Large colony problems.. time to cut it down and start over?

[nim6us]

I’ve had this milka stylo for years and it’s grown quite large. I don’t have experience with large colonies and I’m trying to understand long term care.

From the below picture you can see the base is quite white. You can’t see but the return nozzle is pointed in this area so it’s getting a lot of flow near the bottom. However it’s grown in a V shape where the top is now shading out the base.

I tried to pull out a bit to give the scale but it’s roughly 12 inches tall and 12 inches across at the top.

Is this just the life cycle of SPS in a reef tank? Now that it’s this big and it shading itself out should I hack it down and then plant several large branches and start over?

 

[Reefer Matt]

I’ve had this milka stylo for years and it’s grown quite large. I don’t have experience with large colonies and I’m trying to understand long term care.

From the below picture you can see the base is quite white. You can’t see but the return nozzle is pointed in this area so it’s getting a lot of flow near the bottom. However it’s grown in a V shape where the top is now shading out the base.

I tried to pull out a bit to give the scale but it’s roughly 12 inches tall and 12 inches across at the top.

Is this just the life cycle of SPS in a reef tank? Now that it’s this big and it shading itself out should I hack it down and then plant several large branches and start over?

Up to you, but it looks normal to me. Depending on your light setup, you can add more fill light to reduce shadows if you wish. I usually only frag my colonies if I notice die off from lack of flow or touching neighboring coral.

 

[GARRIGA]

Curious how old is that stylo and don’t t corals build new tissue on old skeletons therefore at some point base just old dead skeleton. Could be wrong.

 

[nim6us]

The colony is roughly 3 years old. I don’t know that it’s died and regrown. I think it’s just stretched further and further upwards as it’s grown.

I guess my concern is I had another large colony, a milli, that was about the same age and actually a bit larger. Three months ago it just RTN’d and melted away from the base up over a week. I think the issue there is it def wasn’t getting enough flow at the bottom.

Maybe I’m wrong but seeing white skeleton now I’m associating that with death. If this stylo can have a white base and that’s okay I’ll stand down. I just don’t know if this is a problem. And I’d really regret not cutting it down now while I can and then seeing it all die like my milli because I did nothing.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve had this milka stylo for years and it’s grown quite large. I don’t have experience with large colonies and I’m trying to understand long term care.

From the below picture you can see the base is quite white. You can’t see but the return nozzle is pointed in this area so it’s getting a lot of flow near the bottom. However it’s grown in a V shape where the top is now shading out the base.

I tried to pull out a bit to give the scale but it’s roughly 12 inches tall and 12 inches across at the top.

Is this just the life cycle of SPS in a reef tank? Now that it’s this big and it shading itself out should I hack it down and then plant several large branches and start over?

Typical of large colonies and having many, you will suffer from higher ca and alk demands, shading from areas where light can no longer reach and growing near to other neighbor corals. Fragging will help, but I simply leave my big boy coral alone

 

[dwest]

That’s a nice coral and some happy clowns.

I see the same on my big acros. Eventually I frag a piece or two and take the rest out. Later this summer my plan is to remove a garf bonsai, cali tort, and myagi tort. I don’t enjoy the process but I think it’s necessary.

When I snorkel on the reefs, I see acros that are turning white on the bottom too. The upper part keeps growing and the reef gets built.

 

[kartrsu]

My recommendation is to trim it down. It sucks but coral gardening is essentially to provide the right light and flow. Otherwise you get STN at the base unless you can help with shadowing.

See my colony on the left below. The base started dying from shading.

Fragged it up.

The colony today

What I’ve done is glued the colony to a frag plug and use a very secure frag plug holder. It’s like a pex plug but very secure. Helps with taking it out, fragging and putting back into tank.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

That’s normal for a milka when it’s shaded.

It’s up to you. If you’re tired of seeing that, time to trim and leave a numb! Sell off the rest!

Or get a Kessil 160 on a gooseneck and angle it to light the base to bring back color!

Probably best to just go back down to a frag of it and enjoy it again.

 

[twentyleagues]

That looks pretty normal for a large colony. They shade themselves its almost impossible to completely wrap a coral in light. This happens on natural reefs all over the world.

Years ago I had a 125 with 3 250w mh w/lumiarc reflectors and 6 t5s angled to help with it and on larger colonies it still happened. You could try to add lighting to help spotlight the underside (t5s I added). I have seen where the coral just loses all color and still has viable flesh and may slowly recover (my case years ago) or its just skeleton and you would just possibly create algae (also in a few corals in my case).

Multiple light angles from multiple fixtures will help. But there is only so much you can do. Usually the corals growing and blocking flow to their center and base is more detrimental to the colony as a whole.

 

[Dburr1014]

I’ve had this milka stylo for years and it’s grown quite large. I don’t have experience with large colonies and I’m trying to understand long term care.

From the below picture you can see the base is quite white. You can’t see but the return nozzle is pointed in this area so it’s getting a lot of flow near the bottom. However it’s grown in a V shape where the top is now shading out the base.

I tried to pull out a bit to give the scale but it’s roughly 12 inches tall and 12 inches across at the top.

Is this just the life cycle of SPS in a reef tank? Now that it’s this big and it shading itself out should I hack it down and then plant several large branches and start over?

Same here.
The white is sometimes dead but you will also see a lot of polyps.
It's just not getting the light. Seems like you are definatly getting flow.

Those big thick branches are hard to cut with bone cutters. The problem I have is when you do get the cut(workout with your forearms) the whole colony moves when the branch snaps.
You need to be real careful the whole colony doesn't dislodge from the rock. I haven't found an easy way yet.

