Polyp extension

Hunt3r

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Its just bothering me for quiet sometime. Before on my pico tank i have a good polyp extension with my sps like birdsnest and monti. Grew them pretty well but my only problem back then was the magnesium keeps getting low no biggie. So i decided to upgrade to a bigger tank. From 6g to 20g and a little more fish. Everything was ok but i see less polyp extension on my birdsnest and monti but my problem with that yank was phosphate as i cant bring it down cause its always hovering from .20 - .15. So i decided to upgrade to my now 40g and going for sps dominated tank. Lost my monti digitata and my birdsnest from the love but i added more sps from time to time.

Now my thing is my tank have 0 phosphate and nitrates of 5-10. And i have no polyp extension. I even have strong flow. I have 2 mj1200 return and a gyre 1k on a cvue 40g with a foot print of 40breeder. I got a birdsnest but not much of polyp extension like a fuzzy stick maybe all of them. They are growing and coloring but no polyp extension. Sometimes my new frag have a good extension then when it hits my tank the next day polyps will be retracted. I have 3 ai primes hd on my tank. I dont know what else i can do if somebody can chime in thanks in advance.

Alk 8.5
Ca. 450
Mg 1450
Nitrate 5-10
Po4 0
Dosing everyday
red sea abcd
Acropower
Reef fuel
Phyto
Reef roids and chili (every other day)
Overstocked tank with 10 fish
 

road_runner

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Its just bothering me for quiet sometime. Before on my pico tank i have a good polyp extension with my sps like birdsnest and monti. Grew them pretty well but my only problem back then was the magnesium keeps getting low no biggie. So i decided to upgrade to a bigger tank. From 6g to 20g and a little more fish. Everything was ok but i see less polyp extension on my birdsnest and monti but my problem with that yank was phosphate as i cant bring it down cause its always hovering from .20 - .15. So i decided to upgrade to my now 40g and going for sps dominated tank. Lost my monti digitata and my birdsnest from the love but i added more sps from time to time.

Now my thing is my tank have 0 phosphate and nitrates of 5-10. And i have no polyp extension. I even have strong flow. I have 2 mj1200 return and a gyre 1k on a cvue 40g with a foot print of 40breeder. I got a birdsnest but not much of polyp extension like a fuzzy stick maybe all of them. They are growing and coloring but no polyp extension. Sometimes my new frag have a good extension then when it hits my tank the next day polyps will be retracted. I have 3 ai primes hd on my tank. I dont know what else i can do if somebody can chime in thanks in advance.

Alk 8.5
Ca. 450
Mg 1450
Nitrate 5-10
Po4 0
Dosing everyday
red sea abcd
Acropower
Reef fuel
Phyto
Reef roids and chili (every other day)
Overstocked tank with 10 fish
What kits do you use to measure po4 no3?
 

Ike

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Any angelfish or blennies in the system? Going to assume you have a centropyge angel now... If so, that's likely your problem.
 
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b55b35b707b80c1f09729464bb79d9c2.jpg

cd332a8528e74d2fab361a0e8050992f.jpg
 

road_runner

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What's your light setting?
Can you post a pic of the equipments and filtration pls
 
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Hunt3r

Hunt3r

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What's your light setting?
Can you post a pic of the equipments and filtration pls

I used a+b customized then now i use jamaica i believe. Then for filtration i have sock on one chamber then cheato then floss on the other chamber. I have skimmer but i havent used it for 8 months.
69179936b8155aed604a8d3025c51f44.jpg


Hannah the ULR?

Yes the ulr
 

erk

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I recently found out my biggest issue was lighting. Too much lighting. I turned down my lighting, from 14 hrs with 12 hrs of T5 to 10 hrs with 4 hrs of T5. Caused a drop in alk consumption, but my corals haven't had better PE. Even the softies have better PE. Every monti or birdsnest I stuck in the tank had no PE and bleached within days on the sand bed. The birdsnest and montis I stuck in recently have gone the longest so far without bleaching or losing PE. The birdsnest is showing several new growth buds even.

Just remember to take changes slowly and monitor alk consumption closely during the changes.
 
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Hunt3r

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I recently found out my biggest issue was lighting. Too much lighting. I turned down my lighting, from 14 hrs with 12 hrs of T5 to 10 hrs with 4 hrs of T5. Caused a drop in alk consumption, but my corals haven't had better PE. Even the softies have better PE. Every monti or birdsnest I stuck in the tank had no PE and bleached within days on the sand bed. The birdsnest and montis I stuck in recently have gone the longest so far without bleaching or losing PE. The birdsnest is showing several new growth buds even.

Just remember to take changes slowly and monitor alk consumption closely during the changes.

Thats what i thought too when i have a+b sched so i switched to a different lighting sched.i have 2-3 hours of peak then mostly blues. Ill see polyp extension when lights of. Thats the time i feed roids and chili
 

road_runner

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Nothing wrong stands out. Your paramaters looks ok, no3 is bit too high for my liking, I would either drop no3 or bring up po4 to above zero.
If I assume your paramaters are correct and your test methodology is accurate couppe of possibilities here
1- light and flow. Coral react differently to light and flow, too much light can cause coral not to show PE. Too lots flow or super high direct flow can push sps to not extend.
2- if there is any harmful substances in the water thet is bothering the coral. Things like silica, al, cupper..ect. check and make sure you do not have metal that is rusting in the system or some of the none food grade tubings. An icp test would be great to show All what's in the system
3- amino acids and nutrients. Lack of can impact the growth, but I wonder if too much would not stimulate the coral to extend polyps..I would cut on nutrients additives for a week or 2, at least for 1 water change periods and see how coral react. Lack of nutrients can push coral to more PE..the way I see it, PE is coral trying to eat:)
4- temp, some cold regions coral will not react well to high temp systems but not sure of that 100% worth to investigate as well.
5- its said earlier, if you have a fish that picks up on coral even a bit, coral will not open up...


Any of these points ring a bell?
 
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Charlie’s Frags

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Could be too much flow. I have 2 mp 40s on my 50 gallon cube but they max out at 20% each with 2-5 second pulses. The best PE I’ve ever seen was on @cazieric tank (Mythical Corals) and the polyps of all the acros dance for 2-3 seconds every 15-20 seconds. Try turning all your flow off for 30 minutes and see if they polyps start to come out.
 
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Hunt3r

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I just ramp it up last week after i acclimate it for a month from it original. I used the saxby for a month just caused one of my purple tip acro to turn all green.
 

Charlie’s Frags

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Isnot this too high?
Also why so many transitions in the light like that?
I use david saxby, that have nice transitions, am not saying this is what's wrong, just observation..
b1017ab8bb3c738b54b590461c8d6bfa.jpg
I do not like those respiration programs. The spectrum is constantly changing. AI support recommends utilizing the weather feature if you want respiration.
DT with Hydra 52 hds
366A3076-5CDD-4E91-BDE2-93E0985239BF.jpeg

Frag Tank with 26 hd
9176550F-ECD1-4C58-A811-D04124DD67BE.png
 
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Hunt3r

Hunt3r

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It can be, if it's in direct stream.
I run 6 mp40s on one of my systems. Sps happy, but coral like birds nest and stylos(things that have fuzzy PE) I place them where they are away from the power head so they get wide stream not direct strong stream.
I have had some coral close up if too much flow..but again "too much"
ba29720fb21efe8496c16fbe2be3eee2.jpg

Ill try to test this right now.
 

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