Its always about polyp extension

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I have a couple acros thats have fairly decent polyp extension. I have a few that I never see polyps, but I have 1 or 2 that I feel are losing polyps. I have a tyree pinky the bear. Unfortunately the long trailing polyps have all disappeared. It still has plenty of polyps but they are small and very symmetrical without the long trailing finger on each polyp. Its lights out right now and I don't have a good picture of it currently, but here's when I got it. With arrows pointing to some of the best examples I could find.

It's hard to tell, but theres zero encrusting in this picture. I got this cut to order at the local coral vendor, but since then it has actively encrusted at least 3/4 of the plug. I assume if its got light enough to encrust then its probably more due to flow maybe? Its definitely getting hit with random flow but not as much as some of my other corals? Any advice?

 

[smitten with ocean life]

@Troylee

 

[Dburr1014]

Its definitely getting hit with random flow but not as much as some of my other corals? Any advice?

So what are you saying? You have random flow but maybe less in this spot?

You should have a strong random flow through out the tank.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

So what are you saying? You have random flow but maybe less in this spot?

You should have a strong random flow through out the tank.

Yea, i definitely see the polyps get blown around, but not nearly as aggressively as some other acros elsewhere.

I assume this means that lower flow can definitely lead to poor polyp extension.

 

[Dburr1014]

Yea, i definitely see the polyps get blown around, but not nearly as aggressively as some other acros elsewhere.

I assume this means that lower flow can definitely lead to poor polyp extension.

Flow brings nutrients, flow takes away waste. Without flow, coral suffer.
SPS, in all my years of reefing, need the most. I have my tank turned all the way up but not enough to blow old sand around. (old sand "sticks" better than new sand, IMO)

Edit:
BTW, i don't use polyp extension as a coral health indicator. Some of my SPS have great extensions and some don't, it is what it is.

 

[Dburr1014]

Last post-edited if you didn't see it

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Flow brings nutrients, flow takes away waste. Without flow, coral suffer.
SPS, in all my years of reefing, need the most. I have my tank turned all the way up but not enough to blow old sand around. (old sand "sticks" better than new sand, IMO)

Edit:
BTW, i don't use polyp extension as a coral health indicator. Some of my SPS have great extensions and some don't, it is what it is.

Yea, im at the point where sand and LPS are the issue lol. I wouldnt be worrying except that this corals visibly losing polyps. It also happens to be one of the first corals where I said "I want a _____" and went out of my way to purchase it, so if I can keep it looking healthy, all the better!

 

[Troylee]

Yea, i definitely see the polyps get blown around, but not nearly as aggressively as some other acros elsewhere.

I assume this means that lower flow can definitely lead to poor polyp extension.

Not necessarily… I have some in lower flow and the pe is amazing and just the opposite I have some in really high flow and nothing lol.. some days everything is out and look amazing and some days I don’t see much haha! I’ve been observing my tank daily for the last couple months with a fine tooth comb trying to figure it out… I mean there’s tons of reasons for poor pe like pests, fish nipping, something irritating the coral such as crabs or snails etc.. water chemistry and nutrients gotta be the biggest reason if you ask me if you eliminated the fish nipping and pests etc.. from what I’ve gathered, higher ph and nutrients bring out more pe.. a drop of iodine a day also seems to help in my case at least I think… the only time you need to sweat poor pe is in the middle of the night if you check and the corals not feeding you might have a issue but what exactly is it? That’s the questions that remain unanswered.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Not necessarily… I have some in lower flow and the pe is amazing and just the opposite I have some in really high flow and nothing lol.. some days everything is out and look amazing and some days I don’t see much haha! I’ve been observing my tank daily for the last couple months with a fine tooth comb trying to figure it out… I mean there’s tons of reasons for poor pe like pests, fish nipping, something irritating the coral such as crabs or snails etc.. water chemistry and nutrients gotta be the biggest reason if you ask me if you eliminated the fish nipping and pests etc.. from what I’ve gathered, higher ph and nutrients bring out more pe.. a drop of iodine a day also seems to help in my case at least I think… the only time you need to sweat poor pe is in the middle of the night if you check and the corals not feeding you might have a issue but what exactly is it? That’s the questions that remain unanswered.

I've seen your comment about checking after dark, and to be fair, I have a few (including a milli) that retract all polyps after dark. Are these just regular polyps i'm looking for or a different type that mostly come out at night? Example being the long white ones my Pinky the Bear used to have, or the long filamentous ones that one of my srressed acros had released after lights out. Im new to acros so pardon my poor terminology.

