Holy Bananas!!! Yes, that is the white line I'm seeing. They've been occurring and receding since I added them to my tank. Those look amazing! Kinda like a people eater of sorts. I hope I can get mine to morph like that. Thanks for sharing!
You should post that pic to coralpedia and give them a name. Maybe something straight forward like Sparkling Green Implosions, or perhaps a little more theatrical like Sir Patrick's Coat of Arms Palys.
What kind of lighting did you have them under and how intense? Did your tank experience some sort of event that might have sparked the morph? How long did they take to change?
If you would like them to morph in this way, just acclimate them slowely to very intence white, or 10k, lighting. Eventually they will develop the strong white line, and will speckle shortly after that. Just be carfull not to move them fast, or else it will be bad on them.
They already have a name- Green button polyp. Green implosion, and a couple other tags these polyps have been labled with are really just morphs of the common button polyp.
I had them in an 18" tall tank with direct light (10k) 175w MH lighting. At first they were shaded, then indirect light, then full direct light, about 15" under the lamp. That pic is from about 10 years ago. Its an old favorite of mine.
I've always had problems with my corals shrinking over time, and recently I thought that I had it pinned down to not feeding them. Everything was looking healthy, but I've started to notice a change in my Magicians in the last couple weeks.
I normally replace the chemi-pure 4 times per year (I always use a half unit), but I noticed the shrink started after my most recent replacement of chemi-pure at the beginning of the month. It's taken me the life of this aquarium to realize this since the change is so gradual. Today, I took it out my Chemi-Pure Elite.
I'm going to be monitoring things for the next month to see if it turns around. This hobby never ceases to confound me with the subtlety of changes that occur over time. I guess this is one of the greatest challenges of reefing...patient observation.
Update 2011.04.08 (Yes, I know it's the 11th, but pics taken on the 8th)
To start out, here's a few FTS's.
Comparing all LEDs and just the Blues:
I feel like I'm getting better at adjusting the royal blue images to get an accurate representation. The greens really turn out well, but the challenge is with the reds. The camera can't really pick up the pop I'm getting on my warmer colors which really are amazing in person!
I've been feeding a good amount of phyto and the GSP is loving it. I even target feed this colony and the polyps close up on the phyto and come open back up again begging for more. Here's an update on their progress. (RB/CB LED's)
Just for fun, I took a few images from the sides of the tank. Here you can see the M3R rack.
And from the other side. I like the depth of field in this one:
Here's a neat video from a similar perspective. You can see the xenia pulsing like crazy here. The driver I had on my white LEDs blew out, and I had my tank under just blue LEDs for a couple weeks. After fixing it and putting on the whites for the first time in a while, the Xenia went crazy and pulsed all day long, faster than I've ever seen!
When I was taking this shot, I accidentally took this one. I was about to throw it out, but I think it turned out pretty cool.
Here are a few highlights. These were taken under just Royal Blue and Cool Blue LED's. In the bottom left, you can see the trumpet that I got a while ago that bleached. It has gotten most of its color back and is plumper than ever. The Organism palys (upper right) have drawn back to the rock and are no longer stretching. The Green Implosions here seem to be maintaining their deep green better than the ones up top that are getting more white stripes (no, not bleaching, just morphing a little). Whammin' Watermelons and Tub's Blues healthy as ever are in the lower right.
Some more NW, RB, CB Vs. Blues images:
Finally, here's the rack with just blues, and all LEDs:
Maintenance update:
Since taking out my Chemi-Pure Elite, everything seems okay. I guess it's too soon to say if it's better or not. I'm definitely having to clean the glass more frequently. That probably means that there's a lot more nutrients in the water.
Also, I stopped doing the heavy feedings and 90% water changes. Mostly because it's been too much of a PITA to do at work compared to just 4L which I can brew up in a large beaker. I'm still feeding 250 microliters of live phyto once or twice a week and some Coral Frenzy. All feedings are targeted for the most part.
As I mentioned before, one of my BuckPucks blew. I had to order a new one and replace it which took a few weeks due to personal business. I've heard from several other sources that BuckPucks are known to be unreliable, but for driving such a small amount of LEDs with dimmers, they are really the only option. For example, I have just one LED on one of my drivers. I don't think that can be done on any other drivers out there.
Finally, I went to the Manhattanreefs Frag Swap today. I definitely got some goodies (and I won a few!!!). More updates to come!
Last edited by Mr. Microscope; 04-11-2011 at 09:26 AM.
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