 

[areefer01]

I’ve had this milka stylo for years and it’s grown quite large. I don’t have experience with large colonies and I’m trying to understand long term care.

From the below picture you can see the base is quite white. You can’t see but the return nozzle is pointed in this area so it’s getting a lot of flow near the bottom. However it’s grown in a V shape where the top is now shading out the base.

I tried to pull out a bit to give the scale but it’s roughly 12 inches tall and 12 inches across at the top.

Is this just the life cycle of SPS in a reef tank? Now that it’s this big and it shading itself out should I hack it down and then plant several large branches and start over?

It is really up to the hobbyist on how they want to proceed. Queue up The Trees by Rush and what you are seeing is the fight between the maple and the oak. The maple will want light but the oak is taller and wider so takes it all up. What is below will die over time and what adapts take its place. Hobbyist now decides what to do. Keep the larger colony, let lower light area adapt, or remove, frag, sell, etc.

Me personally I keep the larger colony and let the reef adapt. There are plenty of things that will fill in under the colony and make it look natural without my help.

Good problem to have - you are doing something right.

 

[nim6us]

Thanks for all the feedback!

Seems like a 50/50 split with keep it or cut it, ultimately seems there's no right or wrong answer. I think in my heart I did want a reset on this one to give me some space. So I took the plunge and broke out the Dremel!

Holy crap though.. the base was as thick as my wrist! The Dremel didn't stand a chance. I ended up pulling the whole rock.

I trimmed the bigger branches until I could get to the base. I made four deep cuts around the base and ultimately had to get the chisel to break it loose. I went in with a very surgical approach, but when it was all done the kitchen looks more like a crime scene than an OR.

Good news is I've got lots of little frags I can put on plugs and move on. I replanted a quite large branch that by most standards would be considered a colony. It really only looks about 1/3 of the original size, but it's more manageable.

The tank is a bit upset but I'll grab a picture tomorrow, again thanks for all the advice. R2R is such a wealth of experience and I'm glad to have it in situations like this.

 

[GARRIGA]

Thanks for all the feedback!

Seems like a 50/50 split with keep it or cut it, ultimately seems there's no right or wrong answer. I think in my heart I did want a reset on this one to give me some space. So I took the plunge and broke out the Dremel!

Holy crap though.. the base was as thick as my wrist! The Dremel didn't stand a chance. I ended up pulling the whole rock.

I trimmed the bigger branches until I could get to the base. I made four deep cuts around the base and ultimately had to get the chisel to break it loose. I went in with a very surgical approach, but when it was all done the kitchen looks more like a crime scene than an OR.

Good news is I've got lots of little frags I can put on plugs and move on. I replanted a quite large branch that by most standards would be considered a colony. It really only looks about 1/3 of the original size, but it's more manageable.

The tank is a bit upset but I'll grab a picture tomorrow, again thanks for all the advice. R2R is such a wealth of experience and I'm glad to have it in situations like this.

Consider micro fragging by placing several frags from same colony together. Studies show they combine and build larger colonies. Something I’m planning on doing.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Thanks for all the feedback!

Seems like a 50/50 split with keep it or cut it, ultimately seems there's no right or wrong answer. I think in my heart I did want a reset on this one to give me some space. So I took the plunge and broke out the Dremel!

Holy crap though.. the base was as thick as my wrist! The Dremel didn't stand a chance. I ended up pulling the whole rock.

I trimmed the bigger branches until I could get to the base. I made four deep cuts around the base and ultimately had to get the chisel to break it loose. I went in with a very surgical approach, but when it was all done the kitchen looks more like a crime scene than an OR.

Good news is I've got lots of little frags I can put on plugs and move on. I replanted a quite large branch that by most standards would be considered a colony. It really only looks about 1/3 of the original size, but it's more manageable.

The tank is a bit upset but I'll grab a picture tomorrow, again thanks for all the advice. R2R is such a wealth of experience and I'm glad to have it in situations like this.

It’s good to have a reset. Good luck.

 

[Dom]

I once installed a mirror under a bare bottom tank. My thinking was that I could reduce shadows by reflecting light back up into the tank.

Moot in this case tho.

 

[saltyfins]

I once installed a mirror under a bare bottom tank. My thinking was that I could reduce shadows by reflecting light back up into the tank.

Moot in this case tho.

did it work?

 

[GARRIGA]

did it work?

Saw a video from CoralLab where I recall bottom reflection helped with underside growth. Makes sense as it doesn’t matter where light comes from and tanks with clear unpainted glass sides reflect light which is measurable with PAR meters

 

[twentyleagues]

Saw a video from CoralLab where I recall bottom reflection helped with underside growth. Makes sense as it doesn’t matter where light some from and tanks with clear unpaired glass sides reflect light which is measurable with PAR meters

Yup even white sand helps reflect light enough.

 

[Dom]

did it work?

Sadly, no.

I wasn't using the best lights. A more powerful light may have yielded better results.

I also thought about mounting lights under the bare bottom...

 

[paal]

It's quite common that even healthy colonies start "bleaching" on the sections that no longer receive adequate light. You normally don't have to do anything with it tough as long as you like how it looks.
The "reverse cone shape" can be especially rough in this regard as a large % of the coral (depending on your light-setup) will not receive light.

In my current 100 gallon I have done a lot of pruning over the last few years as well as given away larger mother colonies like the ones below only to keep a frag for myself and "start over".