Help with SPS issue in nano

[jgraz]

Ok well my 20H has been going since early Jan. Since the beginning I have had some problem crop up here and there and all have been solved except this one. Why no or very little polyp extension in most of my SPS. Here are my parameters as of 9am today:
PH- 8
KH-8
Phosphate-.04 (hanna)(no nusiance algae)
Mag-1440
Calcium-440
Ammonia-0
N02-0
NO3-0

All my parameters seem to be in check. My lighting is a 4x24" T5 DeepBlue Solar Extreme, running all ATI Blue+,Coral+,Blue+,Purple+ front to back and sits 4" from water surface.
For the most part I get good extension from my Green birdsnest and my Bird of paradise. Those are in the upper and lower 1/3 of the tank respectivly. I have a Cali Tort and a Bonsai that both get little to no extension again upper and lower 1/3 respetivly. My montis are a appleberry, idaho grape, flower petal, reverse sunset, and setosa that get very little extension, a pokerstar and superman digitata with no extension, and a sunset that gets good extension. The acros which inclued Pearlberry, tri-color, and Pink lemonade with no extension. All of these pieces are between midway and higher in the tank. I would like to add that For the most part growth seems to be good. Whenever I add something it normally encrusts very well, and I have noticed notable growth from many pieces. Color seems pretty good for the most part, though I have bleached a purple nana that moved from my other tank. I would also like to add pieces that have showed great extension in my other tank have lost such when moved to the nano. Is it possible that I have too much light? Sorr to be long winded just wanted to cover all the bases. Thanks in advance for the assist.
John

 

[blueavatar]

Better post some pictures

 

[cichlid9]

maybe list your photoperiod as well as how much flow, maybe there isn't enough of too much.

 

[jgraz]

Photo period:
2x blue + from 10am-10pm
Coral+& purple+ 11am-9pm

Fixture is a 4x24" deepblue solar extreme. Over a standard 20h tank. Flow is provided by a sicce1.5 pump through sump approximately 300gpm and a MP-10 usually set to reef crest mode.

 

[HollyG]

To me everything parameter wise wouldn't cause lack of polyp extension. So the issue would either be flow or lighting. In my experience with Montis, they don't get as much polyp extension when they are sat in a super high flow that most acros would like. I found that my monti digis wouldn't extend nicely when placed in an area where I have my acros (flow wise)... I placed them somewhere where the flow would actually be considered moderate and the polyps extended out very nicely and started multiplying like crazy! So, give that a try with your montis.
My tank is also a 20gal tall with 4x24w T5HO fixture and there are some sps that don't do very well under very blue/purple lighting, which yours is. I have a similar mix of bulbs. The thing is you only have one full spectrum bulb in your bulb mix. The blue+ and Purple+ are basically just for looks. The blue+ does have a certain PAR level but the purple plus does not. The coral plus is the only full spectrum bulb you have in that mix. I would add another full spectrum bulb not only to give more PAR but also to make the color not so blue/purple. The mix I have is 2 Blue+, 1 coral+ and 1 aquablue special. This gives a very good PAR and very good full spectrum, as the coral plus has a certain full spectrum and the aquablue special has a different full spectrum. Also, it makes the tank not look a dark blue/purple as your tank is but also still looks very nice and colors still pop. The look of the light to the eye would be probably around a 15K look...a nice white Blue light! If you still want to keep a slightly more blue look than that, then you can always just switch the purple plus for another coral plus... that way there is more full spectrum than you had before. Personally, I think it's your lighting, and if you switch out that purple+ for another coral+ or aquablue special I think you will see more polyp extension if not full. ALL of my sps have FULL polyp extrention and beautiful color under the bulb mix I have. Good luck.

 

[jgraz]

Thank you Holly. To be honest I've been considering removing the purple for quite some time. I think you talked me into it. I would love to see your tank. Gives me something to strive for. Thanks again.

 

[HollyG]

Thank you Holly. To be honest I've been considering removing the purple for quite some time. I think you talked me into it. I would love to see your tank. Gives me something to strive for. Thanks again.

Hey, no problem! I actually tried the bulb combo you have and I personally thought it looked too blue/purple and that my sps wouldn't be too happy. That's when I decided to get an aquablue special to switch with the purple plus. I actually have a blue led strip and a purple led strip which is why I went with the aquablue... If I didn't have the led strips I probably would have went with a second coral plus just to add slightly more purple. I like having some purple (but not too much) because it really helps bring out the pinks and reds in coral. So if you have a lot of those colors, I would go with a coral plus rather than an aquablue special. Or you can get both and switch stuff around to see. I actually want to get 2 more coral+ and try a mix of 3 coral+ and one blue+ That would probably have amazing results! But I don't know if that would be too purple or not. Possibly even 2 coral+, one aquablue special and one blue+... I just wanna try a mix with 3 full spectrum bulbs to see if there is a noticeable increase in color and growth. When my LPS all open up fully in the afternoon I will take a pic of my tank so you can get an idea on how the light looks and what I am keeping and the polyp extension on my sps!

 

[HollyG]

Here's the FTS. This is what the tank looks like with the bulb mix I mentioned. 2 Blue+, 1 Coral+, 1 Aquablue Special, and my Blue LED strip and Purple LED strip. I would think that you would get a similar look if you used 2 coral+ and 2 blue+ it just wouldn't look a "bright" to the eye than if you used an aquablue special. I dunno, just tossin out ideas lol.


This is a Red Planet Acro, was completely green with brown polyps when I got it, it is actually turning red on the other side because that's the side getting more light (duh!) lol Just haven't got more glue yet to fix the possition lol. Red Planets will turn Red with very high lighting, so the fact that this one is turning red with the combo of bulbs proves that this is a high PAR reading higher in the tank, enough for any kind of very high light sps.


