Added a 3rd AI Blade and Acro Polyps Receded

[ElementSquaredLLC]

Hi All,

I added a 3rd AI Blade light a couple days ago. I had 2 Grows and added a Glow. I noticed that acro polyp extension has receded since then. That being said, it was never great to begin with. Seems like the acros that I add to the tank always start out with good extension and then gradually lose it over a few days/weeks. Regardless, the last couple days have been worse than normal. Tank parameters are below. Any feedback would be appreciated. And also, could the addiotional light be the issue with the polyps receding and if so, what should I do about it now that it has been a few days.


- Gross water volume of complete system (incl. sump etc.) -250 gallons
- Carbon reactor with KZ carbon.
- UV- 40 watt system
- Pumps- 2 Orbit 4 wavemakers, 2 Nero 7 pumps.
- Reefer DC 600 Skimmer
- NO3- 5ish. PO4- .05ish
- Ca- 410. Alk- 8.2. Mg 1500
- Red Sea Reef Mat Filter
- 3 AI Blades. 2 Grow, 1 Glow
- 10 torches. 5 Hammers, various zoas and duncans. 15ish various acros. Random monit's, stylos, acans, etc....
- Tank is 4 months old
- Dosing0 Ca, Alk, AB+, Microbacter7, Korellen Zucht trace element and coral supplements (8 of them)

 

[JTP424]

From a quick glance I'd say your tank isn't super mature at 4 months old...
That's a LOT of bio load in a fairly new tank.
Acros need stable conditions ime.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Agree with JTP. Also questioning all the additives. Is there a specific reason for each?
A third Blade on that size tank should not be an issue in fact for sps you still may need more. Would be good to get PAR readings and maybe an ICP to see where minor traces are at. With all those additives there could be several issues there. Lastly, be patient. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby and 4 months would be very fast.

 

[exnisstech]

I agree with above. That's a lot of coral in a 4mo old tank unless you have some experience under your belt. I started an acro tank 2 years ago and corals did very poorly for the first year and I only had acro frags.

 

[Spare time]

I'd stop dosing microbacter7.

 

[ElementSquaredLLC]

You guys are all correct for sure on tank age. I have a maintenance girl for the tank and she has said that to me a million times. That being said, patience is not a strong suit of mine lol. Anyway, the acros were looking quite good (at least comparitively) before the new light and pump went in a couple days ago and there was a noticeable contraction after, so I was just curious whether the new light or pump could be the issue.

To answer a couple of the questions....
1. I am dosing that stuff to add what the corals need that they may not be getting in such a young tank. There is a specific reason for each. Here they are. Prevention of Flatworms and Cyano, Trace elements, aminos, etc...

250 mL Korallen-Zucht Flatworm Stop

500 mL Korallen-Zucht Coral Booster

10 mL Pohl’s Coral Vitalizer - Korallen-Zucht

100 mL Coral's Love - Korallen-Zucht

Trace Element Complex (500 mL) - Korallen-Zucht

Activated Carbon (1L) - Korallen-Zucht

10 mL Cyano Clean - Korallen-Zucht

50 mL AcroGlow - Korallen-Zucht

2. The tank is super young. For the age it is actually doing quite well. All the corals are doing great, but the acros are basically not dying, but not really growing. A few of them have encrusted and are starting to grow more sticks. Those are some of the first ones I added like 2 months ago. So I guess that is fine.
3. Why stop dosing microbacter 7?
4. Thank you for your feedback.

 

[Tahoe61]

Check for Red Bugs or similar Acropora pest.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

You have a lot of things going on. Which is not necessarily a bad thing if it is called for? Are you doing ICP tests? In a new tank like that, an ICP test probably once a month would be good and then only do 1/2 dose changes because your tank is always changing. Do you have PE at night? PE during the day will always be less on a new tank with new corals. If you are doing ICP test post them up. If you feel your tank is lacking something tell us why you think that and the why you chose to add the additives you have.

 

[ElementSquaredLLC]

You have a lot of things going on. Which is not necessarily a bad thing if it is called for? Are you doing ICP tests? In a new tank like that, an ICP test probably once a month would be good and then only do 1/2 dose changes because your tank is always changing. Do you have PE at night? PE during the day will always be less on a new tank with new corals. If you are doing ICP test post them up. If you feel your tank is lacking something tell us why you think that and the why you chose to add the additives you have.

