acro polyps locked up closed :(

[CTaylor]

Hi,

An acro frag I got had its polyps open at night. It never opened day time. Now it's locked up closed 24/7 . 1/3 of my acros are doing this. I have Kessil (2) 360 over my 65 gallon (24" tall). This one in the pic is about 5" from the bottom. Light is max 65% intensity, and 50% color (on the spectral contoller). So it's not full blast. When I had it full blast, 90% of my sps didnt make it. But I dont understand why this one opened at night for the first week, and now is locked up. One of my xmas rock (porites) is locked also, but been like that for a while. The other porite rock used to go through those locked up phases, but now is super fuzzy even hairy at night! .

**For THIS guy, what should I do? SHould I put it way in a far corner on the bottom of tank? Or is it beyond saving?

THanks!

 

[slief]

Not sure but it looks like the tips have growth. How long has the tank been up? How are the nutrients in the system? Contrary to popular believe, corals (SPS included) don't like a sterile system. They like a mature systems that aren't devoid of nutrients. It's taken years for my system to get to the point it's at now where everything thrives. In fact, it took year to get to the point where SPS would thrive. You already know I run Kessil 360WE's with great success. I'd bet it has nothing to do with your lights.

 

[CTaylor]

Right.. I'm sure it's not the lights themselves. Just possibly placement of the corals in relation to them. My tank has been up for 5 years. The Ca and Alk to vary wildly every few days though even with the Kalk and part a/b. I did replace a majority of my Live rock a few months ago. Due to major feather caulerpa infestation. But my issue (which again is less after adjusting my lights to be as exactly like yours as possible) is still there. But I find it odd though that one Porite coral went through hell and back and back to hell three times over. Now is doing amazing. And my other one (much newer) is on death's door. I guess it could be that each coral is really specific on it's exact lighting requirements (intensity and "blueness") also? I'm hoping the Ca reactor works magic and it ends up just being my Ca and Alk fluxes.

 

[pisanoal]

Alk swings will cause many issues in an sps system. Priority 1 should be controlling them, indeed a Ca reactor should line those out. You say your system has been up for 5 years but if you changed out a good portion of your live rock, depending on your setup, you could have somewhat reset your tank age as far as sps are concerned. What about fish stocking? Any angels, or clown gobies, or anything else that might be nipping at corals? How much flow? Are they in direct flow that is blasting them, or possibly very low flow? All things to consider. Its also important to note that polyp extension is not always indicative of health with sps, although if its not extending at night, I would be concerned.

 

[Reef Bass]

Could also be pests, though alk varying "wildly" is a huge red flag. Nobody likes that and it may take a few more weeks for the damage to fully reveal itself.

 

[CTaylor]

Hi, Yes I know the major rock change could have reset the age. But the issue was worse before the change. I also did tone back my lighting b/c it was too intense. There are no coral nipping fish, just a mating pair of oscellaris and a possum wrasse (none of which of come close to nipping at a coral). When I say wildly, it will go from 2.8 meq to 3.3 after I boost it. But it's a twice weekly thing. Sometimes the alk is lower. The Ca on Hanna has been as low as 360 just a two days after being over 400. I did just scoop out about 1 to 2 lb of precipiatate sand/flakes etc from the return area of my sump thinking that's where the Ca and alk might be dropping out at. not sure if that will have an effect. The rector is coming today, hopefully I have time to set it up. I toned down the white part of my lighting a bit. Though my table acro I think actually likes the white of the spectrum.

 

[mcgyvr]

Sounds like you just need to get your dosing correct to maintain stable parameters..
If you are dosing and there is a swing then you aren't dosing correctly..

 

[CTaylor]

mcgyvr,
thats likely correct. Partially that's because it's hard for me to accept that I need to dose 100 mL per day now of each part a and b Plus having constant water top off with kalk. And still it's not enough for my lightly stocked tank. I have LPS: a medium torch , two small/medium hammers; one medium star polyp (softie); SPS: two medium xmas rocks (porites), 1 medium (4") table acro, 1 small/med birdsnest (doing really well) 3 1/2-4", 5 other 1" acro frags, a 2" monti frag. I had to dose heavily even when I had half the stock of corals. The growth is not much except for the torch, one of the porite rocks, maybe the birdsnest and the monti frag.

 

[CTaylor]

pic of tank

pic of tank

here's a pic of my tank. You'll see most of the corals at the bottom area...

 

[CTaylor]

**My reactor just got here :-D ... It just looks super greatly built and looks easy to set up and use. I'm going to try to set it up in the next few hours. Hopefully this does the trick I need. It's a GEO! double chamber :-D with Reborn in chamber one and ARM in two!

 

[mcgyvr]

Is that coralline all over the back wall,etc..? (Hard to tell with all that blue).. Its a big consumer too..

Accept what it is and dose accordingly..

 

[CTaylor]

YES... It's coralline. I was suspecting it could consuming the bulk of the Ca and alk. But if so I would think it would be super thick and bulging out like with shelves of growth. I know the rock work is a mess :-D . I hope to get the reactor running tonight.

 

[CTaylor]

Reactor up and running. Pretty easy to set up. Though still took me 2 hours. Happy so far. with the initial recommendations from GEO on settings, I seem to be at least nearly holding my Alk and Ca levels. Such a nice looking reactor overall and solid.