral.

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Time waits on no one


Posted By: jfinch
Date Posted: February 27 2016 at 3:04pm
Based on the skeleton it looks like a hydnophora... but could be any of the others already mentions lol

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Jon

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6y_EzjI_ljbIwf2n5uNzTw" rel="nofollow - What I've been doing...



Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 27 2016 at 3:17pm

The color and description of the pink tips made me wonder about Elegance Coral as well, but the dead skeleton doesn't really look at all like Elegance Coral.

It looks more like, and my best guess is that, it's a nice color variety of Hydnophora. See below.

Aloha,

Mark  Hug Whoops, spent too much time composing my reply. Jon beat me to the punch. Wink

 





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Posted By: funkapotomus
Date Posted: February 27 2016 at 11:35pm
I think Hydnophora is right judging by the pictures. Now for another noob question, how do I get it bigger? I really like the color and I'd like it to be more prominate in the tank.
I know you're going to say keep the water parameters correct etc etc, but where do I put it?


Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 28 2016 at 3:29am
The answers to these questions will help us help you:

Where was it located in the tank it came from?
What lighting did that tank have? 
What lighting is over your tank?
Do you have other hard coral and how are they doing?
Can you post a pic of the tank?
What is the Alkalinity?
What is the Calcium?

Aloha,
Mark  Hug


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Posted By: funkapotomus
Date Posted: April 03 2016 at 11:29am
Okay, I've got problems. The coral actually looks like it's growing slowly but my parameters are messed up.

Calcium is 740 - this is higher than the api chart goes but I assume that it's that because each drop is 20 ppm on the chart

Alk is 2.0

pH 7.8

I water change 10-15% every other week. I have two damsels and a purple dottyback. I have a bunch of snails, an some miscellaneous hitchhikers from live rock.

I was thinking I should get the brs kalkwasser starter kit that has kalkwasser, calcium, mag, etc and trying to get those three parameters in line.

Thoughts?


Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: April 03 2016 at 1:11pm
First of all, a Ca level of 740 is not harmful in and of itself, but Alk of 2.0(dKH I assume) is of great concern. It needs to be increased immediately. It can be done entirely properly with household chemicals, no lie.

I warn against using Kalkwasser. Kalk will not raise the Alk quick enough without raising pH dangerously high, causing an immediate crash.

EDIT - 
funkapotomus called me and one of the first things we discussed was dKH vs. meq/l (mil equivalent/liter)
Here is a nice conversion utility:  http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/AlkConv.php" rel="nofollow - http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/AlkConv.php

If the tank is truly at 2.0 meq/l that converts to 5.6 dKH. This is still very low but not an immediate emergency if actions are taken this week. The acceptable range is 8-12 dKH (2.8 - 4.2 meq/l)

For those reading this, the Ca was high because a product which is some kind of dissolving solid cube of Ca and trace elements supplementation was being placed in the tank.

Here is what I would do:
I would make a solution of 3 parts dry baking soda : 2 parts dry washing soda(baked baking soda, also called soda ash) mixed as strong as possible in RO water. I would add 1/2 cup of the solution now and another 1/2 cup before lights out. Tomorrow I would test again and see how much it raised the Alk and how much it lowered the Ca. I would then add 1/2 cup of the homemade Alk solution daily until Alk comes up to around 9.0. I'd still test Ca every time I tested Alk and add Ca to keep it in range (350-500 ppm).

I always recommend 10% monthly water changes along with testing and maintaining Alk and Ca as described above. After figuring out the needs of my system, I typically test Alk and Ca monthly.

Mg can be tested every couple months and increased so easily by just adding a cup of Epsom salt to the sump.

FYI, when Alk is good and there is good gas exchange, pH is of no consequence. Typically, pH follows Alkalinity.

Aloha,
Mark  Hug
808-345-1049


-------------
Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:
www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244
Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member


Posted By: funkapotomus
Date Posted: April 04 2016 at 11:22am
Here is my update. 

Alk somewhere between 2.5 and 3.0 meq/L <--The test isn't very sensitive because it goes up by 0.5 every drop. It was starting to turn at 2.5 but did not turn all the way yellow until I added one more drop. 

Calcium is 640

pH 8.0 <- I know Mark said this doesn't matter as much but I thought I'd throw it in there for giggles. My guess is that one or two more 1/2 cups of that baking soda/soda ash mix will get me in the sweet spot. I'll add another dose tomorrow. 

As a side note. I think the coral looks better than when I originally posted. I've been thinking that it has looked bigger over the past few weeks so I took some pictures for comparison. They are posted in the original post. Hopefully this fix will help even more. Thanks Mark!






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