Only comes out later in the day

Puffthefish · Oct 10, 2021

I purchased a coral, thick finger leather I believe, about 6 weeks ago. It was placed and moved a couple times, both at high levels and low levels in the tank and it is the same behavior, it only truly comes out later in the day, around 3pm. My light schedule is 8am to 5pm and then slowly lowering to 6pm. So why would this only come out later in the day and especially at night? It seems that if the lights were too strong that it would come out after they start to dim. A couple days with low lights did not allow it to open.

So the big question is why does it only open later in the day and overnight?
PH 8
Alk 8
sal 1.025
Nitrates low with good algae growth and zero reading
Zero ammonia, good magnesium

Uzidaisies · Oct 10, 2021

Just guessing, but could be not enough light or a spectrum thing. I think my toadstool and my finger leather were doing the same type of thing until I turned the lights up a bit and tweaked the spectrum. Which light are you using? Does your flow change throughout the day? Do you have a full tank shot?

Puffthefish · Oct 10, 2021

Thanks for the reply. I am running Red Sea lights LED 90s @ 20K.
Nothing changes from day to night or through the day, flows are exactly the same. No clouds or variations on the lights, no ph swings during the day.

Uzidaisies · Oct 10, 2021

I really dont know, i have not been doing this very long and i'm still figuring things out myself. It looks good when it's out judging by the picture. You must be doing something right, that toadstool is beautiful. Do you know which species it is? Do you feed your corals?

Puffthefish · Oct 10, 2021

Uzidaisies said:
I really dont know, i have not been doing this very long and i'm still figuring things out myself. It looks good when it's out judging by the picture. You must be doing something right, that toadstool is beautiful. Do you know which species it is? Do you feed your corals?

Thanks again.
I have no idea what species that toadstool is, but it is pretty amazing. I have only had it for a couple months and maybe fed it Reef Roids about for times.

Uzidaisies · Oct 10, 2021

Looks yellow in the white light, Is the toad yellow in blues too? I was asking about the feeding because I was wondering if the Sinularia only bothers extending when if it wants to feed, and you feed around 3pm every time. I don’t know if corals even do that though.