 

[coral reeftank]

In my experience that long “flowy” tentacle is directly correlated to the amount of particulate food item the coral has available to it in the water column. Of course all other parameters held constant and we’re assuming ideal conditions here.

With many corals, they will adapt to their environment. Given a rich environment it is less energetically costly for a coral to devote resources to food capture (i.e developing the flowy tentacles or always having their feeders out)
Many lps corals display this, if you feed them often enough may constantly stay open exposing their feeders. The same is for acropora and sps. If the action has no payout, then it’s just not worth pursuing.



Here’s an example of my tyree pink lemonade

Before: low particulates in water/reduced feedings

After: 1 month of routine feeding and increased particulates

 

[X-37B]

I have this one wild coral that I referred to as shaggy. It now has smaller extention. I have great random flow, Sea Sweeps, and feed my fish heavy.
I feed esv dried phyto once a week when the lights are off. All corals exhibit more extention after adding the phyto. I believe it's a feeding response.
I have moved shaggy around as it's on a base. Even at night the extension is 50% less than when I added it to my system.
I would say this is healthy with reduced extension.
1st pic 11/24 2nd pic 5/25.
7 months in current system.
same lighting but look very different.
I believe this is just it adapting to my system which has 10× the flow of the lfs I got it from.
Almost does not look like the same coral, imo.
Color has shifter quite a bit also.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

In my experience that long “flowy” tentacle is directly correlated to the amount of particulate food item the coral has available to it in the water column. Of course all other parameters held constant and we’re assuming ideal conditions here.

With many corals, they will adapt to their environment. Given a rich environment it is less energetically costly for a coral to devote resources to food capture (i.e developing the flowy tentacles or always having their feeders out)
Many lps corals display this, if you feed them often enough may constantly stay open exposing their feeders. The same is for acropora and sps. If the action has no payout, then it’s just not worth pursuing.



Here’s an example of my tyree pink lemonade

Before: low particulates in water/reduced feedings

After: 1 month of routine feeding and increased particulates

What did you start feeding? I feed two cubes of frozen food(change up daily) thawed with selcon in tank water daily. I dont rinse or strain. Once or twice a week I add benereef to the mix.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I have this one wild coral that I referred to as shaggy. It now has smaller extention. I have great random flow, Sea Sweeps, and feed my fish heavy.
I feed esv dried phyto once a week when the lights are off. All corals exhibit more extention after adding the phyto. I believe it's a feeding response.
I have moved shaggy around as it's on a base. Even at night the extension is 50% less than when I added it to my system.
I would say this is healthy with reduced extension.
1st pic 11/24 2nd pic 5/25.
7 months in current system.
same lighting but look very different.
I believe this is just it adapting to my system which has 10× the flow of the lfs I got it from.
Almost does not look like the same coral, imo.
Color has shifter quite a bit also.

I didnt even know dried phyto was an option! I was considering a phyto culture soon but was still on the fence. Buying phyo, unless local, is just way you to expensive.

My next tank is definitely going to be bare bottom. I wish I could just move plates around haha

 

[X-37B]

I didnt even know dried phyto was an option! I was considering a phyto culture soon but was still on the fence. Buying phyo, unless local, is just way you to expensive.

My next tank is definitely going to be bare bottom. I wish I could just move plates around haha

The esv dried is worth look. It's recommended daily but I only use it once a week. They recommend 1 scoop per 15g's. My system is 150's and I only feed 3-4 scoops. Once a week.
I have never tried more but may to see if there is any effect.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

The esv dried is worth look. It's recommended daily but I only use it once a week. They recommend 1 scoop per 15g's. My system is 150's and I only feed 3-4 scoops. Once a week.
I have never tried more but may to see if there is any effect.

I'll definitely give it a look! At the very least potentially add it to the reef pantry. I like a wide variety of foods.

 

[reefpanda]

Feeding frozen food tend to have better pe than just pellet food, from my own experience

 

[Science/G]

In my experience that long “flowy” tentacle is directly correlated to the amount of particulate food item the coral has available to it in the water column. Of course all other parameters held constant and we’re assuming ideal conditions here.

With many corals, they will adapt to their environment. Given a rich environment it is less energetically costly for a coral to devote resources to food capture (i.e developing the flowy tentacles or always having their feeders out)
Many lps corals display this, if you feed them often enough may constantly stay open exposing their feeders. The same is for acropora and sps. If the action has no payout, then it’s just not worth pursuing.



Here’s an example of my tyree pink lemonade

Before: low particulates in water/reduced feedings

After: 1 month of routine feeding and increased particulates

This has been my observation as well. When my nitrates and phosphates are low enough for me to dose Polyplab Polyp booster and reef roids daily, my corals respond with noticable PE.