How to get the best polyp extensions?

[55semireef]

How do you guys get the best polyp extension on your SPS? I noticed that some of my sps get better extension at night than during the day? This is because they are feeding right?

[rynon]

My aquacultured Acros open during the day. The one that came from the ocean opens at night. So SPS that has "recently" been in the ocean keep their polyps closed to defend themselves against coral eating fish....whatever. Some people have LOTS of polyp extension, some have little, I have a TON for whatever reason. And yes it's because they are trying to feed.

[55semireef]

Do they extend their polyps when they are hungry or is it something they always do?

[ThaNgBOm321]

sry to but in too but my pink/red mili dont seem to have any PE at all.. it was in moderate flow about 9/10 inches from my 6 t5s and my green slimer is about 10/11 inches under with the same flow.... alk is 10 and 400 ca... ph was 8.2 at 8 pm... any idea?? ohh and for flow i have 3 mjmods with octura 1435... about 1000 from my panworld return...

YzGyz

[rynon]

55semireef I have no idea if it's because they're hungry or not.......unless a polyp has caught something it should be out, if a polyp catches food it will close to pull the food in. Mine are always out and I have a lot of DOC's (not good), so I'm assuming they're getting plenty of food? A friend just gave me some coral frenzy and I have Cyclop-eeze, I can give it a try if you want and see what happens?

ThaNgBOm321, I can't answer that. I sounds like it's unhappy for some reason? Do you have other acro's in the tank?

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10292088#post10292088 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ThaNgBOm321
sry to but in too but my pink/red mili dont seem to have any PE at all.. it was in moderate flow about 9/10 inches from my 6 t5s and my green slimer is about 10/11 inches under with the same flow.... alk is 10 and 400 ca... ph was 8.2 at 8 pm... any idea?? ohh and for flow i have 3 mjmods with octura 1435... about 1000 from my panworld return...

YzGyz

No problem, I am interested too in your issue.

[55semireef]

What are DOC's?

[rynon]

OK, I just tried the feeding thing. My fish went absolutely crazy over the Cyclops and when a individual polyp caught the Cyclops it slowly closed, the rest remained open. I don't know if your familiar with LPS corals? Open brain corals (Trachphyllia) open their tentacles every night and eat whatever you give them, they CAN eat too much, I don't know if the same is true with SPS or not? DOC's are dissolved organic compounds, basically, a lot of nutrients in your water. This can be due to overfeeding, underskimming, bad biological filtration, water flow, etc. You can think of DOC's as pretty much free floating food that is always in the water....not good for coral color.

ThaNgBOm321, is your coral aquacultured or "wild collected"?

[55semireef]

So DOC's are good for food but bad for coloration? Yes I am familiar with LPS. Look at my avatar. :D

[rynon]

You want very little DOC's in a SPS tank. Your acro's will turn brownish because they are getting plenty of food......no need to be bright for lighting, does that make sense?

[acroman76]

doc is also cuased by macro algea. that is used for nutrient export. use a good skimmer and no macro. macro fights with corals, and start rtn in your tank some cases.used to run macro .pulled it all out and watch polyps hang out the acros.

[ThaNgBOm321]

humm... ok let me list some more stuff..... my tank is a 155 BF with a ssb 2''/3'' and 200+ lbs of fiji,marshal,tonga LR with a 55 for a sump/fuge... the fuge is about 15 gals worth.. and is about 20'' long by 12'' wide and about 12'' tall with a 5''/6'' dbs with cheato, a rps-3000 (nw-200 recirc i think, but the pump is mounted different) as for light 4' of the tank is lit by 6 t5 on advance ballast w/ SLR reflectors.. and the other 2' is lit by a 400 MH ( only runs 6 hr a day but no sps is under this yet) as for flow i have a panworld px-x50 return and 3 mj-mods with octura 1435 props ( sapose to be 1400+ gph each) non are directly in the stream... i feed 1x a day... ph is 8.2 ,ca is 400 and alk is 10 .. all tested around 8 pm (3 days ago....) that about 4 hrs after my lights turn on..

help??
YzGyz

[ThaNgBOm321]

ops forgot the main q? haha.......

i have about 7 frags of zoo/paly on the sandbed,frag orng/red digi,frag of tan w/blue polyp digi,frag of elkhork i think,purpl rim cap, green slimer,pink/red milli, favia, maze brain,galexia, shroom rock and 1 ric i think.. everything is growing but no polyp on the slimer and milli... digi have great polyp ( i can see it covered) they came from fellow reefers tanks... had all the sps in my tank for about 3 weeks... they where all fresh clipping and have all already mounted to the rock that i super glued them to...

YzGyz

[chaffey]

Well i never see any PE on my monti caps in my 200gal display tank, but I am surprised to see the long PE some of the monti caps that I have in my frag tank. Frag tank and display tank are connected into 1 sump/fuge.

There is no lighting in my frag tank, I am using natural sun light. the PE is very noticable and crazy. No PE for the one inside my display tank. I think it has to do with the lighting.

[Wrench]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10293076#post10293076 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chaffey
I think it has to do with the lighting.

maybe like a plant reaching for light?

