Let's Talk JF Homewrecker SPS

[Jimbo327]

First, let's see some JF Homewrecker photos from folks who have them in their tank. Would be cool to see full colonies. And please tell us if your HW has been hardy, fast/slow growing, and what kind of lighting/flow.

I'll go first, my HW is growing very fast in my tank. It had some orange/pink corallites when it was a smaller frag, but it has lost it completely lately. Right now, it is just green with blue tip. Anyone have ideas on how to regain the pink corallites? I think I will try to lower my phosphates to see if that helps. Or does it just change color on its own?

July 2025

Feb 2026

Today

 

[dpoltsdsu]

That's a sweet looking colony you got there.

 

[Smite]

Looks pretty happy to me. If your lights are bluer, blue tips are usually white tips reflecting blue, from new growth. Specially if it's growing quick. Looking at your colony, i still see pinks and oranges on the older growth lower, I bet as it grows larger the inside polyps probably will have the most color which might be normal with a fast growing colony.

Personally, I wouldn't chase it unless other pieces are maybe lacking color or something in the tank. That said, I've never had luck with HW, so take that for what it's worth haha.

 

[Sold4JC]

That is a great looking colony. I lost my homewrecker last year. That's exceptional growth in my opinion.

 

[Deleted member 20245]

Oh no! That shouldn’t be the case. I’ve heard that if you frag it and give it to me, it will color back up! Trust me, Bro!

Ahem, sorry - I had one that was very colorful as a frag but lost it so no clue. Good luck!

 

[joseserrano]

I think this is a very overrated acro. Yes it’s difficult and…, but when fully colored up, not really one of the top looking tenuis. So many nicer looking ones with much lower volatility.

 

[Xaznkewlguyx]

Had no luck with em either

 

[Smite]

@LesPaulPlayer73 you still got yours going?

 

[drexel]

Looks good to me. The tips are the most colorful part for most acropora, with the rest of the colony having little variation of those tips. I think spectrum and nutrient levels play a big role in overall coloration with traces helping with particular colors. Lower nutrients require less intensity, but if they’re higher, then increasing intensity might be the key. PO4 0.2+ will yield deeper color with green and blues being dominate, but get them around 0.1 and you can get more out with full spectrum lighting. When it comes to acropora, I’m in the white to grow and blue to show camp. Blast full spectrum (which still has a ton on blue/violet in it) during peak hours, then use the ramp times for the “blue only” show. Acropora are shallow water species for the most part, so give them the sun! I miss my Walt Disney, but the HW is a great tenuis.

 

[Jimbo327]

Thanks guys. I'm super happy (and more shocked) with the HW growth. I thought it'll be a slow grower like most of my other frags, But it’s proven to be hardy (I’ve had a few SPS RTN in last few months), so it must really likes that spot. Started as 1” frag in January 2025, and it basically encrusted for 6 months...and then it shot out multiple nubs from the base and kept growing.

From the responses, I guess HW does have a reputation as being finicky and difficult. I’m going to let it grow out more without fragging…hoping the colors will come back as the branches spread out. When it had the pink and orange, it was a showstopper in the tank.

Would like to see photos of others HW if you got them.

 

[thresher]

Nice bonsai tree you got growing there!

 

[dpoltsdsu]

I have one (awful picture) that’s encrusted a bit and starting to get some faster growth but it’s been a slow grower for me.

 

[janiners305]

This is my HW. It’s been an incredibly slow grower. I’ve had the frag over a year, and it has been in this spot since January. It has been encrusting down, but only just started putting out nubs for the last month or so. Excuse the horrible colors. Orange filter with a silvery light spectrum, but the straight iPhone camera picks up every bit of blue, so I have to use it lol

 

[Dooly]

beautiful colony jimmy.. just need to dial in traces to get the colors to really pop. it's on every stickheads must have list for a reason.

 

[Jimbo327]

Show me the way, Jedi Master.

Any idea which trace to really dial in?

 

[Dooly]

Lol
If I had to pick just 3 for sps, they would be: iodine, strontium, fluorine.
Make sure you do routine ICP's to make sure you're not overdosing, and for other traces like iron, zinc, manganese.. OES tests are pretty useless.. gotta do MS to get actual numbers..

 

[Jimbo327]

Usually I’m low on a lot of elements like iron, iodine, fluorine, zinc, manganese, nickel, etc.

I’m going to send in an ATI ICP this week (mystery fish death). I make my own trace so it’s a bit of a crapshoot on my element levels.

 

[joeoliver]

i was taking pics of coral for my growout contests and decided to take one of my hw (thanks @Tommy Ngo)

my hw picked up growth and color after i made several changes. I think they all helped. i gave it more light and flow, and changed my dosing to captiv8 products (major and traces). a lot of my other coral also colored up. I think the isol8 mt traces were key. since this change, my nitrates also started dropping from like 15 to 2 (isol8 mt also causes this and maybe this drop also led to better color). now I'm dosing ammonium bicarbonate to bring nitrates up a bit (shooting for 5+). phosphates have been steady at around .15 with periodic lanthanum dosing.

hope some of this helps.