Acro Troubles

[SueT]

well, thats a kick in the head... funny how these corals are.. I agree it does look fine right there just no color. I'd just try to get all your water balanced and in line and give the frag some time. It definitely has promise..

 

[TWallace]

I'm ordering some Tech M as well as a Kent calcium supplement and Salifert test kit. I would have got a test kit this weekend, but my LFS wanted $35 (+ tax) for it. I can get them through Marine Depot for cheaper than that, even with shipping included.

 

[SueT]

I heard that, Salifert tests locally are outrageous. On line much better. Hoping the coral regains it's color soon. It should..

 

[TWallace]

Well I got my calcium test kits and am well on my way to boosting magnesium. Latest tests show 1490 magnesium and 500 calcium. I'm aiming for 1550 mag in an attempt to kill off a bryopsis infestation, as recommended in this thread.

The mille still doesn't extend polyps in the daytime, but does at night. This morning I was around before lights on and watched it as lights came on. It looked nice before lights on, but within 3 minutes of the lights coming on, the polyps all shrunk back in. Nothing in the tank bothered it during that time. For some reason, it just doesn't like my lights, which is odd as they're only T5 (actinic only in morning).

The bali green slimer still looks nice, as do my other SPS (pocillopora, stylophora, hydnophora, montipora capricornus).

 

[slojmn]

That milli looks excellent prior to the lights coming on. Makes me wonder about a little fishy picking at it. Even though you don't see it, one could be irritating it by day. My two little hybrid angels pick at various sps, not all, just some. This includes a couple millis but not my prostrata...go figure. If you really are sure no one is bugging it maybe the lights are really impacting it due to the bleaching event and stress it is under trying to recover.It looks like that milli will make a splendid recovery if you keep babying it. Possibly dropping your lighting period for a while until it gets some color back.

 

[TWallace]

I boosted my magnesium up to 1680 to combat bryopsis (and it's working finally!). I know that mag should be between 1300 and 1500 ideally. At the same time, this allowed me to raise calcium up to 500 (again higher than I need, but I believe this is due to the elevated magnesium level). This has had the effect of lowering my dKH to 7.7. I've since used some Superbuffer dKH, but haven't tested the alk since then. I haven't seen any effect on the mille. The green slimer continues to look great, as do my other sps and clams.

 

[Jan]

Why is it a problem if SPS corals only extend their polyps at night? Is this true of all SPS?

I have a green slimer, purple slimer and pink millepora with visible polyps during the daytime, and a 20K Leagues Lokani and a Cali tort that show no polyps during the daytime. Should I be concerned about that?

Sorry if I'm highjaking the thread...maybe I should add this as my signature line ("Sorry about highjacking your thread....")

 

[TWallace]

I'm not sure that it is a problem, but I assumed it was. This particular mille was extending polyps very nicely during the daytime at the store, but not in my tank. So I assumed based on that, that something is wrong. Also, they look a lot prettier with polyps extended, so I'd like to get it to do it during the daytime, even if it's just for aesthetic reasons.

 

[preons]

I got some sps from barrier before and after the electricle event. Some of the ones took two weeks to adjust to my high alk 12 and lighting. They did the same thing. Opened only under my actinic periods and at night. They slowly started opening more and more and now are totally coming out during the day. Keep water parameters ideal and wait. But I think if they dont eventually come out all day there is something wrong.

 

[preons]

I may be wrong but I think it would be normal for corals in your tank to not do as well as in the barrier reef tank. The tank they have is huge, actually two giant 400gal+ tanks, guessing, A huge sump, perfect lighting, perfect flow, giant skimmer and giant calcium reactor, water changes from constant sales. I think they run phosban and carbon. They have very little fish load. Im sure they keep water parameters completely dialed in day after day. It wouldnt suprise me a bit for corals to look nicer there than in any other tank.

 

[SueT]

actually polyp extension is not indicative of good health. Yes, they do look prettier, but some acropora just extend polyps during the nighttime as in the ocean, thats the only time fish sleep so feeding for sps can only be done at night without worry of being nipped. I have several acropora that do only extend polyps at night, I don't worry about it as I know they are healthy. When color is also less than what they should be thats when it's time to check into maybe why...

 

[preons]

yep but his point was that they were open at the store during the day. So there has to be something that is causing this change in behavior right. Maybe a fish is the culprit?

 

[TWallace]

Yeah, I suspect my flame angel over all others, but I've never noticed him peck at the mille or any other corals for that matter. One day about 6 months ago he pecked at all 3 of my crocea clams all day long, but since that day never touched them again. He didn't touch the derasa that day, which I thought was odd.

 

[SueT]

of course a fish nipping should be the first idea to check into when a particular coral stops extending polyps when it previously was. Fish can make an sps coral stop dead in it's tracks by nipping. Clams will also exhibit the very same behavior. So then it's to decide which fish by watching and then removing.

 

[stonycorals]

As Sue mentioned...corals exhibit PE for many reasons, gas exchange, heterotrophic feeding, autotrophic feeding, photoinhibition, etc. You don't really know why they are doing it, and it's not a good proxy for coral health. Some exhibit daytime PE some don't, it's a worthless measure of coral health. Night time is pretty common though...

As far as Ca levels, it's scientifically proven that only when Ca levels fall below 360ppm does Ca becoming limited and calcification slows. Anything above 360 had no effect (positive or negative) on calcification. The scientist used Stylophora.... where is that article??? So at 370 - 380ppm, you're not hurting anything.

I'd say acclimation, like Kevin said, it can take weeks or months for these animals to acclimate to our systems ( the thought that drip acclimation helps corals adapt to our systems is pretty ridiculous, temp fine). If they lighten, they may be reducing zoox in reaction to differing lighting, or nutrient levels...

 

[kevinpo]

IME with occasional coral nipping by a fish the polyps retract only for a few min then return to normal extension.

Moderate and even low levels of DOC's will limit polyp extension in some corals. An ORP reading in the range of 350-400 is what I shoot for. The difference between an ORP reading of 275 and 350 is quite noticeable especially in many Acropora species.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[TWallace]

My tank has always measured 0 nitrates ever since about a month after I set it up. I don't have equipment to check for, or adjust level of ORP. Is this something worth investing in?

 

[kevinpo]

For keeping Acropora corals I would highly recommend it. If you are a member of the PSAS you may be able to borrow one for a quick check from one of the members.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Jan]

Excuse me....what is ORP?

 

[kevinpo]

ORP stands for Oxidation Reduction Potential. In practical terms, it is a
measurement to oxidize contaminants. This is most often achieved by the addition of ozone into the water column using an ozone generator. I would never do this unless I had an ORP controller to go along with the ozone generator. All public aquariums that I know of use ozone as one tool to mantain water quality.

Regards,
Kevin