Thx Miz- Thats exactly what I am talking about...and a new method of possible morphing to me. Never knew peroxide overdose in a system could have such effect of polyps- but looks like it sure can.
People have gone to extremes, on purpose, or as Miz has- on accident, to come up with some real crazy colors and morphs- sometimes producing the next top $$ one hit wonder polyp.
Such extreme methods include-
Ice water bath
Hot water bath
Bleach dips
starvation
Dye dips
High light bleaching
Hyper/Hypo salinity
Eleveated levels of photosynthesis
Excessive oxygen exposure
Intentional Expulsion of zooxanthellae
All these methods are extreme methods of Intentional polyp morphing. There have been individuals/groups who have, and still do practice these many times very unsafe practices to try and develop their next hot polyp...many times to the stress and detriment to the corals- many times to be found out too late, after purchased for top $$ only to wither away and melt unexpectedly...
I do not recommend or condone these methods, but wanted to bring this to light for those not in the know...Trust me, it happens, all in the name of greed/comercialism of coral collecting, trying to find Americas next top polyp.
I guess I'm not among the early adopters of the high end polyps...mainly because of cost. After the morph has been around awhile with multiple hobbyist/vendors selling them, its fairly safe bet that they are a stable morph.
Now- please dont get me wrong....I am deffinitely not saying that all "polyp Pimps" are doing these drastic and unsafe methods. Many are doing it in a correct and reletively safe manner, as many of us reefers do.
I myself have intentionally morphed many many polyps in my years of reefkeeping, and most of these methods have worked great with lasting effects on polyps that have grown wonderfull in great health for years to come.
I will touch base on some safer methods that work and are much more commonly acceptible ways soon.
I am hoping other polyp enthusiest will chime in, or even share pictures of their polyps morphing from one morph to the next and sharing their methods or even what they beleive to be the cause to condone the morph effect.
Some of the safer methods I have used have proven great results, have been very safe....at least until I went past what the polyp could handle crossing the line into the danger zone.
Usually, sorry to say, after you cross the line into the danger zone is when, many times, result in the coolest morphs. Neon colors, pastels, speckles, striations, ect....you know- everything the next hot polyp should have...
I have found that pushing the limits on-
Lighting, low and high
Water quality, ULNS to unusually dirty
feeding/nutrient levels in the water column
Shading/direct light
All of these factors can result in some really cool, and significant changes, in your polyps in your home tanks. Most of these are successful done very very slow....they are not as fast as the extreme methods listed above, and are much safer....till you cross the line of what they can handle.
I have found that different types of polyps like different conditions, so slow trial end error work best. I have found you can get some of the deepest blues in the shade, hottest pinks in the most light the polyps can handle, drastic changes in color due to borderline bleaching, pastels in very clean water with enough water column nutrients to allow the polyps to survive (but sometimes not thrive) much like SPS. Wavey, curly or even exageratedly long skirts from acclimation to heavy flow, Dark vibrant reds on brown from excessive nutrient, and oranges or whites from the lack of nutrients relying solely on photosynthesis of high lighting.
On another forum, someone disagreed with me, and it was braught to my attention-
Alot of these new high end polyps are coming from mariculture, and I couldnt agree more!
Racks are placed in protected areas of the ocean, specifically for growing raised coral, clams and even sustainable food- fish.
Many times these racks are in sheltered lagoons, open deep oceans, tidal areas and shallows, all of which have very very different conditions.
Anyone notice all these hyper bright veitnamese based polyps? You know- the "green bay packers", "whammin watermellons" "Dragon eyes", "nuclear green dragon eyes"? All very common corals you can buy for $5-$10 for large frags....These super bright, sometimes slighly color variated (and highly advertised) are almost all maricultured....many times grown in the same areas of mariculture that those real nice maricultured (my favorite) SPS are grown.
These extra "special" morphs of these very very common polyps are maricultured in a slightly, and sometimes drastically, different locations, depths, and flow areas than normally collected in the wild, hence the vibrant differences in appearence.
For those of you unfamiliar with the most common of common veitnamese polps, do a search of "wild collected veitnamese polyps", then do a search of the names commonly given to these corals and add ultra, rare, hyper, ect to the beginnings of their names....you will quickly realize and see for yourself exactly what I mean...
