Poor LPS Performance

[Stolireef]

Tank setup is: (trying to be very thorough in description)
Appx. 5 months old
110/20" deep
2xRadions ramping up to 80% for about 4 hours/day (total light schedule is 10 hours) Ramped up to this power level slowly over several weeks.
Octopus Skimmer
100 micron filter sock, changed every three days
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.1-8.3
Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates: Undetectable (Using new salifert tests, double checked against older API tests)
CA: 440
Kh: 10
Mg: 1400
Livestock: Powder Blue Tang: 2", yellow tang: 2", Lawnmower blenny: 2", three small blue/green chromis, two small cardinals, two cleaner shrimp, CUC, lots of SPS all doing well (growth strong, color moderate)
Feeding: Daily, about 1 cube of frozen (mysis, cyclopseze, marine supreme mixed together) 2" nori. twice each week, 5ml's of Phytofeast.
Salt: NeoMarine, 10% water change per week.

Problem, lousy growth of LPS including Candy Cane and torch. Cynarina receding flesh. LPS are placed middle to low in tank and get significant direct light from Radions. Cynarina is the big problem at the moment. There is no apparent nipping of LPS by either CUC or fish.

Possible reasons:
Running a VLNT.
No target feeding.
Insufficient tank feeding.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MBIETZ]

Ya i think it is lack of food in your water feeding more would help LPS do better with more nutrients spot feeding every once in awhile is great for LPS and it will make them grow faster.

 

[Stolireef]

This is probably a stupid question, but whenever I try to target feed my LPS (especially the Cynarina), the fish grab the food before the coral can ingest it. Is there a trick to this?

 

[brizhound]

Try feeding your fish first and while they're chasing around the food then target feed. I bought a Two Little Fishes "Thing" and it works awesome. I've tried lots of tools to target feed and this is by far the best. Some people cover the lps they are feeding with a container with holes cut in it to keep fish away.

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[brizhound]

Tank setup is: (trying to be very thorough in description)
Appx. 5 months old
110/20" deep
2xRadions ramping up to 80% for about 4 hours/day (total light schedule is 10 hours) Ramped up to this power level slowly over several weeks.
Octopus Skimmer
100 micron filter sock, changed every three days
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.1-8.3
Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates: Undetectable (Using new salifert tests, double checked against older API tests)
CA: 440
Kh: 10
Mg: 1400
Livestock: Powder Blue Tang: 2", yellow tang: 2", Lawnmower blenny: 2", three small blue/green chromis, two small cardinals, two cleaner shrimp, CUC, lots of SPS all doing well (growth strong, color moderate)
Feeding: Daily, about 1 cube of frozen (mysis, cyclopseze, marine supreme mixed together) 2" nori. twice each week, 5ml's of Phytofeast.
Salt: NeoMarine, 10% water change per week.

Problem, lousy growth of LPS including Candy Cane and torch. Cynarina receding flesh. LPS are placed middle to low in tank and get significant direct light from Radions. Cynarina is the big problem at the moment. There is no apparent nipping of LPS by either CUC or fish.

Possible reasons:
Running a VLNT.
No target feeding.
Insufficient tank feeding.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Believe it or not I had the same problem And was told that my water it too clean for LPS. Solution was more fish + more feeding = more fish poo thus "dirtier water and happier LPS. That's the trick with mixed reefs. Keeping the SPS and LPS happy. Try feeding the tank more.

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[willietang021]

Water flow??? LPS do not like Direct strong flow. Also Most LPS would love to be target feed. You said your fish grab the food from your corals. I target feed all my corals after lights are off at night, I can still see the corals with the luna moon light from the LEDs. If you are feeding your corals at noon time or when all your fishes are very active, use some type of container cover each coral right after you feed them. Do not remove the container until the food is completely eaten by the coral, also feed the fish some of the food also. If your fish is really hungry, they will nip or attack the base or the body of the coral so the coral will spilt the food back out.

 

[Stolireef]

Water flow: I can't believe I left this out of my description (so much for thorough). I have two MP40's running at about 50% at opposite ends of the tank and have two small powerheads running from front to back. I also have a return pump pushing about 600 gal/hr. LPS appear to be getting very gentle flow based on appearance and location. Do you have issues when covering coral with dead water (eg. losing O2)?

 

[BfishLpond78]

When I target feed my corals I always drop in just a little bit of food for the fish to eat, just a little bit, this gets the scent and "flavor" into the water. This will in turn trigger a feeding response from all the corals who accept food. I usually mix my combo of mysis and cyclopeze, garlic and selcon for 15 to 20 mins while the LPS extend their feeder tentacles. I then do a small squirt into the power head so the fish and shrimp are occupied, then I go about my target feeding...HTH!

 

[xCry0x]

Ditto, I feed my fish first then target feed lps.

Only lps in my tank that is doing well is my acan though =/ . Torch has not grown or died at all in the past 6-7 months, looks exactly the same with 1 head, same with frog spawn. Acan on the other hand has doubled the amount of heads in about 3 months, but it also eats MUCH more.

I can feed chunks of shrimp about the size of a pencil eraser to the heads on my acan that are the size of a dime and it devours them. I squirt mysis/brine at my torch and it grabs stuff but usually releases it over the next 5 minutes, my frogspawn does not ever have a feeding response.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Ya some LPS like hammers and frogspawn don't need target feeding, I use a turkey baster, glass with some tank water and cube of food and mix then use turkey baster and lightly squeeze downwind of the coral or gently put the tip near the tentacles or mouth area.