xdcbenoitxd
Active Member
Hi there,
I have had this colony for over 2 years now. It seems overall ok as it continuously produces new heads but it has never fully extended it's polyps as you see in the case of most other Duncans. I just took this photo and it is extra contracted as it just opened up for the first time in a week after working on sprouting some new heads by the looks of it. That being said the polyps don't usually extend too much past that point. Any specific reason this may be happening?
Here is a quick breakdown of my tank for background info:
80 gallon tank with 40 gallon sump (filled to 30). LPS/Softie tank containing the following:
3 large Zoa colonies (100 s of heads each)
3 Hammer colonies (anywhere between 40-60 heads)
1 frogspawn with 5-6 heads
1 pulsing xenia (large colony but frequently harvested) ** currently living in sump
1large colony of waving anthelia (also frequently harvested) 888 currently living in sump
1Blastomussa colony (30-40 heads)
1 GSP colony (1/2-1 foot cubed)
Probably not relevant as this has been going on for so long but two weeks ago I also added multiple frags (stylloconiella, lepto, porite, palythoa, montipora, psamocorra)
1 picture wrasse
1 pajama cardinal
1 yellow watchman goby
1 female gladiator clownfish
3-6 lightning dove snails
up to 20 large nassarius snails
up to 10 sml nassarius snails
9 trochus snails
1 strawberry conch
Above are fed twice a day. Assorted pellets in the am and frozen (mostly Mysis) at night.
Algagen apocyclops and tisbe pods have recently been added
Lighting is an ATI 36 inch 4 bulb (2 coral plus, 2 blue plus) Par ranges depending on depth and placement of coral from 100 to 300
Water temp is set to 79 with a Helio heating system. Temp double checked with Hanna salinity meter for accuracy (was 80 for a while to help keep dinos at bay. I had an issue for a short while)
Just added a new skimmer aqua c ev 120
Running aquaforest carbon
dosing the following:
All for reef
either Tropic Marin elimi-np, plus np or bacto balance depending on the need of my phosphate/nitrate levels
Red Sea ab + periodically
amino acids periodically
Aquaforest pro bio S (was also doing pro bio F but the fish store can't seem to get it in)
Aquaforest life source occasionally
Assorted bacteria on occasion (reef brite liverock enhance, tim's waste away, ect)
My last water parameters (done weekly) were as follows:
dKH 9.6
Ca 410
Mg 1440
pH 8 (not an average only at the time of)
nitrate 0.0 *****I do not have nitrates but do have ample nitrogen compounds from my carbon dosing. None other coral in anyway looks nitrogen deficient.****
Phosphate 0.04
I did have to do a temporary QT of everything and fight some very bad dinoflagellates so my tank is again going through it's ugly hairy stages
However the issue started far before the dinos and are still lasting so not related. My other corals have actually never looked better coloration wise than they do now.
Current hitchhikers:
bristleworms
ostecods
limpets
collostina snails
asterina starfish
amphipods
purple/green/pink coraline algae
pineapple sponges
glass anemone
hair/turf algae: slowly winning
dinoflagellates (in there but not visible at moment)
cotton candy algae (in there but not visible at moment)
cyanobacteria (in there but not visible at moment)
I do love how Duncans can look with those wavy tentacle like flowers but I've never been able to see it in my tank. Like I said the colony has had some definite growth so it's not dying but I also don't believe it's happy. Any and all advice on how to make my Duncans thrive would be appreciated. Also if there is feedback on ways to tweek and improve my setup please feel free to share keeping in mind that my budget is tight unfortunately at the moment and that your tank needs may be very different
I have had this colony for over 2 years now. It seems overall ok as it continuously produces new heads but it has never fully extended it's polyps as you see in the case of most other Duncans. I just took this photo and it is extra contracted as it just opened up for the first time in a week after working on sprouting some new heads by the looks of it. That being said the polyps don't usually extend too much past that point. Any specific reason this may be happening?
Here is a quick breakdown of my tank for background info:
80 gallon tank with 40 gallon sump (filled to 30). LPS/Softie tank containing the following:
3 large Zoa colonies (100 s of heads each)
3 Hammer colonies (anywhere between 40-60 heads)
1 frogspawn with 5-6 heads
1 pulsing xenia (large colony but frequently harvested) ** currently living in sump
1large colony of waving anthelia (also frequently harvested) 888 currently living in sump
1Blastomussa colony (30-40 heads)
1 GSP colony (1/2-1 foot cubed)
Probably not relevant as this has been going on for so long but two weeks ago I also added multiple frags (stylloconiella, lepto, porite, palythoa, montipora, psamocorra)
1 picture wrasse
1 pajama cardinal
1 yellow watchman goby
1 female gladiator clownfish
3-6 lightning dove snails
up to 20 large nassarius snails
up to 10 sml nassarius snails
9 trochus snails
1 strawberry conch
Above are fed twice a day. Assorted pellets in the am and frozen (mostly Mysis) at night.
Algagen apocyclops and tisbe pods have recently been added
Lighting is an ATI 36 inch 4 bulb (2 coral plus, 2 blue plus) Par ranges depending on depth and placement of coral from 100 to 300
Water temp is set to 79 with a Helio heating system. Temp double checked with Hanna salinity meter for accuracy (was 80 for a while to help keep dinos at bay. I had an issue for a short while)
Just added a new skimmer aqua c ev 120
Running aquaforest carbon
dosing the following:
All for reef
either Tropic Marin elimi-np, plus np or bacto balance depending on the need of my phosphate/nitrate levels
Red Sea ab + periodically
amino acids periodically
Aquaforest pro bio S (was also doing pro bio F but the fish store can't seem to get it in)
Aquaforest life source occasionally
Assorted bacteria on occasion (reef brite liverock enhance, tim's waste away, ect)
My last water parameters (done weekly) were as follows:
dKH 9.6
Ca 410
Mg 1440
pH 8 (not an average only at the time of)
nitrate 0.0 *****I do not have nitrates but do have ample nitrogen compounds from my carbon dosing. None other coral in anyway looks nitrogen deficient.****
Phosphate 0.04
I did have to do a temporary QT of everything and fight some very bad dinoflagellates so my tank is again going through it's ugly hairy stages
However the issue started far before the dinos and are still lasting so not related. My other corals have actually never looked better coloration wise than they do now.Current hitchhikers:
bristleworms
ostecods
limpets
collostina snails
asterina starfish
amphipods
purple/green/pink coraline algae
pineapple sponges
glass anemone
hair/turf algae: slowly winning
dinoflagellates (in there but not visible at moment)
cotton candy algae (in there but not visible at moment)
cyanobacteria (in there but not visible at moment)
I do love how Duncans can look with those wavy tentacle like flowers but I've never been able to see it in my tank. Like I said the colony has had some definite growth so it's not dying but I also don't believe it's happy. Any and all advice on how to make my Duncans thrive would be appreciated. Also if there is feedback on ways to tweek and improve my setup please feel free to share keeping in mind that my budget is tight unfortunately at the moment and that your tank needs may be very different
