Lack of PE??

[rutz81]

Hello everyone,

I had a quick issue to ask about. My tank is fairly new(barely 4 months). I have about 10-12 frags in the tank. All look good, maybe a little bleached from moving up too quick, but, colorwise, they look good. Problem is that my polyp extension seems to be lacking a bit, both, day and night on a say 70% of my corals. Another thing is that my tank is not showing barely any growth. Ones that do look good are a mille, green slimer, Red Planet, and setosa. My levels are: Alk:9.0-9.5 Cal:480-500. Also, my levels seem to never really go down(probably because I dont really have any growth or coralline algae that would be consuming it). I'm not sure if the lack of PE and growth is due to the tank being so new still, or, something is off.

Any suggestions?

TIA,
Dave

 

[CMcNeil]

What fish are in the tank?

 

[rutz81]

1 Powder Blue, 1 Yelow, 4 Carberryi Anthias, 2 Clowns....all non-nipping

-Dave

 

[jsousa]

What kind of flow do you have? I had a PE problem also and I fixed it with proper flow. I installed 2 MP40w's on my 156 gallon. Ridiculously expensive, but probably one of the best purchases I've made in my 15 year reef career.

The other thing to watch is that your Alk remains stable. Mine is 8...always.

And lastly, PO4 should be under 1, close as you can to .03. Use a Hanna meter or checker. I have the checker.

You should attempt to feed also. Reef Nutrition products are the best - Oyster Feast and Roti Feast is what I feed every other day. About an hour after feeding, I notice nice extension.

 

[rutz81]

First, thanks for the suggestions.

-For flow I have an Eheim 1262 Return and 2xMP40.
-Alk is pretty stable(just trying to figure out my consumption rate now, it doesn't really drop though since practically nothing is consuming it--Goes approx. from around 10.5 to9.5 by the end of the week). Although, it goes back to 10.5 when I do a waterchange(H2Ocean Salt).
-As far as PO4, I know I should really have a PO4 kit of some sort, test kits were the last on my things to buy when I got the tank together. So far I've gotten almost everything except that, so, hopefully soon I'll pick up a Checker. But, PO4, in my history has always shown signs of brown corals/algae, both of which I don't really have.
-I may try the feeding option, I think my tank may not have enough nutrients. I feed flakes 2/3 times a day and frozen once a day(sometimes every other). But, I have been using MB7 since the start of my tank, and now I am also using Biopellets. So, maybe my water is just stripped so much, I need to add something back??

Any other suggestions would be great.

 

[DT's_Reef]

For me, PE has relied heavily upon whether or not the SPS are getting enough food from the water column, and water flow.

Just a small pinch of Coral Frenzy in my 85g SPS system a few times a week makes a huge difference, as it was the only factor I changed, so it was lack of nutrients. I had tried feeding the fish more (high quality pellets), but that didn't work.