New gig stretching

[akida]

I acquired a beautiful healthy 15" green gig this weekend (drove 8 total hours to get it) and built an area for his foot and perfect flow/light, what I like to call a "prime" location for a gig. Well I got home on the second day and noticed it was stretching as if it needed more light which is odd to me since it was housed under Kessil LEDS and is now housed under 8 bulb ATI fixture which should have a higher par (not confirmed) output. The weird thing is he hasn't moved one bit knor has he deflated at all, he looks healthy as can be. He also stays like this through the night! Is this normal? I've had some other gigs that I'm bringing back from being bleached and none of them did this. Like I said, so far he is happy as can be, clowns started hosting him too. They are so happy 3 gigs in one tank where to choose!

[anemoneguy]

R u sure it's looking for light? Mine did that and when I put more flow on him he settled right in.

[akida]

No I don't know what he is looking for. There is a good amount of flow in my system especially where I stationed him near the bottom. He is stretching upwards near my MP40 and getting blasted to then point where it's affecting the rest of my tank's flow.. I have it at 70% but he sits there and eats it for breakfast. I've never observed a gig do this yet so I don't know if it's light or flow related or anything at all. I'm looking to add another mp40 anyways.

[BonsaiNut]

Well I wish you the best, but I would say your tank doesn't have enough light. Not because of how the anemone is behaving (though it is a clue) but the fact that you have mushrooms on top of your rock pile. A tank with light bright enough for a gig would have mushrooms at the bottom, in shade, or they would burn up.

[addictedreefer]

Well I wish you the best, but I would say your tank doesn't have enough light. Not because of how the anemone is behaving (though it is a clue) but the fact that you have mushrooms on top of your rock pile. A tank with light bright enough for a gig would have mushrooms at the bottom, in shade, or they would burn up.

+1. The tank looks very dim from the pictures. Looks to me like you may have the correct fixture(s), but are skewed too far to the blue spectrum. Gigs come from very shallow water, and hence require very intense light closer to the white/yellow end of the spectrum.

[D-Nak]

I had a gig that would do the same thing from time to time. I have no idea why it did it. IIRC it did it more under LEDs (Radions G1) but they were set at 100% so it should've gotten more than enough light:

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m616/dnak1200/33657513b3469b50303b02c07e79bd05_zpsd43b356c.jpg

[The nem is farther away from the MP40 as it appears to be in the photo]

[this is me]

My green gig does the same. You can see the extended column. I've always thought it's stretching for light. But it doesn't seem to be any health issue. The gig has been there since last November. Hasn't moved. Figure if it's not enough light, it will move up.
http://www.pbase.com/nicksreef/image/161307946/original.jpg

[akida]

thanks.....you're correct about my spectrum. I have 5 blue+ ATI bulbs, 2 coral+ ATI and 1 purple+ ATI. Maybe I should change up and do more white maybe switch out 2 blue+ for 2 coral+ bulbs. Oh and my tank is bright much brighter than any LED I've ever ran including radions. The only reason is looks dim is because I was moving rocks and adding rocks to accommodate the gig so sand was flying everywhere. Though you have a point about the blue spectrum and I may consider changing them soon.

[akida]

I'm thinking of replacing 2 of the 5 ATI blue+ with 2 giesemann tropic bulbs (6.4K temp).

[ThRoewer]

I have one of my purple gigs straight under a Kessil A360N (I @ 100%, C @ 75%) and it stays flat to the substrate. Another one I have on the edge of the light field in a basket stretches to the light.
Based on that I could imagine that yours may want more light.

As for the not moving - in my experience, if you design the space for the foot right they can be extremely reluctant to move, even if flow and light may not be ideal.

[akida]

Well I changed out 2 ATI blue+ bulbs for 2 giesemann tropis bulbs (6.4k) and it was a difference in spectrum but I don't think so much in intensity. Corals look considerably duller even with a reefbrite XHO blue to supplement. I may return these for the Giesemann aquablue bulbs. I can see the true color of the gigs more clearly, especially the purple that looked blue. I'm going to try this out and see if everything goes well. I will also be adding another MP40 sometime soon for extra flow. Since he is stretching up near the pump he is consuming most of the flow for himself which is stunning to me since I have it running on 70% and he chews it up for lunch. Anyways what do you guys think? I'm a little down on it since the corals don't look nearly as good but I obviously care more about the gigs. I don't know if this will change anything but from my understanding white vs blue doesn't really have much of a difference when comparing the par output which is why I'm not sure if the change in the bulbs will matter much. If I don't see improvements with the purple soon I will probably change over to MH and sell this fixture (which has a brand new reefbrite installed last night!).

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i43/akida17th/FTS%20giesemann%20tropic%20bulbs.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i43/akida17th/giesemann%20tropic%20bulbs%20green%20gig.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i43/akida17th/giesemann%20tropic%20bulbs%20purple%20gig.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i43/akida17th/FTS%20ati%20blue%20bulbs.jpg

[Dkuhlmann]

I haven't read the other posts but how high is it above the water?

[Jrsdaddy]

Have you tried relocating the MP40? Maybe to the side and middle of the aquarium? Now that you have mentioned it, it maybe stretching to reach more flow. Worth a shot

[taylor t]

As for the not moving - in my experience, if you design the space for the foot right they can be extremely reluctant to move, even if flow and light may not be ideal.


x2

[akida]

Well I had to catch my female clown since she rejected her male after 3.5 years which took alot of patience and moving things. I had to move the green gig since she was consistently hiding under him so when I placed him back he finally decided to move up the rock foundation and looks to be happier. Added some new juvenile clowns also, a mix of 2 oscellaris and 1 frostbite to go with my maine mocha male. Hoping he turns into the female but he's still doing the male shaking dance so who knows. I wish my phone would pick up the gigs brightness under the reefbrite. It's pretty insane how bright he looks.
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i43/akida17th/green%20gig.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i43/akida17th/green%20gig%202.jpg
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i43/akida17th/green%20gig%203.jpg