polyp extension slowly disappearing

[kaceyo]

Hi Guys, I've been slowly adding sps along with the other corals to see how they would do and they've been doing pretty well with just a few exceptions. I've got two blue stylos that were fully extended for the 1st 6 to 8 weeks but have since lost much of their fluff. I've had them 3.5mo. One came as a frag with a green stylo on the same plug and while the green is still looking great the blue lost all the polyps on the side facing the green stylo and much on the other side as well. The other blue stylo, much bigger than the 1st, has been growing very well, quickly sprouted 2 or 3 growth tips from each single tip and has taken off from there. It now looks raggedy with polyps looking small and tangled(?) or mottled instead of evenly fluffy like it used to, but it's still growing very well. I also have a birds nest with the same symptoms. It started out with nice extension put lost it's full and fluffy look. It had turned very dark brown after a while in my tank, then developed a very deep green at the tips that fluoresced beautifuly. When the polyps started to decline, the fluorescence did too and they turned a light brown that may have been just the skeleton showing through. I moved the birds nest after accidently knocking it off the plug while cleaning and put it in a brighter spot. the green fluorescence is coming back but not the polyp extension. It's still growing too.
I have a number of other calcium utilizing corals that are growing well, except for a grafted orange & green monty cap that hasn't grown a bit in 3mo. Got it cuz it was going to grow so easily and fast...
I have a 50 gal tall tank that's 36"L and 20"H w/ 2 165w black boxes. I dose 2/3 part and have been having trouble keeping the alk up. It's dropped from around 10dkh 6+mo ago to mid 7's now but Ive been keeping it in the 7's for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I have 2 Jeboa rw4's and fairly strong flow from the return pump. A good oversized skimmer and some chemi-pure blue/ purigen in a bubbleup in the sump.
If you can help me figure this out I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks,

Kacey

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I’d get rid of the chemipure and Purigen for starters. What intensity are the lights? How high above the water are they mounted? What are your no3 and p04 parameters?

 

[kaceyo]

The Viparspect is at 2% on the white ch and 35% on the blue. The Evergrow is on 20% wht and 55% blue, and is much dimmer at those settings than the Viper is at it's settings. They are 11" above water level. Nitrates are under 5ppm and I don't know what the p04 is as I don't have a reliable test kit for it yet. API test kit reads 0 po4.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Ditch the purigen and chemipure for starters. Sps and purigen don’t go well together. You’ll probably want to crank your lights up later on if you start adding acroporas, but getting rid of the purigen should help. I bet they start looking happier by this time next weekend.

Get a more reliable po4 test btw. Hanna makes the best.

 

[George81]

The Viparspect is at 2% on the white ch and 35% on the blue. The Evergrow is on 20% wht and 55% blue, and is much dimmer at those settings than the Viper is at it's settings. They are 11" above water level. Nitrates are under 5ppm and I don't know what the p04 is as I don't have a reliable test kit for it yet. API test kit reads 0 po4.

Is there a reason you’re running the viparspectra low? On my coral qt I have mine set to 60 blue and 22 white, slowly bringing it up to 30 white is the goal.

 

[kaceyo]

I've never heard that about Purigen, in fact I've seen many tanks that run it and grow sps very well. Can anyone else chime in on the purigen = bad for sps question? I really don't want to remove it based on one persons opinion, but I'm open to the possibility.
I know I'll have to increase light intensity for sps but I'm taking that slow for the other corals in the tank. I will be getting a Hannah po4 tester, looking into which one to get. Thinking the ultra low might be too low for my situation. Suggestions?

 

[kaceyo]

Is there a reason you’re running the viparspectra low? On my coral qt I have mine set to 60 blue and 22 white, slowly bringing it up to 30 white is the goal.

I just put the Vipar on recently and 1st thing I noticed was that it is WAY brighter than my Evergrow even at much lower settings. Also my Lesser star coral bleached when I added it and it was the first coral in my tank. It came in w/live rock and has grown like crazy. I don't want to lose it. I have checked many threads on settings for the Vipar and have seen a couple of people are running the whites from 2% to 10% just for the look, which I like. I will be increasing the blue intensity though on both fixtures.
Any more ideas on my problem with polyp extension? Could low light be the problem? I've read that low light won't hurt them as much as too much too fast so...takin it slow.

 

[SeaDweller]

I've never heard that about Purigen, in fact I've seen many tanks that run it and grow sps very well. Can anyone else chime in on the purigen = bad for sps question? I really don't want to remove it based on one persons opinion, but I'm open to the possibility.
I know I'll have to increase light intensity for sps but I'm taking that slow for the other corals in the tank. I will be getting a Hannah po4 tester, looking into which one to get. Thinking the ultra low might be too low for my situation. Suggestions?

Everyone’s tank is different. Chaswood has success running his tank without certain filtration media, while I, on the other hand, have to run media to keep my nutrients in check because of the amount I feed my 35 fish. I don’t want starving fish, so I feed them, and their waste feeds my corals, but too much waste and nutrients isn’t good either, you get the idea...

You DO need detectable levels of NO3 and PO4 in your tank, as not having any is bad for your corals.

Once my frags become mini colonies and then colonies, I’m sure I’ll still use rowaphos, chaeto, and my sulfur denitrator in some combo as that’s what works for MY tank.