Does salinity effect the size/diameter of a zoa/paly polyp?

S

SIR PATRICK

New member
Has anyone noticed higher or lower salinity in their tanks water causing zoa/paly polyp heads to be larger or smaller than normal?

Looking to hear if anyone has had or noticed any experience with this subject.
 
I didn't pay attention to that yet. I try to keep my specific gravity at 1.023 and I've noticed that when it goes too hight the polyps kinda shrink or have some white marks on their disks. But that could a be a combination of facts too and I don't want to bring my observation as a rule of thumb here.

Interesting question!

Grandis.
 
imo it's one of the biggest factors of how polyps open up, in anything over 1.025 they start to shrink a bit and have more issues... I can usually tell if my salinity's a bit off from the size of my zoanthids.
 
^ this but on the other end. My salinity dropped down to 30 ppt after a water change and they were shrunk. They were all open but tiny. I checked my salinity and slowly adjusted it until it was back to 35 ppt and they opened back to full size shortly after my fix.

Pretty amazing that something as simple as salinity can be a huge mistake due to reefer error.
 
I've found that flow plays a role in the size of your zoas and palys too. I'm not talking about direct flow where a power head is pointed right on them but indirect flow. Tanks with a large amount of indirect flow seem to have larger size polyps. I increased the flow in my frag tank and the size of my rastas almost doubled. Not saying this works in all but I've noticed a difference in mine.
 
I have a frag tank, and all my polyps were tiny! I figured it was the light intensity that caused this. The exact same polyps were normal sized in my display........

I decided to test my salinity. It was in the 1.021 area. Hmmmm.....

Figured I would see what you guys had for experiences. Trying to narrow it down a bit. I fixed the salinity and the polyps are much closer to "normal" size in diameter now.

Thanks everyone for the input so far. Looking forward to hearing more experiences.
 
I would say the safest range I've had was between 1.022 - 1.024.
I found that SG at 1.023 works the best here for the Hawaiian polyps.
IMO 1.025 is a dangerous and unnecessary spot to be.
My SG almost never went below 1.022, so I don't know what problems that could give.

I've been trying to keep temp. between 78° - 79°F during the corse of the 24hr. period.
My chiller is set on 79°F, so it doesn't go higher than that. It's very good for the zoas.

Another thing is iodide, besides pH, Mg, Ca/alk and temp.
Every time I stop adding iodide they show slightly different after a week.
I've tried many times...
Just my US$.02.

Grandis.
 
So far, in the past, I have had some crazy PH, Alk, and Calc swings and have never had any of these effect my polyps head size.

These have effected the polyps in many other ways, but not the size of the polyp.

So far, IME, I have only seen flow, light, and now possibly salinity effect the size/diameter of a polyps head/face.

Grandis-

Did the iodide effect the size of the polyp, or effect it in another manner?
 
Oh no.. I got carried away and talked too much... LOL!! :D
Sorry, I got too excited...

The only 2 things I've noticed about the polyps' size was lack of iodine (as potassium iodide additive) and higher SG.

Yes, Iodide affects first my small patch of soft coral first, then some of the zoanthids, specially close to the bottom, showing some shrinking and some small whitening spots on their discs. Some times they shrink faster than other times. I think the more polyps per gallons, the more they need iodide(?). Specially with a good skimmer. They can get to the point they won't eat because they are so weak to grab the food particles.

I've noticed some bacterial infection takes place when SG is on the higher side too. But that could happen with other things, of course. I think in the case of high SG the polyps get stressed out and their immunization drops, then the bacteria takes place.

Again, so many variables and I hate to let people think that as a rule...

Grandis.
 
Couple of questions. How can the SG of natural seawater be dangerous? That doesn't make sense. I keep my tank at 1.025 and everything is perfectly fine. They are growing and looking great.

Secondly, can you provide research into dosing iodine? I've yet to ready any conclusive evidence that it is needed or effective. Might be because I'm reading the wrong things, but I would like to know.
 
426Hemi said:
Couple of questions. How can the SG of natural seawater be dangerous? That doesn't make sense. I keep my tank at 1.025 and everything is perfectly fine. They are growing and looking great.

Secondly, can you provide research into dosing iodine? I've yet to ready any conclusive evidence that it is needed or effective. Might be because I'm reading the wrong things, but I would like to know.
Click to expand...

No, SG of natural seawater is not dangerous, of course. Who said that?
I just prefer to keep at 1.023 because in case of any fluctuations to the higher side. It's just me. Personal opinion. 1.025 is cool. I would suggest to you to just make sure you keep at 1.025 max to avoid trouble. But hey, if you want to go 1.026, who am I to tell you what to do? ;)

Ok, secondly, sorry, but no researching into dosing iodine yet. I would like any solid article about the subject myself. Again, just my own experiences here. You don't have to follow at all. I'm not here to tell you what to do. LOL!!! That's what happens with my system. Your tank will probably be very different, so don't quote me, please. I am not an expert at all! :wildone:

Grandis.
 
650-IS350 said:
Ive had 1.025 since I've been reefkeeping never had issues except for swings.
Click to expand...

Same here. Last year I kept my system at 1.025 without problems for months. One day I did a slightly higher SG water change by accident and things started to show up, like the white marks on the discs.
That's why I keep it at 1.023 now.

Grandis.
 
I do the same as grandis- on the low side 1.023 and high side 1.025. IME, anywhere in between these 2 levels is fairly acceptable.

My salinity being so low was a complete accident.....er summertime laziness, on my part.
 
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