Let's talk about PE, Bay-bee!

[CBonito]

One thing to take into consideration....Some corals simply don't have the same polyps or amount of extension that others do. Have you compared what you have to other people who have the same?

I mean, I have some corals that are shagtastic and others that are underwhelming, but still doing fine.

 

[d2mini]

One thing to take into consideration....Some corals simply don't have the same polyps or amount of extension that others do. Have you compared what you have to other people who have the same?

I mean, I have some corals that are shagtastic and others that are underwhelming, but still doing fine.

Yeah, I totally get that. But some are Milli's and should be pretty darn shaggy, and I've seen the source, or saw how much shaggier they were when they first arrived.

 

[jda]

Don't be alarmed if the PE does not increase. The only thing that acropora HAVE to use their polyps for is gas exchange - this is why they are out more at night, in bags or in photo boxes. Low flow can get polyps out more because the corals need more surface area to exchange gases with slow moving water. This is different than LPS or other corals, so don't confuse studies or papers that talk about all of the food catching that "corals" can do.

Acropora can use their polyps to catch food, but if it is larger stuff like cyclops or baby brine, they likely lack the ability get nutrition from it. The most nutrition comes from things caught in the slime coat like bacteria, protozoa, etc. - this can happen in the skin and polyps slime coat.

Too much PE can mean that acropora is having trouble exchanging gas - this can be from low flow, too much ammonia, po4 or no3 in the water column or some other elemtent or compound that is slowing down some biological process.

Of course fish nip... many of them. It is like the corals have telegraph wires where they send more code to each other that the angelfish, blenny, goby or tang is out and about.

I would just look for quick changes in normal PE - either way - and then check for issues.

 

[jackson6745]

Just did the 3rd and final dose this afternoon!
Nothing else has changed at the moment.

Have you seen improvements in your acros since?

 

[d2mini]

Have you seen improvements in your acros since?

Very subtle. Most of my acros are just frags but I can see some tiny PE on some I don't remember seeing before and I'd swear there's some color improvement too. The tank is still young, it's had it's share of stability issues, I'm still fighting some GHA, and now these bugs... for how long I have no idea but probably awhile. So I'm not expecting fast improvements but, yeah... it does seem to be doing better than before.

And I just received my CUC replenishment from reefcleaners last night.

 

[spsick]

I’ve been keeping Acropora for 15 years and it’s still a darn mystery to me. When I restarted with a 40bdr 6 years and 2 upgrades ago I had the best PE I’ve ever had. No idea why and nothing with my technique or general parameters has changed.