I know that the Milli frags I've got have nowhere near the extention that I see in other tanks. I've seen them at the LFS and in local guys' tanks and they look fuzzy. Mine have some PE but nothing like that. I've got them under metal halides. I'm going to try and put him in the shade and see what happens.

[55semireef]

So some of you guys think polyp extensions might have to do with lighting?

rynon, that makes sense.

[ThaNgBOm321]

i really don think that the extend out because of lack of light... i mean.. look at all the people who use 400 mh ... they have crazy PE ... im just lost as to what exactly it can be..... flow?? more direct? more light?? wrong spectrum?? i moved the milli to a place with more flow this afthernoon and no PE yet... just little tips but not a fuzz ball like others .... granted im new to this sps thing but man... mine look cheezy!!! lol i want it to look cool!!!!!

YzGyz

[55semireef]

How old is your tank?

[ThaNgBOm321]

she was up and running on thankgiving morning... she was a fowlr for 3+ before i switch her ti a reef...

YzGyz

[tasos]

I have two millis side by side.....the one has tremendous PE and the other has little......both of them have lost their color due to reduced clerity of the water(a recently introduced goatfish made a mess with the sand!!).Water flow does not influence them either......

[spankey]

SPS PE is more natural to be seen at night vs the daytime. They extend the polyps more at night when the coral eating predators are resting and other corals spawn at night as well to.

I have some corals that show some PE during the day and some that show None. No bugs, good flow, great light and the corals are healthy and growing at high rates. Some reefers have sick PE and others only have it at night. As long as there are NO pests on the corals and fish nippers and they are growing and showing good health, NO worries.

It just can't be explained along with RTN. Many people pull their hair out trying to get PE during the day. They have seen another reefers tank and they have sick daytime PE. So they start changing things, feeding, lighting, flow etc....

My tank looks like a shaggy dog at night when the lights are off;) So I don't worry about it. As long as the corals are growing and showing great color, its all good......

[old salty]

I found that I had the best polyp extension when I removed the coral nipping fish (Flame angel and heniochus butterfly.)

[ThaNgBOm321]

i understand about that feeding at night thing but... it dont extend at night either.. it stays exactly the same.. i got my frag from 'fishcraze' and i know his is awsome!! but y is she so shy in my tank... ehhh guess ill just have to let her be for a bit and see what happens...

YzGyz

[xtm]

ALL my SPS have medium to small PE during lights-on but they all have nice growth. However I experience tremendous PE after feeding with DTs Oyster Eggs regardless of lighting and flow. They do not react like this with any other food.

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10295005#post10295005 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spankey
SPS PE is more natural to be seen at night vs the daytime. They extend the polyps more at night when the coral eating predators are resting and other corals spawn at night as well to.

I have some corals that show some PE during the day and some that show None. No bugs, good flow, great light and the corals are healthy and growing at high rates. Some reefers have sick PE and others only have it at night. As long as there are NO pests on the corals and fish nippers and they are growing and showing good health, NO worries.

It just can't be explained along with RTN. Many people pull their hair out trying to get PE during the day. They have seen another reefers tank and they have sick daytime PE. So they start changing things, feeding, lighting, flow etc....

My tank looks like a shaggy dog at night when the lights are off;) So I don't worry about it. As long as the corals are growing and showing great color, its all good......

Wow...that cleared a lot up. Now I feel better. Thanks a bunch.

What about digita montipora sps? Aren't they always suppose to be fuzzy?

[spankey]

Yes they are I should re phrase my post. When I said SPS I mainly meant acro's.... Its weird that milli's and digi's and monti's can all hang out, but most polyp nipping fish go after acropora? It must taste better? Who knows. So yes you are correct, all what you last mentioned should be showing PE or its stressed, to much direct flow for example.

;)

[55semireef]

So the sps on your avatar should always by fuzzy?

[uhuru]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10298836#post10298836 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 55semireef
What about digita montipora sps? Aren't they always suppose to be fuzzy?

mine stay open most of the time, but more in the daytime than at night

I have some sps that open more at night, and some that open more in the day - there really is no way to make sense of it

[55semireef]

It is a bad thing though when your Digita Montipora are not opening up though right?

[Sk8r]

Just a tentative note: I had a *bad* situation, during a move, where I had no choice but put my sps back into a newly cycled [unintentional] tank. Montipora survived fine, but I lost a milli and half my ac. aculeus---which hasn't extended at all since...until I noticed by my hermits lack of molt that I might be just a little shy in the iodine dept., and IF that, then possibly also in strontium...which I've never dosed. Salt mix in the big tubs tends to get a little wonky toward the bottom of the batch, no matter how you try to stir it up, so I thought maybe it might not be even.

Result: added iodine, nothing really noticeable. But after one dose of strontium, a week later than the iodine, within two days that poor battered aculeus is showing real signs of extension, the montiporas are showing brighter growth-edges and nothing is unhappy. I don't plan to go crazy with this---I'm not a believer in dosing this and that miracle potion---but after everything my tank has been through, in the sps department, it's an improvement so far.