polyp extension?

[dunk373]

I have been wondering what causes polyp extension in sps and what does it mean? I have many different types of sps that i buy from different stores, one in particular any coral i buy the polyps are fully out within 30 minutes. Others it takes a while to fully extend some haven't in 2 months. Some corals are out only at night, some all the time and some during the day. One acro i have has small green polyps during the day and clearish white ones at night. Is there a reason, problem or is this totally normal?

 

[rigleautomotive]

PE is a good indicator of coral health in normal situations (not in tanks with coral nippers) and IMO my acros are there happiest when PE is maximized with lights on.Many things will effect the PE on sps and varying feeding seems to cause PE to be stronger on the lean days.I feed my tank heavy for a couple days a week and starve it a couple and this process seems to produce huge PE on the hungry days so take that as you will.I must say pests will effect PE and many times will go unnoticed until you observe very carefully.

 

[dunk373]

most are doing good but one worrys me it is a pretty big colony and when i bought it it was brown. the polyps barely come out at night and not on the whole coral. after 2 months the polyps are the same it has purple on it now in random spots and the base seems to be fading out it is slowly turning white and green (not a good green). and growth is random its not growing evenly i might do a dip just in case. I have it 8" below water level and below 2 par 38's along with vho's.

calcium 430
alk 8.5
trate cant detect
phos .00-.05 depends what i feed
mag 1350
sg. 1.026 35ppt
temp 79.0-80.0 fan cooling
ph 7.78-7.96 controller reading but test says 8.2

 

[dunk373]

here it is the green has slowly been creeping up i'm not sure if i should frag and try to save it. it even has some green on the top like the size or a pen point.

 

[dunk373]

here is a clump of healthy ones sorry it is blurry but these have pe all the time, the green polyp birdnest to the left, the polyps are always out, suck in for 1 hour after lights out, but come right back out

 

[dunk373]

also pics taken 2.5 hours after main lights off, under moonlights, and me shining a flashlight to take the pic

 

[oscarslr]

I would make a frag or two to be safe the green doesn't look to good

 

[Islander84]

you from dover tn? if so which lfs' have you been getting sps?

 

[dunk373]

nah dover de. we have crappy lfs around here till i found pacific east, his corals polyps open immediately

 

[dunk373]

i will make a frag this weekend it looks bad and keeps creeping up

 

[Islander84]

creeping up from the base sounds like aefw...:O nuke em!!

 

[Islander84]

that could also be the reason some dont have good pe...

 

[bif24701]

PE is a good indicator of coral health in normal situations (not in tanks with coral nippers) and IMO my acros are there happiest when PE is maximized with lights on.Many things will effect the PE on sps and varying feeding seems to cause PE to be stronger on the lean days.I feed my tank heavy for a couple days a week and starve it a couple and this process seems to produce huge PE on the hungry days so take that as you will.I must say pests will effect PE and many times will go unnoticed until you observe very carefully.

That may not be so, see this thread I started a few weeks a ago. Note post #7

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2046172

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2046172

 

[reefmanmatt]

View attachment 155616
here it is the green has slowly been creeping up i'm not sure if i should frag and try to save it. it even has some green on the top like the size or a pen point.

probably too late on this one , frag it immediately if you want it to have a chance up above the bad ...the green is where its completely dead already ..

 

[dunk373]

aefw? acro eating ? ? not sure what that stands for. I did make a frag this am i will dip also

 

[dunk373]

this is a better pic

 

[reefmanmatt]

acro eating flat worm aefw =)

 

[dunk373]

ok can i see them because no visible signs of anything. I guess i have to keep in mind where i bought this from, when i bought it it was named "ultra color" well it was brown. within weeks i turned the tips purple, it was under mh but im sure poor water quality i asked the lfs owner about it and he said it was purple when he got it it slowly browned out. I just dipped my main and frag i will keep an eye on them i put the frag in less light also. My lighting may be too strong.