Acros have poor polyp extension

[ngarcia11892]

So I’ve been trying to add sps mainly montis and acros to my system, the tank is fairly new 3 months but I’ve had a mixed reef for about 5 years with a lot of success a few years ago. I’m religious about weekly water changes 25%ish

Granted most of the sps has been in for 2 weeks some newer.

I had my lights way too high before since have corrected that problem and am getting 300-350 par at the highest point.

Parameters are
Alk- 6.9-7.1
Ph-8-8.3
Phosphates stay about .04
Salinity constant-34
And nitrates are typically 10ppm
but I’m currently at 16 which I attribute to reef roids I’ve been feeding.
Everything tested on Hannah checkers

I haven’t been testing for calcium or magnesium.

Do I just need more patience or is there something glaring?

I was concerned about the light so I turned on the acclimation mode on my ai prime 16hd to about 60% for 30 days to eliminate that.

 

[bobnicaragua]

Can you post a pic? Ocean Live rock?

 

[ngarcia11892]

couldn’t find live rock in any of my normal stores so I went with dry, added bacteria, and copepods, amphipods. I have a birds nest that’s doing phenomenal and a milky stylo that has been as well. Even when I had 500 par in the middle
Forgot to add I have an ato so salinity should be rock steady and kalk to maintain alk and ph

 

[ngarcia11892]

 

[SaltyWalty]

What is your fish stock? Possible you might have sometime nipping at the polyps.

 

[ngarcia11892]

What is your fish stock? Possible you might have sometime nipping at the polyps.

Pj cardinal, bicolor blenny, watchman goby, possum wrasse.

 

[DanyL]

500-600 PAR for acros is fine, I even grow some at 700-800. But you do need to slowly acclimate them, otherwise they may stress out.

Also, 2 weeks is quite fresh - acros can sometime take time to acclimate to a new environment, and since you already have other SPS thriving I would simply give them a bit more time And follow their development.

 

[VintageReefer]

What size tank, and what are you doing for flow?

Few things that stand out
-in general acros do better in tanks around the 1 year point. Things are developing, fluctuation, and balancing during that first year and acros like consistency

- your alk seems low to me. Everyone has a preference. Plenty of people have success with low alk. But my experience is that anything below 8 starts to affect my corals negatively. I’ve seen it too many times. I lose a coral. I have corals closed up. I test parameters and boom. My alks dropped below 8. I try to keep around 8.5-9. I’ve run sps reefs with alk as high as 11. I didn’t see positive gains. The sweet spot for me, and just my experience, is 8.5-9

- your phosphate to nitrate balance is off. Not a huge deal. But also not optimal

- 2 weeks isn’t long enough for them to adjust. Try more like 2 months
- we need calcium data. It’s important. Magnesium doesn’t really need to be tested. Your next tester you buy should be calcium. If you want to stick with digital testers keep in mind the hi758 calcium kit requires deionized water. They sell this separately if you need it HI70436

- do you dose aminos ? Red Sea Reef energy AB+ Is excellent if you need a recommendation

- final thing - PE is not everything. It happens mostly at night. Color and growth should be main indicator of acro happiness and health. They will extend polyps to grab nutrients from the water column. Not extending could mean they simply are getting what they need at night when you aren’t aware.

- do you have any angels or fish or critters that might be nipping ? Have you checked for red bugs ? Just want to rule out pests that could cause polyp retraction

 

[ngarcia11892]

What size tank, and what are you doing for flow?

Few things that stand out
-in general acros do better in tanks around the 1 year point. Things are developing, fluctuation, and balancing during that first year and acros like consistency

- your alk seems low to me. Everyone has a preference. Plenty of people have success with low alk. But my experience is that anything below 8 starts to affect my corals negatively. I’ve seen it too many times. I lose a coral. I have corals closed up. I test parameters and boom. My alks dropped below 8. I try to keep around 8.5-9. I’ve run sps reefs with alk as high as 11. I didn’t see positive gains. The sweet spot for me, and just my experience, is 8.5-9

- your phosphate to nitrate balance is off. Not a huge deal. But also not optimal

- 2 weeks isn’t long enough for them to adjust. Try more like 2 months
- we need calcium data. It’s important. Magnesium doesn’t really need to be tested. Your next tester you buy should be calcium. If you want to stick with digital testers keep in mind the hi758 calcium kit requires deionized water. They sell this separately if you need it HI70436

- do you dose aminos ? Red Sea Reef energy AB+ Is excellent if you need a recommendation

- final thing - PE is not everything. It happens mostly at night. Color and growth should be main indicator of acro happiness and health. They will extend polyps to grab nutrients from the water column. Not extending could mean they simply are getting what they need at night when you aren’t aware.

