[charlie]

That is some great growth Gene. That seriatopora has a different growth form than mine had, more upright and straight. Do you think that is from the flow it gets?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by charlie

That is some great growth Gene. That seriatopora has a different growth form than mine had, more upright and straight. Do you think that is from the flow it gets?

Most certainly the water flow had everything to do with the growth form of mine. I am certain that a frag from my colony will look totally different in your tank because of the different flow patterns and velocities. I had two different species in my tank S.caliendrum and pictured S.hystrix, and both have completely different growth form and branch thickness. Unfortunately, I lost the S.caliendrum when my tank was doing poorly last year. And, by the way, I think lots of people mistake S.caliendrum for the S.hystrix. I see alot of it online...

[zhenya]

Here's two different pictures showing the difference pretty good, I think.

First,two images of the S.caliendrum, and you can see the blunt points on the branches...



And here's the picture showing really sharp ponts on the branches of S.hystrix. I accidentally bumped into it with my hand and had a good scratch on my finger from one of those branches. :slap:




One other difference I noticed between those two species are the polyps. S.caliendrum had really fine, feathery looking polyps in comparison with the S.hystrix( this are my personal observation, though, and should be taken as such )

[charlie]

I had always thought that you could tell the diff. by the way the polyps were lined up on the branches. The hystrix had the distinct polyp lines. Am I wrong on that?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by charlie

I had always thought that you could tell the diff. by the way the polyps were lined up on the branches. The hystrix had the distinct polyp lines. Am I wrong on that?

Absolutely correct, Charlie, I meant to say that besides the abvious I found them different in physical apearance as well.
Good catch, though! I forgot to mention this totally.

[charlie]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Absolutely correct, Charlie, I meant to say that besides the abvious I found them different in physicall apearance as well.
Good catch, though! I forgot to mention this totally.

Sometimes I think better thru Backpain Do you have 2 hystrix, or is the color different because of lighting. Am I seeing that right?

[zhenya]

Charlie,

It;s because of the light bulbs. The coral was going brown on me due to the spectrum shift on my previous bulbs...with this new 14.5K Megachromes everything is returning to normal.

[charlie]

Oh, the exercises we put our stuff thru It sure is beginning to color up again nicely tho. It sure will be easy to tell when your bulbs are beginning to tire.

[zhenya]

Well, I finally "sprung" for the frag of the LE Steve Tyree's A.solitaryensis. I think it was money well spent, though, 'cause I haven;t seen one with the reddish polyps anywhere around here. I hope it lives and grows well.

[zhenya]

Well, I think it is time I update this thread with a new picture of the tank as it is progressing. Nothing serious of note to add other than the picture of the tank. Corals seems to love this Megachrome 14.5K bulbs and responded with incredible growth and coloration. Some of the colonies actually came back from the brink of death to regrow tissue and deposit some sceletal growth. I was blown away be the response and will use this bulbs again, albeit my wife must never learn of it's price.

[weez1959]

Originally Posted by zhenya

my wife must never learn of it's price.

If you tell me how much they cost I won't tell your wife
Are these double end? and do they take a specific ballast or would they be ok in my current set up. I have 250w 10000k double ended HQI metal halide.
Your tank is looking really nice!

[charlie]

Good Lord Gene, that Hystrix is goin NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by weez1959

If you tell me how much they cost I won't tell your wife
Are these double end? and do they take a specific ballast or would they be ok in my current set up. I have 250w 10000k double ended HQI metal halide.
Your tank is looking really nice!

They are about $100.00 per bulb. Not all that much but spouses that don;t really care about this hobby tend to make things appear worse than they really are....

And, Thanks for the kind words, Louise.

PS. My bulbs are moguls but they are also available in DE.
14.5 K MEGACHROME coral 250 Watt - DE: Premium Aquatics

[Reefland]

You really like those bulbs huh? Doesn't look nearly as blue as our 14k Phoenix bulbs.

[weez1959]

Do you have a pic of a tank with these lights?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by weez1959

Do you have a pic of a tank with these lights?

Hi Louise,

The picture above is with those lights on.(mogul based)

Originally Posted by Reefland

You really like those bulbs huh? Doesn't look nearly as blue as our 14k Phoenix bulbs.

Scott, they are really not blue at all in appearance. Don't forget that I still run 2 VHO actinics with this bulbs. I will take couple of shots without actinics on to compare and post it here in a few minutes.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by charlie

Good Lord Gene, that Hystrix is goin NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Charlie, the S.hystrix is taking off for sure but I noticed other, subtle changes in appearance of other acroporids. The blues and purples are more vivid, I think, and even green colors have more punch to their look.
You can;t really tell from this last picture but I got invaded by monti caps again.. Purples this time... Time to rip them out again and see if I can get someting for them in return from my LFS.

[charlie]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Charlie, the S.hystrix is taking off for sure but I noticed other, subtle changes in appearance of other acroporids. The blues and purples are more vivid, I think, and even green colors have more punch to their look.
You can;t really tell from this last picture but I got invaded by monti caps again.. Purples this time... Time to rip them out again and see if I can get someting for them in return from my LFS.

Oh no, the invasion of the purple caps!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How big are they Gene?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by charlie

Oh no, the invasion of the purple caps!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How big are they Gene?

They are not all that big at the moment 5-6 inches but growing at alarming speed.



I forgot to add that I do have one sad news and that is a loss of my lamark's angel. Jumped out at night and I found it in the morning under my computer desk. Good 4-5 feet jump.

RIP...
This was latest picture taken of him last week. Looks healthy and ate like all other fish, with gusto.

[charlie]

Those caps are really nice!!!!! Sorry to hear about your angel. I just lost my juv. blueface yesterday to the intake on my closed loop. I don't think he must have been doing well anyways, that intake doesn't have that much suction.