Another polyp extension question...

[jrnannery]

Hey everyone. A quick run-down...

29g BioCube
Nanotuners 4 bulb upgrade run act and 50/50 for 9 hours, add two 10ks for 7.5 hrs
Back
1-10k 36w PC
1-50/50 36w PC
1-10k 36w PC
1-Actinic 36w PC
Front

Flow will be worked on in the coming days

20lbs LR
10lbs LS

Livestock:
Large (3") PJ cardinal
Yellow Clown Goby
Green Clown Goby
1.5" Firegoby
Regal Tang (dime-nickel size)
Lawnmower Blenny (2")
Cleanup crew - Hermits, snails, assorted

Small zoa colonies and frags (front in sand)
Small Acan Lord and Frogspawn (front in sand)
Red and Green Monti frags, low, front/middle, excellent PE and slow growth
Hollywood Stunner chips, low, front/middle, nice long sweepers

Bali Tri-color, full color, growing slowly, shows neon polyps under blue moonlight only
Unknown Green sps, great color, slow growth, no polyps at all
rescued SPS colony from LFS (originally a Fish Heads frag) totally browned out and massive RTN at time of purchase, now fluorescing under moonlghts (more and more all the time), fragged and visibly gaining a nice green hue
Sunset Millepora frag, 1", 1 week old, absolutely no extension whatsoever
Bird'snest, full PE, growing like crazy

ALL ABOVE SPS under middle/back, back lighting

Ammonium: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:0
Phosphate: 0
°dKH: 11
Cal: 500
Sp. Gravity: 1.0205 (Marineland Swing-style, calibrated)
Temp: 80°F (79-82)
Magnesium is untested, need a kit.

I dose Kent products in the proper amount and intervals, and run Fuel in the tank for the corals.

Why no polyp extension, day or night except on the montis and the birdsnest? Shouldn't the Mille have done SOMETHING by now? The brown accro re-coloring is a great sign, but what can I do better?

I will be stepping up to an LED upgrade kit from RapidLED specifically for the BioCube, but I know that the lighting is good enough for now...all bulbs 1 month old, by the way.

Thanks
Richard

 

[jrnannery]

No thoughts, anyone?

 

[dudley moray]

how old is your set up ?
sps typically don't due to well under pc's due to lack of PAR but that's not to say you can't do it .
you specific gravity is too low first off i would bring it up slowly to about 1.025-1.026
and by the sound of things you need to let you system mature a little
and possibly you need more flow
slow down on that fuel your asking for trouble !
pictures help too!

 

[jrnannery]

Thanks a lot for the response. The tank itself has been continuously running since August 2006. As far as SPS, this has been a relatively new trip for me. November of 2010? Sounds right.

We have a PAR meter floating around our membership here im SA. I hope to have access to it pretty quickly.

I had a top-off accident the very night that I posted all this. The spec. gr. will be corrected here pretty soon. I will for sure be replacing my old swing-arm tester.

By mature you mean...? I definitely need some schooling on advanced corals, like SPS.

For sure I will be upgrading water movement. No question it is insufficient, although definitely not non-existent.

I am going to begin feeding Eric Bornemans (sp) recipe soon, and am throttling back the Fuel as we speak. Tell me why, though. I am definitely in the dark as to any negative reaction to the product.

I will work on pictures immediately. http://s1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb440/jrnannery/

Thanks
Richard

 

[isseym328]

Richard,

Mag levels make a big difference when it comes to PE. It should be at least at NSW level which is 1350, or maybe a bit higher if you'd like. I just recently upgraded, and had the same issue. Tested Mag and it was at around 1260. Raised it to 1360 and polyps were out day and night. It's still not as extended as I want them to be, but the difference is very noticeable. Test your Mag levels and give it a shot. Good luck.

 

[jrnannery]

Well, I finally got to test my Magnesium...it is at 1200. I am going to bring that up, and see what happens, but I would be shocked if that ended up being the reason, although I honestly don't know why there is no PE onthese boys. Just figure it out I guess.

 

[preef]

Get the salinity up to 1.025-1.026 slowly.

I'm not sure what you are dosing but I would only be dosing Alk, Ca and Mg.

Upgrade the PCs to T5s or MHs.

I'd also try lowering the Alk to 8. I used to keep mine at around 11 but I'm at 8 now and my corals seem to be happier.

 

[jrnannery]

Good (terrible) news!! I think i can explain my accros lack of PE...my yellow clown goby.

After a long observation period, I can tell you that it roosts in every piece of accro I have, rubs its abdomen on every piece of accro I have, nips at SOMETHING on every piece of accro I have, presumably the polyps as they try to extend.

I didn't want to believe it, as they are one of my absolute favorites, but, this guy has got to go. That's life in the BioCube, I guess.

I'll keep y'all posted.