I just sent in an ICP test a couple days ago. I had not done one yet. Secondly, the tank is at my office so I really dont know how it looks at night. Super annoying.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Suggest waiting for ICP before doing anything else. Microbacter has been found to contain human digestive system bacteria and no bacteria found in the ocean which seems to be true for most or all bacteria sold currently. All of those additives impact your system. More is not necessarily better and can be a very expensive way of accomplishing nothing that is really helping you. Not saying that is the case here but the ICP Results will help.

 

[ElementSquaredLLC]

You have a lot of things going on. Which is not necessarily a bad thing if it is called for? Are you doing ICP tests? In a new tank like that, an ICP test probably once a month would be good and then only do 1/2 dose changes because your tank is always changing. Do you have PE at night? PE during the day will always be less on a new tank with new corals. If you are doing ICP test post them up. If you feel your tank is lacking something tell us why you think that and the why you chose to add the additives you have.

My apex temp probe went bonkers today and I actually got to see the tank at night for the first time and the acro polyp extension was great. Why is daytime PE less for new tanks?

 

[Whitearmy61]

To add a different angle, what is your light schedule/duration?

 

[ElementSquaredLLC]

To add a different angle, what is your light schedule/duration?

7am to 6pm with 1.5 hour ramp up.

 

[Whitearmy61]

7am to 6pm with 1.5 hour ramp up.

Potentially too much light intensity/duration? Seems odd the you've noticed things negatively after adding more light, would it be worth reducing your light duration? I've recently reduced mine to 9 hrs of lighting after having similar problems to yours and noticed positive results.

 

[ElementSquaredLLC]

Potentially too much light intensity/duration? Seems odd the you've noticed things negatively after adding more light, would it be worth reducing your light duration? I've recently reduced mine to 9 hrs of lighting after having similar problems to yours and noticed positive results.

I should have reduced the intensity when I added the light. Now that it has been 3 days I dont know if I should reduce it now as that would be just another change to F things up.

 

[Whitearmy61]

If you say that polyp extension wasn't great before and acros didn't thrive you may find knocking an hour of the time helps. You may find it's just too much light.
I'm learning with led as I've always been mh or t5 but led has more intensity and can be programmed. I took my lighting schedule back to basics in terms of lights on at 11am and off at 8pm with no real intensity either side of this and have noticed a positive reaction. Polyp extension has returned and sps that were browning are now regaining colour.
When I ran sps and mh/t5 they were either on or off but no ramping up or down etc with over extended schedules, my line of thinking was back to basics.
What is your actual intensity over that 11 hr period?

 

[ElementSquaredLLC]

If you say that polyp extension wasn't great before and acros didn't thrive you may find knocking an hour of the time helps. You may find it's just too much light.
I'm learning with led as I've always been mh or t5 but led has more intensity and can be programmed. I took my lighting schedule back to basics in terms of lights on at 11am and off at 8pm with no real intensity either side of this and have noticed a positive reaction. Polyp extension has returned and sps that were browning are now regaining colour.
When I ran sps and mh/t5 they were either on or off but no ramping up or down etc with over extended schedules, my line of thinking was back to basics.
What is your actual intensity over that 11 hr period?

100% blue. 95% royal blue. 45% UV. 15% white.

 

[Whitearmy61]

100% blue. 95% royal blue. 45% UV. 15% white.

For how many hrs at that intensity?

 

[ElementSquaredLLC]

For how many hrs at that intensity?

Sunrise at 7 and ramp up to that over 90 minutes. Then ramps down over 90 minutes to sunset at 6.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

My apex temp probe went bonkers today and I actually got to see the tank at night for the first time and the acro polyp extension was great. Why is daytime PE less for new tanks?

In nature, polyp extension is at night, because the predators/nippers are asleep, plus plankton is more active at night. In a more mature tank you can have more food during the day floating around so there can be more PE. Having little to nil PE during the day is normal. Having no PE at night is not and there is a problem.