Why no sweeper tentacles in my tank ever!?

[dthorn]

Not that I'm complaining, but it has intrigued me for over six months why non of my corals have ever shown sweepers. Frogspawn, open brain, favia, chalice in a crowded tank. Seems if there was a way to avoid them everyone would know about them, but is there something that could be stopping or preventing them?

A couple thoughts I've had. Number one, there is no time with complete darkness in my light cycle. In the beginning it was the night light from my led edge aquarium, then vega at 1% blues all night, bumped up to 2% since corals still go into "night" mode and don't appear bothered.

Could it be related to flow or something to do with parameters? Like I said not complaining, just wonder if I should be concerned or if anyone might know why. See thin extended polyps on frogspawn occassionally reaching to sting other corals and same with goniaporas, but never an actual sweeper.

Tank is getting fuller by the day from growth and even when they should be defending themselves, nothing. Open brain has been attacked by several corals that have grown to sizes where they can't be moved anywhere. Frogspawn is way on top, but is actually touching giant spaghetti leather and stings but still doesn't show sweepers and actually attack.

Really can't afford to have this change in such a crowded tank while waiting for bigger tank to cycle/stabilize/mature a while. So understanding why could be beneficial to continue preventing it. Want to start programming more complex light cycles with total darkness, but not if it's going to start a big war in a small crowded tank. Lots more stuff in there than I mentioned, just named the stuff I know should have sweepers. Haven't tried drawing them out with chunkier food since I broadcast feed the whole tank at once to keep nutrients in check(would probably take the amount I feed entire tank just to feed a few corals.

Like I said not a big concern, just part of the learning process. I want and need to know and understand EVERYTHING! If this scenario was simple to create and healthy for stock long term I would expect everyone to be doing it to have fuller tanks. Justs wonder what I'm doing right or wrong to cause it in the first place. Happy reefing!

 

[Sk8r]

My sig line has parameters these corals like. Now, frog doesn't have sweepers in the normal sense---it will fatten and extend a few tentacles over time, if annoyed, but your brain et al should have actual tentacles.

So check the params in my sig line against yours. Also---if you have been dosing anything without testing---that can interfere: I mean the micro nutrients like iodine and such that some stores will push: don't do those, just do water changes--that handles it.

Lighting could be at issue: brain doesn't like as much light as frog. MMMMMMMMM, just read the note about leather being present: leathers are sneaky, and spit into the water. You might try running carbon and seeing if that helps. Sometimes leathers and other softies can so dominate the water that the stonies stay tucked up and fail to thrive.

For food, try grinding up some jumbo krill and dropping the powder in several times a week.

 

[dthorn]

Thanks for the response will be ordering red sea foundation test kit Monday and don't currently dose anything at all. Do 20% wc with reef crystals biweekly and haven't tested alkalinity or calcium in a while due to not having magesium test. Last I checked was before I got nutrients under control and growth took off. Calcium tested at 480ppm, dkh was close to 14. Suspect I'm due to start dosing, but am waiting on red sea tests rather than using api, and will really know where I am with the addition of magnesium test.

All corals appear happy in my tank about 7-9 months due to different purchase dates. Good growth, color, polyp etension/expansion, follow normal behavior routines, and all show feeding response when I broadcast feed marine snow and microvert. May be that particle size isn't large enough to need sweepers but mouths open when feeding and smaller tentacled corals like trumpet, acan, and blasto always show theirs at feeding time.

Not sure if the lack of sweepers is really something I need to worry about. Definitely not in the short term since I wasn't prepared for how fast things would grow since growth was nonexistent until I got nutrients in check. Still at .25ppm api on po4 lasti checked but has been coming down slowly and steadily just waiting for lr to stop leeching hopefully in another month or two I'll really be there and right about when new 56g should be ready to start moving stuff over. Keep salinity at 35ppt by seawater calibrated refractometer and nitrates test 0 per api.

Thanks again any other thoughts are always appreciated. I've learned you find many more answers from a greater variety of sources and in the rc archives searching google. Because of this I don't ask a lot of questions and depend on a few answers when there are soo many already published. Starting to realize some of these questions are unique to me and easier to ask and on rc is way faster than doing the work on google for thorough research. Still no substitute for researching what I read more thoroughly later to separate good answers/products from bad but realizing I could have learned more a lot faster asking questions to point my research in the right direction. Mention this in a lot of posts because it completely baffles me why people still ask simple questions that have been answered thousands of times. New information is good, but way more posts to read in the archives than the handful you get asking again. Happy reefing!

 

[Sk8r]

Reading the stickies is slow and there's a lot of undergrowth to go through, but we try to have the best general info up there. Some of it is only undergrowth because you don't know yet you desperately need to know that!

 

[dthorn]

Yep that's why I just read through everything quite frequently I find answers to questions I didn't even think to ask. Just ran some numbers all per api test kits. Temp is 80, alkalinity it 9dkh so I guess it's not so high anymore, no3 and po4 read 0 which is an improvement from .25ppm on po4 2 weeks ago when more rowaphos was added, calcium test makes most drastic color change at 500ppm but never turned all the way blue until 580ppm(believe most people say to record when color changes but waiting until red sea foundation pro kits come for second opinion), and no magnesium test yet.

No major complaints and livestock appears happy. Recently added two small acro frags from swap meet and one was really stressed(thought it was dead). Using vega color led lighting and didn't want to risk frying them so placed in sb and turned lights down to 30%. Ramped up 5% per day for two weeks and slowed at 75%, currently at 82%.

The healthier completely encrusted one seems happy with good color and polyp extension although may want more light since green has a bit of tan mixed in(may be browning or might be normal coloration since I can't even view sps in my area.(plan to move it up once it shows it can handle the light.

The other one is giving me concern now. Not sure if I'm seeing the beginning of bleaching, rtn, stn, or something related to when it was fragged(base is what made me think it might not make it when 1st introduced). It just started today after a short power failure last night with a 2 degree temp drop and only an air stone running. The affected portion is only white between the corralites and raised bumps still have color as well as actual corralites which aren't retracted. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

My 1st attempt at sps since joining the hobby about 9 months ago. I learn most from observation and trial and error so losing them was a risk I don't fear. Swap meet prices also forced me to jump the gun a bit and know I'm a bit unprepared since chemistry has been mostly trusted to my salt mix and 20% water changes biweekly.

Will have a good skimmer and better test kits this coming week. I know some people don't agree with the sink or swim buy then research approach, but I have had very success wth this method and what I learn from it so far. All corals have been happy aside from a couple battles and minor noob mistakes.

Taking small chances showed me that I can keep softies, shrooms, zoas, a variety of lps, goniaporas, etc. Had to throw two cheap frags in to tell me if I can do it or if I have more learning ahead of me before trying again. With positive results until today, so any thoughts are great and lectures about going too fast and what not are fine too.

Thanks for all the help so far. Have learned a ton from the archives and sushigirl, leslieh, sk8r, and many others. Thanks guys for keeping reef central as the place to go for great information from experienced hobbyists who not only know their stuff, but also each specialize in different important aspects of this hobby. Happy reefing and noob teaching! Lol

 

[dthorn]

Any thoughts, suggestions, feedback, etc?