SPS settling in period?

[Jay_R]

Hi All,

I've just started to venture into the realms of SPS Corals and after a lot of research I decided to try some Montipora Digitata due to their hardy and forgiving nature.

My tank Params are as follows;

Calc = 450
Alk = 9.2
Mag = 1320
P04 = 0
N03 = 0.50

Lights are ( LED & T5);

2 No. TMC Aquabeam Marine White - 14k Temp / PAR at 400mm in air = 50uEinsteins/sec/m2
1 No. TMC Aquabeam Reef White - 18k Temp / PAR 48
1 No. TMC Aquabeam Marine Blue - 20k Temp / PAR 45
2 No. 28w Blue T5s

Light cycle on at 10am off at 20.00 ( 1hr ramp up / down )

Tank = Juwel Trigon 190 ( 55g Corner Tank ) with sump 2 years old.
Flow; 1 No Maxspect Gyre 150 + 1 No. Fluval Sea Power Head

I purchased 4 No. frags; 1 Forest Fire, 1 Purple, 1 Blue Polyp and 1 Super Green. They went in the tank 17th July 2015 circa 12 inches below the lights and to date have shown little to no polyp extension. They are not browning or bleaching, they're just sitting in limbo.

( See pic below - As a side note any ideas what the fluro green SPS is in front of the featherduster is - Capitata Maybe? It was a freebie )

My question to those who are generally more experienced than I is; how long do these SPS 'generally' take to settle in and extend their polyps?

I do have a flame angle, and have read they can be a reason for retracted polyps, I've checked the polyps at night, and they're a little more extended but just poking out, not full extension as i'd hoped.

Any help / assurance / advice on your experiences would be be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

NO LED HATERS ALLOWED! LOL :lolspin:

PS I know the frogspawn is a little close to the Forest Fire.. this is getting moved soon

 

[Jay_R]

Just for clarity, the row of 3 corals on the right are Fore, Mid and Rear Ground. There is around 5 inches between them. They just look close due to the angle.

 

[AdamNC]

It can take anywhere from 3 days to 1 year for your more difficult SPS. On average though I'd say about 3-5 days and if your water is good you should have partial to full pe on the "easier" SPS.

 

[outssider]

keep an eye on that flame...they are quick and it only takes a quick nip to keep the polyps in the rest of the day...

This may sound crazy but I believe the corals can sense the danger of a nipping fish close by even if it hasn't nipped anyone for hours...

 

[Wazzel]

No set time as far as I know. I have had some get going in less than a week and some take months.

 

[Jay_R]

keep an eye on that flame...they are quick and it only takes a quick nip to keep the polyps in the rest of the day...

This may sound crazy but I believe the corals can sense the danger of a nipping fish close by even if it hasn't nipped anyone for hours...

Will do.. i think i'll give it another couple of weeks, and if there is no change I may consider moving the Flame into my grow out tank for a period, and see if that has any affect on the PE.

 

[Jay_R]

Wazzel / Adam - Thanks.. I guess it's just a waiting game for now.

Do you guys see any issue with water quality? I think i'm in the right regions.

Lighitng maybe? Not sure how much PAR i get out of the Blue T5s but without measuring I should be near 200 par on the Digits without the Blue T5s in the calculation.

 

[ridetheducati]

Do you guys see any issue with water quality? I think i'm in the right regions.

Cannot speak to your water quality as husbandry is big factor as well. I would like to see a trace of phosphates (.03 ppm). Not a fan of zero phosphates or nitrates.

 

[Jay_R]

Cannot speak to your water quality as husbandry is big factor as well. I would like to see a trace of phosphates (.03 ppm). Not a fan of zero phosphates or nitrates.

I check my P04 with a red sea test kit once a week prior to my weekly water change, while I state it's zero.. it's difficult to tell on the Red Sea test, but it's probably nearer the 0.02 - 0.04 mark.

I stopped using GFO and just use Purigen and Vodka at the moment.

My sump is circa 10 gallons. This gets emptied and refilled with fresh mixed Red Sea Coral Pro Salt water once a week at 1.026sg, I also top up with Red Sea foundation ABC+ to bring my Calk, Alk and Mag levels up inline with what my tank consumes on a weekly basis.

I like to think I'm pretty good with husbandry, I don't have much algae to speak off, and my sand bed is always pristine.

Is 200 PAR adequate for Digitatas?

 

[Jay_R]

Anyone able to ID the Green coral front left of the pic? It's slowly encrusting and the colour hasn't changed since it's been there, so hopefully this is a good sign.

 

[Jay_R]

Bump

 

[Tweaked]

For example.

Picked up this vivid rainbow acro about 3 years ago and just recently got it to color back up, well it's starting to lol :uhoh3:

 

[Pife]

Anyone able to ID the Green coral front left of the pic?

montipora spongodes

 

[Jay_R]

montipora spongodes

Cheers, think you may have nailed it. Although again, no decent polyp extension to speak off and it's been there a while!

 

[Jay_R]

For example.

Picked up this vivid rainbow acro about 3 years ago and just recently got it to color back up, well it's starting to lol :uhoh3:

Wow 3 years! That's a long wait!

 

[Tweaked]

Well, I did have several alk crashes and spikes lol, but other corals just burnt a bit, this acro has been very stubborn. Others have had the same sort of experience with the vivid rainbow as well.

 

[Jay_R]

OK, time for an update.. My 'Spongodes' after a month or so has started to change, encrust and spread out as you can see in the attached it looks a little different from the image in post #1

The 2 Digitatas in the rear have also started to encrust and some of the fingers are now starting to grow out a little..

Not bad for 5ish weeks.