Polyp Extension New Frags

[nyknicks4412]

Just built out a new nano tank and it is my first shot at going strictly SPS! I bought 7 frags two days ago (red planet, karls candlelight, purleberry, pink lemonade) and am getting good polyp extension on some and none on others. Also seeing some white around the bases of the frags where they touch the glue (were fresh cut and glued to rubble). Is this normal or is it cause my water parameters are a little low?

My numbers sit at...
Calcium: 410
Alk: 7.3
Mag: 1360
PH: 7.6-7.8

Any advice is appreciated. I can dose two part or top off with Kalk if I need to raise them

 

[Ptyochromis]

A bit of white where the coral is glued is normal.

This tank, how new are we talking? Generally new tank and SPS don't go together well.

Your pH is low, which could be caused by low alk. Up your alk to 8; should help your pH.
Kalk will bring up your pH and alk. I would focus on dosing carbonates to get your alk up and see what that does to your pH.

 

[nyknicks4412]

Polyp Extension New Frags

By new it's about 2 and a half months old...it has had fish for about three weeks. Just two clowns for a 20 gallon with 10 gallon sump. Hasn't shown any nitrates ammonia or nitrites in over a month and a half.

I checked at night and am getting polyp extension on all but two now. So maybe it's just because they were fresh cut and in a new environment. They are under led now and were under t5's. My system is very low nutrients with just two fish and gfo/carbon running....

I agree that I don't like the alk/ph levels. Do you think dripping Kalk through the night would benefit these two levels and help stabilize ph swings? Any parameters I change I want to change very gradually...going to measure over the next 4 days to see if there's any changes.

 

[subxero]

Yes, higher alk will help stabilize ph swing. Depend how much kalk you are dripping, I would measure them daily and adjust dosage according before/in case they overshot your intended level.

 

[Ptyochromis]

Somewhat worrying that you haven't seen any ammonia or nitrites yet.

If you aren't even hitting 8.0 then your seriously need to consider upping your kh or tweaking a calcium reactor. Depending on how much kalk you are dripping and how much GFO you are running, it is possible that your GFO may suck out carbonates faster than you can replace them.

 

[ssscuz]

Stability will bring out the polyps. Are you using a dosing pump or dosing daily manually?

Tank is very young for sps so don't expect miracles. Given that some people do well straight up with sps.
What sort of lighting and flow are you running?

 

[nyknicks4412]

I did see ammonia, nitrites and nitrates during the cycle which was about two months ago...

I have not dosed anything at this point or dropped any Kalk. Those are just the two options I have as I have the supplies for them.

For lighting I am running a radion gen 2 @ 40%. Flow is provided from an mp10 and a mag 3 return. The tank as a ton of flow in it!

I can manually dose the tank by hand everyday or I can add Kalk to my ATO. Alternatively I could pick up some BRS dosing pumps if either of those two options won't work.

Do you guys think I should add some Kalk to the ATO to raise the alk/ph to start?

 

[nyknicks4412]

Or purchase a BRS dosing pump (1.1ml) to automate Kalk additions throughout the day?

 

[ssscuz]

In the long run kalk may not keep up and may not be as stable as a dosing pump. Depends how serious you want to go.

Why are you running the radion so low?

 

[nyknicks4412]

Tanks just 20 gallons and the corals were under t5 before I don't want to burn them up...

I want to get pretty serious with keeping SPS and know ill need to dose eventually. I have alk/ca/mag mixed I just don't know if it's better to just go straight to those or Kalk to start

 

[Ptyochromis]

You could do what I do and siphon in some kent superbuffer dkh during the day and drip kalk at night. I do run fans to speed evaporation so I can dose more.