- do you have any angels or fish or critters that might be nipping ? Have you checked for red bugs ? Just want to rule out pests that could cause polyp retraction

Makes sense. I started acropower on a doser 1ml a day. No angels, I’ve looked for pest but I haven’t seen anyone.

I’ll bump up my alk. I wanted to switch salts from the lower alk Red Sea to the higher one I’ll do it little by little.

And I’ll get the tested. I have a rodi system so I should be good on that.

 

[VintageReefer]

Makes sense. I started acropower on a doser 1ml a day. No angels, I’ve looked for pest but I haven’t seen anyone.

I’ll bump up my alk. I wanted to switch salts from the lower alk Red Sea to the higher one I’ll do it little by little.

And I’ll get the tested. I have a rodi system so I should be good on that.

I am a fan of all their testers. The CA one is my favorite. It has a cool micro pipette that allows you to take a perfect .1ml sample every time, without having any residual left in the tube.

I liked it sooooo much I bought this. On sale now for 33$ with the coupon

Amazon.com

How many of these tests need 10ml water pulled? Are the lines on the vial really accurate (no). With this pipette you get exactly the correct amount of water every single time and it plunged out any excess from the tube so your results will be extremely consistent

 

[DanyL]

Alk of 8.0-8.5 is indeed easier to keep stable and has a slightly higher calcification rate, but it isn’t the source of the problem here. I’m not even sure there is a problem to solve here tbh.

I wouldn’t change to the black bucket though, it has absurdly high levels of pretty much everything, and unless you’re trying to push growth rate no-matter-what, and willing to sacrifice a healthy skeleton growth - I don’t see a point in doing so.

 

[ngarcia11892]

Alk of 8.0-8.5 is indeed easier to keep stable and has a slightly higher calcification rate, but it isn’t the source of the problem here. I’m not even sure there is a problem to solve here tbh.

I wouldn’t change to the black bucket though, it has absurdly high levels of pretty much everything, and unless you’re trying to push growth rate no-matter-what, and willing to sacrifice a healthy skeleton growth - I don’t see a point in doing so.

Why would the higher levels mean none healthy growth?

 

[DanyL]

Higher levels such as the black Red Sea salt with 13dKH (I think?) promotes higher calcification rates, which in turn accelerate the growth rate of the skeleton.

When this happens, it affects the density of the skeleton, making it more brittle, and often will also affect the growth structure (I.e thinner and longer branches, etc).

It also requires elevated nutrients to ensure the skeleton growth rate does not exceed the growth rate of the tissue, which often times seen as “burned tips”, but in fact is the skeleton slowly making the tissue thinner and thinner until it ends up protruding through it, leading to eventual tissue narcosis if not taken cared of in time.

The need for elevated nutrients will also affect the colors of course, but wether it looks better or worse is individual, though many stick heads, including me, tend to like the low nutrient look better.

 

[Toddkashi Amano]

With your Alk so low, I can almost guarantee you have a suppressed pH. Are you dosing anything for Alkalinity? Switching from 2 part to Kalkwasser is the best thing I’ve done for my system. Went from a 7.2ph to 8.4 Polpys came out on acros that I had never seen before. Growth tripled. Alk consumption increased.

 

[MoshJosh]

Bicolor blenny can indeed eat SPS. . . Not saying they all do, but mine did.

 

[MoshJosh]

Also, while polyp extension tends to be a measure of coral “happiness”, I have had plenty of acros grow with very little polyp extension.

 

[apb03]

I think your tank just needs time. Sounds like you are doing everything right, just keep it going and you should see those acros come around. After another 6-9 months your acros will reward you with growth and polyp extension.

Stick to the basics and they will perk right up.

 

[Reefering1]

Polyp not quite extending like it used to huh.........

 

[ngarcia11892]

Bicolor blenny can indeed eat SPS. . . Not saying they all do, but mine did.

I haven’t seen it, and I have eyes on the tank a lot…if it does it’s got a one way ticket back to the lfs