Many areas of common mariculture occur in-
The solomon islands
Africa
Philippines
Marshal islands
Fiji
Japan
Palau
These different locations, depths, tides and availability (or lack of) have caused some really nice morphs of some very common polyps.....but watch out....they can/will go right back to their wild colors if their new habitat (your tank) doesnt match where it was maricultured at, and might look just like the common colected wild polyp it truely is.
I have found that maricultured polyps, especially the most vibrant and colorfull- or "different" polyps tend to keep their look in SPS type conditions.
Wish someone would bring back the good ole days. Where corals look the same in your tank as they did in the pic. Where you could buy 5-10 polyps frags for $20.00. <sigh>
On another forum someone was worried that this thread could do more harm than good, he stated-
"I realize that you are trying to help people here and I commend you for it.
But I could see this doing more harm than good."
I know most people are honest and will not do this but right here you lay it all out"
Such extreme methods include-
Ice water bath
Hot water bath
Bleach dips
starvation
Dye dips
High light bleaching
Hyper/Hypo salinity
Eleveated levels of photosynthesis
Excessive oxygen exposure
Intentional Expulsion of zooxanthellae
"Now people wanting to make a quick buck will go ahead and do this.
So just like the show you may be making things worse and we may see more $1,000 polyps now.
I know you have good intentions I am just looking at the big picture.
Hopefully I am wrong and it helps alot of reefers."
So I wanted to make something clear-
Lets see....where to start....
You would be surprised how many people actually do know about these methods. About 12 years ago, all these were common practices, and many people doing it, unwittingly I am sure, shared what they were doing with the general public, not expecting the backlash from us hobbiests and enthusiests. They thought they were making cool polyps for us.....but really they were harming/killing coral, and selling morphed polyps with very poor survivability odds.
It all started very inoccently really. just some reefers trying to get some cooler polyps to share, not taking into consideration the big picture and impact of what they were doing. Selling polyps near death/on the verge of melting. Morphed polyps by these extreme methods have very poor survivability rates.
I wont be buying any $1000 polyps....ever....and for those that do, and get their hands on some of these "hypermorphed" polyps will have to learn a hard earned lesson when they melt....thats why I am sharing this information. yeah- it may increase the # of people trying to scam some quick bands, but will also teach some valuable lessons to the consumers.
I am hopping that anyone spending a chunk of change will do their research first, before buying a polyp with an insane price tag....."hypermorpher" are usually "one hit wonders" in the hobby, taking advantage of the current situation of comercialism of the hobby. They dont last long selling polyps for a ton of $$$ that melt. They are usually exposed rather quickly and people stop buying from them....as I said- sucker born every minute and someone born every 2 minutes to take advantage.
There are many high end coral sellers out there that are legit.....dont get me wrong....
Like I mentioned above, there are some serious vendors out there with top notch stuff, that get the best of the best maricultured polyps, or have mastered offering individual types of corals their best pristine conditions to look their best and survive.
Not all insane corals are a scam, and just to be clear- cornbred corals (and many other high end coral sellers) in my experience is legit as far as methods of husbandry. I lost count of how many cornbred peices I have seen first hand....but its still a zoa polyp....I can understand the prices on some of the LPS....but a single zoa polyp? Its a weed.....very pretty weed, but still a weed....any weed given long enough to survive will grow a flower if given a chance, but will you buy it for top dollar and plant it in your bluegrass front yard? Thats insane....
I am hoping the pro's overide any con's that may become of this thread, but you know me- Ive never been afraid to "rattle the cage"
Wish someone would bring back the good ole days. Where corals look the same in your tank as they did in the pic. Where you could buy 5-10 polyps frags for $20.00. <sigh>
I couldnt agree more.....unfortunately tank parameters differ, some stable, other fluctuate, these days, with all the new technology there are so many different lights and spectrums- all bringing out different colors. I am afraid the days of "what you see is what you get" are gone......unless your lighting and system are similar.
At least we can still get size, quantity and quality from these pics, but with all the technology these days WYSIWYG is very hard to replicate.....
Which brings me to the next subject, modern day-
Photography/cameras
lighting
editing
and all the other ways to sqeeze out every last option of making a polyp look desirable....
I will touch base on this soon....In the mean time though-
If anyone wishes to chime in on the subject- please do. Share your experiences, thoughts, ect....
A2 Club Coordinator
Originally Posted by MizTanks
There's nothing like being a Reefer!
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