I have next to no polyp extension during the day, not even the milli's. At night I have polyp extension on almost all corals. If I put some coral frenzy in during the lights on, I can see some polyp extension. Does this mean I need more food in the water or just that they sense more food and react? I would love to have corals with polyps like most show on here, but so far that is not the case except birdsnest and pocilloporas.
Should I feed corals more?
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lynchmob3000
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Sounds like a fish likes to nip on corals. Or is it possible your lighting is too intense? Maybe leds?
Reef Bass
colors and textures
Lack of polyp extension is not usually a food issue. If your corals are furry at night but not during the day, it could well be that a fish is nipping at them as lynchmob suggests. Or it could be pests. Suboptimal water quality also discourages polyp extension.
And yes, corals can sense food in the water and react. I find Reef Nutrition's Oyster Feast is excellent at eliciting a feeding response.
And yes, corals can sense food in the water and react. I find Reef Nutrition's Oyster Feast is excellent at eliciting a feeding response.
I will have to get another test done today , but the last test a week ago showed:
Temp 80 degrees
Alk - 7dkh
Cal - 540 (trying to get that down now)
MG - 1350
The lights are LED's from Reef Radiance and they are set at 80% blue and 60% white / full. It is a 75g tank and lights are about 10" off the water and SPS are about 6" below that.
Corals are growing and colors are great, just no polyp extension. I have watched the fish and no one seems to be nipping at them, but I can't watch them 24/7.
Temp 80 degrees
Alk - 7dkh
Cal - 540 (trying to get that down now)
MG - 1350
The lights are LED's from Reef Radiance and they are set at 80% blue and 60% white / full. It is a 75g tank and lights are about 10" off the water and SPS are about 6" below that.
Corals are growing and colors are great, just no polyp extension. I have watched the fish and no one seems to be nipping at them, but I can't watch them 24/7.
I run two RW-15's on the system. They are on night mode so they drop to lowest setting, but still a pretty good flow even then.
Parameters are always stable, I use a dosing pump to keep them there. Alk was at 9 at one time but some have suggested it lower since I add a little vinegar to help control nitrates. So I just let it drift down as the uptake was increasing. I will try to raise that as well.
Parameters are always stable, I use a dosing pump to keep them there. Alk was at 9 at one time but some have suggested it lower since I add a little vinegar to help control nitrates. So I just let it drift down as the uptake was increasing. I will try to raise that as well.
Should I also drop the lighting intensity down? It doesn't look that bright to me but I realize LED's are more direct so the light doesn't spill out like T5 or MH. Perhaps it as some have mentioned, too much. I am no biologist, but isn't when corals get all the food and energy they need from the light, they won't need to feed as much?
lynchmob3000
New member
I've ran my leds too strong and noticed less pe. They were growing just fine. They may just need to slowly acclimated to the leds
. But I agree sps like 440 ca and 9 dkh, anything higher and no telling what problems can happen. What's your sg btw? If it floats up a bit sps will get irritated like your explaining also.
. But I agree sps like 440 ca and 9 dkh, anything higher and no telling what problems can happen. What's your sg btw? If it floats up a bit sps will get irritated like your explaining also.
lynchmob3000
New member
Do your lights ramp up and down? So if they do watch on the ramp down part at night and see if your corals like the less intense lighting and start to shoot out polyps before the lights actually go out.
If it were bugs I think it would affect night time pe and it wouldnt be common between millis and acros.
Also I have some sps nippers ( mated pair of flame angels) they won't touch corals with me in the room, I sneak out and look back thru the doorframe and they will be a over them. But these are colonies and they don't seem to bare any damage long term.
If it were bugs I think it would affect night time pe and it wouldnt be common between millis and acros.
Also I have some sps nippers ( mated pair of flame angels) they won't touch corals with me in the room, I sneak out and look back thru the doorframe and they will be a over them. But these are colonies and they don't seem to bare any damage long term.
Lights don't ramp up or down, it is on or off. Since I have lowered the intensity, I have noticed a bit more PE. At night they look really fuzzy, at least some of them do. Milli's still don't look as most photos I have seen and cali tort has no PE at any time, yet it is growing fine.
No crabs in the tank except a couple hermits. Fish consist of a bicolor blenny, coral beauty, mated clowns, two firefish, yellow tang (tiny), royal gramma, pink pseudo and a blue damsel. There are 5 shrimp there as well as a serpent star and a tuxedo urchin. Cleanup crew other than the 2-3 hermits are 4-5 turbo snails, maybe 10 cerinth snails and few nassisarius snails. No algae to speak of in the tank, at least none that would be considered and issue on here.
I will turn down the flow some and see if that helps any as well. Checked parameters tonight and alk is now at 9.5 dkh and calcium has dropped to 480. Still letting it come down slowly. Lights have been reduced to 60% blue and 40% white / full.
Things tend to look a bit better and some PE has started to show more with lights on. Other than the flow and calcium continuing to come down, I think I will leave it here for awhile and see how things go.
I will turn down the flow some and see if that helps any as well. Checked parameters tonight and alk is now at 9.5 dkh and calcium has dropped to 480. Still letting it come down slowly. Lights have been reduced to 60% blue and 40% white / full.
Things tend to look a bit better and some PE has started to show more with lights on. Other than the flow and calcium continuing to come down, I think I will leave it here for awhile and see how things go.
Your lights may be the problem. In fact I'm surprise they haven't bleached yet. How long have you had the LEDs on them?
I also have LEDs from reef radiance. I currently run the lumentek pro 240 about 12" from the water level, nearest SP's is about 10" from the top, and I run 30% blues and 55% whites. My cycle ramps up over 1 hr from beginning 2pm to 11pm.
LEDs are very harsh. Its important to take it slow.
swk
New member
Should I feed corals more?
Watch that blenny. I had the same one that used to devour montipora like a fat kid in a candy store. A week after it was added i noticed all my Montis looking like crap. Watched the tank for a while and noticed that darn fish would cruise from one end of the tank to the other, chomping on every monti in its path. I will never keep another one of those again. It's a shame as they're nice looking fish. Watch the dwarf Angels too
Also, I ran leds from the same manufacturer and never had success with sps until I switched to different lighting. Just my experience.
Watch that blenny. I had the same one that used to devour montipora like a fat kid in a candy store. A week after it was added i noticed all my Montis looking like crap. Watched the tank for a while and noticed that darn fish would cruise from one end of the tank to the other, chomping on every monti in its path. I will never keep another one of those again. It's a shame as they're nice looking fish. Watch the dwarf Angels too
Also, I ran leds from the same manufacturer and never had success with sps until I switched to different lighting. Just my experience.
