Almost no polyp extension on any SPS... LNS??

L

LiquidCache

New member
Hey guys, for a while i've been trying to figure out why I have very little polyp extension with almost every single SPS I have in my tank.

I have a few acro frags, and a few monti frags. At night, I have a tiny bit of polyp extension on the acros, visible with a flashlight when the lights are out.

I did have OK polyp extension on my Montipora spongodes, and my undata and I changed it up and started feeding 1x a day (From twice a day) and it's gone to almost none.

My phosphates and Nitrates are zero. Unreadable on salifert and Elos test kits. My SPS has never had great color or growth to it. My water parameters are pretty much spot on. I also run a giant skimmer.

I have 7 fish. All pretty small. The largest being a Tomini tang who's about 4 inches.

I guess my main question is this. Could I have the conditions of a low nutrient system? Could those conditions be causing my SPS to suffer? Any recommendations?
 
That would be my guess. Is your alk stable? I feed my fish at least three times a day mysis,brine,pellets, and an algae sheet.Might want to try some AA's. Are you running gfo and or carbon?

I have found that if I'm around 5-10 nitrates my corals look better(10 being my high end and I've been lazy on wc's). Stable parameters are a huge plus.
 
I have never seen any research on polyp extension so I think answers you get will be largely opinion based on personal experience. So let me be the first to offer an opinion :D

I believe there are 2 common troubles. Pests are one. Any fish that nips or bugs that bite will make coral polyps retract. Water contamination is the other whether it be high nitrate or some other unknown chemical irritant. A really simple test of my hypothesis would be to try a 20% water change and fresh carbon weekly for at least 2 times. If you don't see better polyp extension after that then you can try going the other direction and feed the corals directly to see if that elicits a response.

Anyways just one suggestion. I'm sure you'll get lots more good ones to try from RC!
 
My first guess is that you are starving your corals, my second guess would be reg bugs or AFEW. First we need to know more about your tank.
What size tank do you have?
What type for fish?
What are you feeding?
Why are you only feeding once per day?
What type of lights are you using and for how long are they on?

How long has your tank been setup?
 
If they come out at night you should be fine try adding some amino acids over the next couple of weeks and they should come out
 
LiquidCache said:
Hey guys, for a while i've been trying to figure out why I have very little polyp extension with almost every single SPS I have in my tank.

I have a few acro frags, and a few monti frags. At night, I have a tiny bit of polyp extension on the acros, visible with a flashlight when the lights are out.

I did have OK polyp extension on my Montipora spongodes, and my undata and I changed it up and started feeding 1x a day (From twice a day) and it's gone to almost none.

My phosphates and Nitrates are zero. Unreadable on salifert and Elos test kits. My SPS has never had great color or growth to it. My water parameters are pretty much spot on. I also run a giant skimmer.

I have 7 fish. All pretty small. The largest being a Tomini tang who's about 4 inches.

I guess my main question is this. Could I have the conditions of a low nutrient system? Could those conditions be causing my SPS to suffer? Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

may be your issue may be its something else don't know but if it is nutrient pour try feeding the tank some Fuel I did and it was my problem :love2:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2065697&page=3
 
I have a 120g with a 30g sump.. I have two clowns, a hoevens wrasse, tomini tang, coral beauty angel, two lyre tail anthias. I feed rods once a day because I know two people who have beautiful tanks and only feed three to five times a week.. I have a pair of pacific sun triton r2 lamps, blues are on most of the day ramping up and down. Whites start at 1pm, ramp up and back down to zero and back to just blues by 8. I just upgraded to this tank, it's been up since May, everything came from my previous tank which had been up for a little less than a year.
 
Oh also I don't run carbon or gfo. Just a large skimmer and a giant ball of chaeto that I trim weekly. I do 10% water changes weekly.
 
LiquidCache said:
Oh also I don't run carbon or gfo. Just a large skimmer and a giant ball of chaeto that I trim weekly. I do 10% water changes weekly.
Click to expand...

I know test kits may be saying you have 0/0 nitrate and phosphate, but given your regimen and the fact that your cheato is growing I really don't think you have 0/0. Not saying that's your problem just saying things don't always appear as they seem.

There have been many similar discussions here on RC and very often folks say "Can my tank be too clean". If too clean were really the problem then a simple addition of food in heavy doses should stimulate a response or increase coral colors, but so far I've never seen the answer be that simple.

Not saying don't try feeding; just saying this has been discussed many, many, many times on RC and simply feeding the corals has rarely resulted in increased polyp extension.
 
LiquidCache said:
My SPS has never had great color or growth to it. My water parameters are pretty much spot on. I also run a giant skimmer.
Click to expand...

You say you never had great color, so are your corals pale or turning brown? I have a large skimmer (Vertex Alpha Cone 200) on my 120 and in the beginning I had difficulties keep good colors on my SPS until someone told me my tank was too clean and to add more fish or feed more so I did both and it fixed my problem. Sound like you are going through the same thing.
 
Akrite said:
You say you never had great color, so are your corals pale or turning brown? I have a large skimmer (Vertex Alpha Cone 200) on my 120 and in the beginning I had difficulties keep good colors on my SPS until someone told me my tank was too clean and to add more fish or feed more so I did both and it fixed my problem. Sound like you are going through the same thing.
Click to expand...

someone get its :D If you skimmer ain't pulling yuke then its to clean :bdaysmile: But don't forget if you start increasing you nutrients make sure your lights are up to the challenge.
 
My skimmer doesn't pull the crap out like my tiny skimmer used to pull out of my 75. Apparently there isn't much to skim in this tank....???... My lights are definitely up to the challenge.

My sps are all very pale, and yes some brown. My lps is a little better but definitely not as bright as I'd like them. So you guys think maybe feed two to three times a day for starters and see what happens??
 
As I said I don't know since I don't know your system but I showed you what I was going through and it sounds like the same. Last confirming question, do you have algae growing on the glass?
 
That's some what positive since I had 0 and also no coralline algae growing ether. At least there is signs of food... What type of lighting?
 
I have not tested par. I do not have a par meter. Think maybe I should turn the total lamp power up for a week and see what happens? Or increase white duration? Intensity?
 
That i can't tell you, not saying a par meter is needed but it does give you something to go on. I figured the amount i speed on life stock and the rest of the junk in this hobby i knew i should get one. Pretty need tool IMO
 
So I just found out the reef club I belong to has a par meter for loan.

What kind of par should I be looking for for SPS? (Acros and Montis)

Other than checking par, anything else you can think of? You've been an amazing help.
 
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