Here is my Neon Green Birdsnest and what I think is called "Hairy Acro" still trying to find out exactly what he is lol. The neon birdsnest will lose the neon coloring in the polyps if the lighting isn't high enough, so all is good there. And the hairy acro had some very bad recession on it in the LFS, and everytime I went in it was recieding more and more and the dead parts of it had hydroids all over it! So, it was on it's way out, but regardless, I figured I would try and save it anyway, so bought it for $20! Fragged it off the plug above the receeding line and glued it to where I think it would be happiest! It is now starting to encrust down the glue and onto the rock! And I'm sure the lighting I have has a good part in helping!


And as you can see Full polyp extension on all these sps.

 

[HollyG]

Here are my other birdsnests. Full polyp extension and nice colors.


This is a burgendee and green acro Mille. This coral use to be all pinky brown when I got it! Now the skeleton is green with some places turning red with burgendee colored polyps. This guy has done the most color change of all my sps! Full polyp extension.


This is my Rose Acro Mille. This guy was all brown when I got him! Now it's all pink. Full polyp extension.


Green Acro Mille. Green and brown when I got it. Now is a deep green and pink. Can't see the pink in the pic, mostly on the backside getting more light. Full polyp extrension.

 

[HollyG]

Green Staghorn. These guys don't naturally do too much polyp extension, you normally see then with no polyp extension, and as you can see I have a good amount on this guy.


Here's my Monti Digi and Monti Cap... I have another Monti digi from the same colony (which I dropped and shattered!!!!!!!) So this is one of the frags I salvaged lol. Both these guys, full polyp extension.


Some kind of Acro, still looking into what it is though. Had full on brown polyps when I got it, now the polyps are turning more of a yellow.


And this guy is my green Poccillopora, and as you can see full polyp extension! lol You can imagine how crappy this coral would look if it didn't have any polyps extension lol.


So, that's all my sps. And if they are doing this well, then obviously the lighting is what all of these coral are looking for!

 

[jgraz]

Holly, that looks great. Definatly gonna take your advice. Here's a some pics of mine to give an idea of what I'm dealing with
FTS

Cali tort. Grows great. Only a tiny bit of polyp near base

Idaho grape and appleberry monti

Pearl berry pic not great here much better color in person

Purple bonsai

Setosa and superman digi

Not exactly sure what this is. LFS said tricolor. Encrusted nice but this is the only piece I can't get to color up. But then it is a bit shaded

Here is one of my birdsnest and a reverse sunset.

Sunset

And this may also be one of my problems. Lots of people on the jersey reef site think all my problems stem from him. He's gonna be gone soon

 

[AquaReeferMan]

I had a nano with a silly clown goby in the system and never had good PE. That fish would bounce around and sit on pretty much every coral. Once I removed it from the tank I had a lot better PE.

Corals, by nature will keep there polyps in if they feel threatened. Are you getting PE at night at all when the fish isn't active?

 

[oneradtek202]

i notice something on your last acro pic, not too sure but it looks like red bugs to me...might be causing you a lot of the trouble if not all....

brought the brightness down so you can see more clearly on this pic

 

[jgraz]

Good call. After seeing your post I went and did some searching. You are right. Red bugs. This should be fun. Now I have to research that. I know intercepter is the common thing to use. Anything else.

 

[oneradtek202]

glad i could help! my sps looked exactly the same as this when i had red bugs, easy to get rid of though so thatsa a good thing! i used interceptor followed by big water change and carbon

 

[jgraz]

Would you mind detailing the use of interceptor. Ive read that crabs and shrimp must be moved or they will die. What about snails and stomatellas? Also where can one get interceptor? Basically anything you can tell me would be great. Thanks again

 

[HollyG]

Oh wow!! I wish you posted these pics earlier!! Yea, red bugs and the clown goby would definately be the problem!! Clown gobies naturally pick at and eat the polyps of acros, I use to have one and got rid of him! Him and the red bugs are definately the problem! Good luck!
You have nice sps btw!

 

[oneradtek202]

To be honest I forget the dosing amount per gallon. To get it...ask all of your friends if they have any . It is a pretty common heart worm med. Also you don't have to be exact with the amount . I've always over dosed than under dosed it. All inverts have the potential to die. Removed all snsils and crsbs during dosing that you can. Put them back in after you run carbon and do a water change after the dose. To be honest ive never lost anything before . My pistol shrimp has survived three separate dosings along with my shrimp. I think you just run the risk. Also shut off your skimmer so just water runs threw.....no air. Hmmmm that's I got for ya. Good luck and there are a ton of articles on Doon this with more info than I can give ya. Just remember its not as scary as they make it out to be lol. Just run carbon and big water change afterwards

 

[HollyG]

to be honest i forget the dosing amount per gallon. To get it...ask all of your friends if they have any . It is a pretty common heart worm med. Also you don't have to be exact with the amount . I've always over dosed than under dosed it. All inverts have the potential to die. Removed all snsils and crsbs during dosing that you can. Put them back in after you run carbon and do a water change after the dose. To be honest ive never lost anything before . My pistol shrimp has survived three separate dosings along with my shrimp. I think you just run the risk. Also shut off your skimmer so just water runs threw.....no air. Hmmmm that's i got for ya. Good luck and there are a ton of articles on doon this with more info than i can give ya. Just remember its not as scary as they make it out to be lol. Just run carbon and big water change afterwards

+1

 

[jgraz]

Thx I found it. I got a pill coming mon. After grinding it I need to measure out 75mg of it. I gotta figure out what I'm Gonna use to measure that small. I was thinking a salifert spoon from my mag test.