Polyp extension question

[tom obrecht]

I currently run a full sps system and see pictures of displays where the polyp extension on the corals is so great it makes them look fuzzy. I'm curious what people feel is the " secret" to get corals to that point?

 

[Pife]

I find that when you get on a good coral feeding regimen and have stable numbers PE comes around. Pests also keep corals from showing PE.

 

[Piper27]

Some people turn the lights on just before shooting in the middle of the night so the polyps are in feeding mode and expanded twice as big.

 

[alten78]

Ive noticed that when I start getting lazy with the nutrient export and the tank starts to get a little dingy the PE is high...for me at least it is a sign of my water too clean at times.

 

[ZON]

my acros ( this is a icefire ) show polyps all day like the night..my secret is only a constant but low lever of food and organic matter.. Before when i used zeovit have no pe in the day.. But tank is very ulns..

 

[tom obrecht]

So I've been trying hard to keep phosphates very low and doing weekly water changes to keep the water quality very clean. Perhaps too clean from the sounds of it. I do dose acropower almost daily (small amounts) and feed the fish a few times aday. I'm not convinced my phosphates are a true zero for I did have some algae on the back glass and some cyano that I attributed to larger daily dosings of acropower. I run gfo and carbon continuously and alternate replacing those weekly. I noticed this morning that PE was better than during the night but no where near some pics I have seen on this thread. Wondering if PE is a tank to tank thing or a sign of happy/healthy coral?