I want polyp extension!!

Daddi0

Daddi0

Active member
I have approx. 200 corals and while some get polyp extension at night when I feed, most of my acros have very little to none.
I run 2 - 60 gallon reefs that are plumbed together with a 30g sump (skimmer and chaeto) and 30g cryptic refugium. I dose Red Sea energy A/B every morning with some Coral Frenzy. I have approx. 20 fish (a cube of Marine delight daily) and none bother the corals. I dose kalk with vinegar and I run MarsAqua 300w over each reef.
I was thinking flat worms was an issue but a friend that dipped one of my corals found no pests.
I have low nitrates/phosphate
Alk is 10.5 and 480 calcium and high mag.
Any input on steps I could do to get more polyps would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers! Mark
 
So just to be sure that the issue is not pest related, I pulled out a Miami Orchid Acro colony about the size of my hand and washed it in Revive. I let it soak for 8 minutes while using the turkey baster on it, and there were no pests.
 
Coloration is fair and could have a little more pop. but I am focusing right now on polyp extension. The polyp issue is with a lot of my acros ( Miyagi, Cali Tort, Paletta Pink tip, Purple rain, Walt Disney, Copps CalaCali, Red Table, Aussie Gold Acro, Tri-color Valida.......) I do feed the corals to make up for low N&P. I feed 15ml Red Sea Energy A&B and 5/8 tsp. Coral Frenzy daily.
Perhaps a lighting issue?
Cheers! Mark
 
I have started to dose N03 to see if it will help my growth and coloration. Too soon to tell. My goal is to keep the nitrates at about 2 and the phosphates .2 per the BRS adjusted Redfield ratio. Currently my PO4 is only .04 which means my NO3 should only be .4. Anyone else following this ration of 10:1, nitrates to phosphates?
 
JTL said:
I have started to dose N03 to see if it will help my growth and coloration. Too soon to tell. My goal is to keep the nitrates at about 2 and the phosphates .2 per the BRS adjusted Redfield ratio. Currently my PO4 is only .04 which means my NO3 should only be .4. Anyone else following this ration of 10:1, nitrates to phosphates?
Click to expand...

Where that 10:1 is coming from? I have heard people keeping it within Redfield ratio 16:1, but even that is not something proven to provide anything postive for a reef tank.

Daddi0 said:
I have approx. 200 corals and while some get polyp extension at night when I feed, most of my acros have very little to none.
I run 2 - 60 gallon reefs that are plumbed together with a 30g sump (skimmer and chaeto) and 30g cryptic refugium. I dose Red Sea energy A/B every morning with some Coral Frenzy. I have approx. 20 fish (a cube of Marine delight daily) and none bother the corals. I dose kalk with vinegar and I run MarsAqua 300w over each reef.
I was thinking flat worms was an issue but a friend that dipped one of my corals found no pests.
I have low nitrates/phosphate
Alk is 10.5 and 480 calcium and high mag.
Any input on steps I could do to get more polyps would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers! Mark
Click to expand...


About PE, no one is really sure why acros show or dont show PE. PE increases their surface area and aid photosynthesis, it allows them to catch prey and improves gas exchange. But even than its hard to predict why or why not they show PE. Some might show high PE in high flow and no PE in low flow, other will do the opposite. Same way some will have high PE in high light, other will not show PE in high light, or only the shaded parts of the colony will have PE. Another theory is that they will have more PE in high nutrient water so that zoox have more surface to grow on and since they have more energy to spare. But other say the opposite by indicating they have more PE in low nutrient conditions to catch prey and supplement their algae. Its fair to say PE is not something essential, and I doubt it really indicates anything about the health (unless an acro that had PE loses it overnight or something). I assume PE is a combination of all these, and since it is not essential, some acros do not show it unless they must need to. Some species like bushy acropora millepora are more likely to show PE, if you like PE, get those species.


I dived a lot around coral reefs, and no acro will show PE during the day in nature. Same way, if you have maricultures or wild collected acros, they tend to not show PE or just show it during the night. Acros that show best PE are mostly aqua cultured corals. I think people artificially selected this by fraging branches that have the best PE and propagating those. Even then, if some fish nips at them even few times, they might lose PE for months.
 
Yea, my corals look healthy otherwise. Just seems some reefs have insane extension which I think looks better. I guess I will not worry too much about it. While I was researching lighting I came upon a scientific study that looked at the motility of algae in a coral. I had my lights at blue for 3 hours, then whites on also for 6 hours, with another 2 hours of blue only. And after reading the data, I changed to 30 minutes blue, whites on also for another 5 1/2 hours, then just blue for another hour and a half. According to the research, I had my blues on too long before whites and I was missing giving them enough light as the motility was peaking.
Cheers! Mark
 

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Daddi0 said:
Yea, my corals look healthy otherwise. Just seems some reefs have insane extension which I think looks better. I guess I will not worry too much about it. While I was researching lighting I came upon a scientific study that looked at the motility of algae in a coral. I had my lights at blue for 3 hours, then whites on also for 6 hours, with another 2 hours of blue only. And after reading the data, I changed to 30 minutes blue, whites on also for another 5 1/2 hours, then just blue for another hour and a half. According to the research, I had my blues on too long before whites and I was missing giving them enough light as the motility was peaking.
Cheers! Mark
Click to expand...

I have messing with my lights too much lately in an attempt to find the "right" setting. I have very little blue only and then only at 5% intensity, almost moon lighting. Mostly my white is only 17% of blues. I am not sure what the graph you posted means.
 
JTL said:
I have messing with my lights too much lately in an attempt to find the "right" setting. I have very little blue only and then only at 5% intensity, almost moon lighting. Mostly my white is only 17% of blues. I am not sure what the graph you posted means.
Click to expand...

The graph is time from lights turning on and motility of zooxanthelle on the left side. I am running my MarsAqua 300watt fixtures at 70% and 70% blue
 
Daddi0 said:
The graph is time from lights turning on and motility of zooxanthelle on the left side. I am running my MarsAqua 300watt fixtures at 70% and 70% blue
Click to expand...

Too much white for my eyes but it shouldn't hurt anything.
 
200 corals? Did you quarantine all 200? I would not rule out pests from dipping 1/200 corals, unless you quarantined all of them...
 
rvareef said:
200 corals? Did you quarantine all 200? I would not rule out pests from dipping 1/200 corals, unless you quarantined all of them...
Click to expand...
No quarantine (or dip). When we started reefing we didnt know about dipping or quarantine. I really dont think we have pests. Just to be sure, I repeated the process on 2 more corals and nothing washed off. Then I pulled another acro out and carefully inspected every nook and cranny under good magnification and no pests. We do have an acro crab, wrasses, and Springer Damsels.
Cheers! Mark
 
JTL said:
Very few quarantine corals. Dip and go.
Click to expand...

parasites will impact polyp extension, and dipping once will not kill eggs, with 200 corals its hard to rule that out unless you quarantined, you could always combine all your acros, montis etc in separate tanks and dip for 6-8 weeks, then you can rule out parasites causing your issue. The livestock you have will help keep them in check but not totally eliminate them.
 
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