Red Planet Question- Polyp Extension

mallorieGgator · Jul 20, 2011

Hey all,
I have excellent polyp extension on all of my SPS and LPS. Except I have none on my Red Planet. It's a frag that's about 2" and when I got it it had PE. It's encrusting well and branching a bit but with no PE. It's in higher flow and high light (about 4 inches from the waters surface under 4 T5 bulbs- 2 ATI Blue +, 1 KZ Fiji Purple, 1 KZ new gen). All of my other SPS are colored nicely and growing very well. Just wondering if there is a trick to placing this coral. It has nice color; a green base with red body(mostly red, not a lot of green). Thanks!

Troylee · Jul 20, 2011

Might be to much flow I wanna say the rp is a Millie myself and if so it don't like huge amounts of flow just a nice med one to get the polyps flowing not blasted...

mallorieGgator · Jul 20, 2011

That would explain it. It's in quite a bit of flow. I'll put it where my peach millepora is and see what happens. Thanks!

davelink · Jul 20, 2011

my red planet is almost directly in front of one of my MP40's, its getting blasted full power from the left to right every other second... i wouldnt say its from too much flow, maybe not enough? idk maybe red planet is finicky in other people tanks im no expert, but i mean i blast mine hard, and its open more than anything, so hairy i cant even see the green base through the red polyps. do you have any fish that would be nipping at the polyps? or anything in general? ive heard of fish that like certain acros, when they nibble the polyps the acros dont die, they will grow and all that good stuff but the polyps wont extend. happened with a friends pair of filefish.

SteezySPS · Jul 20, 2011

when I had red bugs in the past, I've seen them on the red planet but... it still had polyp extension so I wanna say... I have no idea. A pic would help and a fts with the other corals and your water parameters and placement history. so many factors. I think it can take as much flow as you can give just as long as it indirect random turbulent flow.

Lateral72 · Jul 20, 2011

4" under the water line? I'm thinking it might be getting too much light.

AcroholicReefer · Jul 20, 2011

are you running GFO?

mallorieGgator · Jul 20, 2011

Placement- I've never moved it. It is 4" from the surface. It's lost some green and mostly red now. Should I move it down a bit?
Water Params-
Amm/Trite/Trate- 0ppm
Ca- 460
Mg- 1400
Alk- 8
Temp- 79-80
pH- 8-8.3

Water movement- It's in a higher flow area with my Tenius and Pink Lemonade. Both of which have great PE and I had to increase the flow to that area for the pink lemonade so it would have good PE.

I have a Hydor 550 and 1050 on the opposite side of my 55 gallon with the 1050 pointed towards the red planet.

I don't have any fish that eat corals. I have 2 oscellaris clowns, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 diamond goby (sand-sifter), 1 McCosker's Flasher Wrasse, 1 Possum Wrasse, and 1 Mandarin. All fish are healthy and I've never seen them pick at an SPS. My LMB does sit on my caps as a perch but I've never seen him perch on the red planet.

I don't see red bugs and I always dip before I put my corals in my tank so there should be no bugs.

I run GFO and Matrix Carbon.

mallorieGgator · Jul 20, 2011

I don't know if the light makes any sense since there is still no PE at night. All of my SPS have incredible PE at night except the Red Planet.

mallorieGgator · Jul 20, 2011

Here's a picture of it circled- This picture is probably 2mos old. Ignore the huge Sicce- it died on me so now I have two hydors. Also, the RP has good PE here. It seemed to have good PE when there was a pulling current from the sicce. Now it is in a more circular type of current.

Troylee · Jul 20, 2011

Can you get a close up??? Mine has decent pe in med flow and none really when I put mp60's on the tank.... My friend has zero flow and his rp is crazy looking super big polyps they look swollen and don't even flap in the wind it's such a dead spot haha... I asked him what Is thy fuzzy thing man he said rp I was like huh???? Huge polyps lol

mallorieGgator · Jul 20, 2011

lol, I'll try to get a close up. It is in a flowy area so maybe I can get a video once the lights turn on. My lights don't come on until 12 and it's 11:40 so it'll be a while.

davelink · Jul 20, 2011

lol thats pretty funny troy, corals make me just scratch my head sometimes. my red planet is pretty close up tot he surface as well, from what i understand when it gets REALLY high light it loses its green and goes mostly red, so if theres still green in the coral id say it could take more light maybe

mallorieGgator · Jul 20, 2011

I just plucked it off of the rock and I dipped it. I thought I saw a few little white bugs on it but I think it was the feeder tentacles poking out their tips. I looked on my other corals around it and I see nothing on them and they have no issues. If I had red bugs, my caroliniana would be in trouble. lol. It's healthy as a fat pig so I don't think I have bugs. Weird thing is is that, the part that was facing the front of the tank was looking brown and the other side of the coral was colorful with lots of green and red.... uhhhh? huh? lol. I guess it could be because it might not be getting enough light to the front part of the coral. I placed it on the sand bed in a lower flow area and the polyps are peeking out here and there as if it's testing to make sure it's ok to come out. lol. I'll keep you all updated.

SaltWaterDave · Jul 20, 2011

Well, since you got it off the rock try putting it in a different place with a little less light and a little less flow and see if that does anything. It will prob be a little ticked off for a bit since you dipped it so let it go in a new spot for a week or so and see how it goes. Just my 2 cents.