Crappy Polyp Extension Plague

[saltyliving]

I have never had great PE in my tank. IDK what it is I wont bother keepin millis cause they look like crap (ie no PE) All params are decent.
Nitrate=0.5
Phos= undectectable with no algea
CA=450
Alk=9.5

I dose reef solutions once a week, DR. G's every other day, Elos AA daily, feed fish mysis every other day and have am running biopellets.

My tank is 15g BB with MP10 on 100% reef crest.

PLease Help

[nano427]

what kind of lights? what kind of fish? inverts? Also cut that flow way down try it at like 30% or so.

[saltyliving]

tek t5 4 bulb (back)blue plus, aquablue, fiji purple,blue plus (front)

The tank is 24L x 12w x 12H. You really think the flow is to high. I was under the impression that BB need more flow and that there is never to much flow in an SPS tank.

live stock 2 limpets, one small turbo, clown, flame hawk, and damsel.

[Bigmike]

Salinity? How do you test it? How do you top off evaporation?

[saltyliving]

Salinity? How do you test it? How do you top off evaporation?

1.025 i use a ATO

[Bigmike]

do you use a refractometer or hydrometer to test?

[saltyliving]

do you use a refractometer or hydrometer to test?

refract and i just checked the calibration

[Bigmike]

dang had all my money on salinity haha... is it a mixed reef? any softies in with em? run carbon?

[saltyliving]

dang had all my money on salinity haha... is it a mixed reef? any softies in with em? run carbon?

all sps well there is a frag rack in the sump with some zoas. i run chemipure for carbon. what do u think about the reducing flow suggestions from nano.

thanks for the responses

[curlykid]

my sps grow fine with reef-crest at around 20%. Any higher and the tissue would be blown off. I have a 28 gallon with much worse params than you, so i think flow is ur problem.

[aquaph8]

Were the corals dipped before they went in. My guess would be either pest related or some other fish/creature messing with them. Just a guess though. My PE problems turned out to be red bugs, which I couldn't see until they reached large numbers on certain SPS. Bugs or not it wouldn't hurt to check it out.

[Bigmike]

worth a shot, unless theyre getting BLASTED with flow I cant imagine that being the culprit.

Have you always dosed AA? Id prob cut your dose on that waaay down, but Im no expert, just seems with a 15gal tank, everyday is probably overkill.

What about water changes? Salt you use? Anyway any chemicals are leaching/being added into your system somehow?

[jfingers8]

what is your mag level at?

[saltyliving]

Mag levels are one thing im clueless on.

Most of the my corals are small colonies or frags. So ODing the AA is a posibility.

20% WC every other week.

As far as pest I have been very careful. I do not dip my corals but know where my corals come from and the people i deal with are very careful with there corals. I started the tank with all base rock except a few LR seed rock that were dipped. Of course there is always room for human error and sneaky pest. I have checked but like you said RBs are hard to see until they get abundant.

My only concern as far a foreign chemicals i wash my filer socks in a little bleach but do a second wash with no bleach to wash out the bleach.

My LFS where i get the water uses reef crystals.


Im gonna know down the flow to 50% RC for a while and see if that works. I just feel like a should have more flow than that. IDK

[ingtar_shinowa]

fish?

[GhostCon1]

Mag levels are one thing im clueless on.

Most of the my corals are small colonies or frags. So ODing the AA is a posibility.

20% WC every other week.

As far as pest I have been very careful. I do not dip my corals but know where my corals come from and the people i deal with are very careful with there corals. I started the tank with all base rock except a few LR seed rock that were dipped. Of course there is always room for human error and sneaky pest. I have checked but like you said RBs are hard to see until they get abundant.

My only concern as far a foreign chemicals i wash my filer socks in a little bleach but do a second wash with no bleach to wash out the bleach.

My LFS where i get the water uses reef crystals.


Im gonna know down the flow to 50% RC for a while and see if that works. I just feel like a should have more flow than that. IDK

DIP 'EM ALL!
*except the really sensitive ones*

I recently moved a frag of orange monti. cap. over to my new tank and dipped it in CoralRX for about 5 minutes and it has amazing PE now whereas before it had none.

[aquaph8]

Not an expert but if your nitrates are low then I wouldn't worry to much about the AA's. Start with the flow and if that doesn't seem to help start the dip process. Take it one thing at a time so you know what the problem is for future reference, otherwise you cant really be sure what the problem was. Good luck.

[saltyliving]

making a few changes as been suggested. How long should i try some thing before i expect to see results. Instant, couple days, weeks??

[Bigmike]

When Ive had issues with PE and finally made the right adjustments, it usually took my corals a week or 2 to start showing signs of PE again. My issues were water chemistry issues though.
If your issues are flow related (Im still not convinced of this :) haha) I would expect to see improvements almost imediately (a day or 2 tops)