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Help with SPS issue in nano

jgraz

jgraz

Ok well my 20H has been going since early Jan. Since the beginning I have had some problem crop up here and there and all have been solved except this one. Why no or very little polyp extension in most of my SPS. Here are my parameters as of 9am today:
PH- 8
KH-8
Phosphate-.04 (hanna)(no nusiance algae)
Mag-1440
Calcium-440
Ammonia-0
N02-0
NO3-0

All my parameters seem to be in check. My lighting is a 4x24" T5 DeepBlue Solar Extreme, running all ATI Blue+,Coral+,Blue+,Purple+ front to back and sits 4" from water surface.
For the most part I get good extension from my Green birdsnest and my Bird of paradise. Those are in the upper and lower 1/3 of the tank respectivly. I have a Cali Tort and a Bonsai that both get little to no extension again upper and lower 1/3 respetivly. My montis are a appleberry, idaho grape, flower petal, reverse sunset, and setosa that get very little extension, a pokerstar and superman digitata with no extension, and a sunset that gets good extension. The acros which inclued Pearlberry, tri-color, and Pink lemonade with no extension. All of these pieces are between midway and higher in the tank. I would like to add that For the most part growth seems to be good. Whenever I add something it normally encrusts very well, and I have noticed notable growth from many pieces. Color seems pretty good for the most part, though I have bleached a purple nana that moved from my other tank. I would also like to add pieces that have showed great extension in my other tank have lost such when moved to the nano. Is it possible that I have too much light? Sorr to be long winded just wanted to cover all the bases. Thanks in advance for the assist.
John
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Remember that corals extend their feeding tentacles at night, we artificially coax them out during the day. If the colors and growth are good I would not be too worried. If you want to try chemically coaxing them out I would look for some amino acids (Elos, aquavitro fuel, zeo) or pohls extra fro zeo. Basically you want to try and feed them during the day to get the polyp extension. Be careful with anything you add they can spike nitrates or phosphates depending on how often you are dosing.
 
jgraz

jgraz

sjfishguy said:
What kind of fish? Where did you get the corals from? Did you dip them/treat them before putting them in?
Click to expand...
Only fish are a clown goby and two clowns, and the usual CUC. Corals were collected from many places and all are dipped before putting in. If i take a coral out and put in my other tank I will get extension within a few days. For example, about 3 weeks ago I bought a large pokerstar monti frag from Ultimate reefs. Dipped aclimated and placed about 12" below lights in the nano. No extension. about 1 week later I split the frag and placed 1/2 in my other tank on a frag rack about 12" below but off to the side of 4x24"t5. Within 2 days I have full extension and the frag in the nano still has none.
Thats why I was wondering about too much light.

mnat said:
Remember that corals extend their feeding tentacles at night, we artificially coax them out during the day. If the colors and growth are good I would not be too worried. If you want to try chemically coaxing them out I would look for some amino acids (Elos, aquavitro fuel, zeo) or pohls extra fro zeo. Basically you want to try and feed them during the day to get the polyp extension. Be careful with anything you add they can spike nitrates or phosphates depending on how often you are dosing.
Click to expand...

I get no extension at night either, except from my LPS. I guess Im just being paranoid and thinking that no polyps mean somethings wrong. Especially when my other tank show full extension all day.
 
dnov99

dnov99

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
Does the clown goby host any of the acros? Either way, clown gobies are known to nip or even eat SPS polyps. This could be your problem..
 
jgraz

jgraz

dnov99 said:
Does the clown goby host any of the acros? Either way, clown gobies are known to nip or even eat SPS polyps. This could be your problem..
Click to expand...

I've been suspecting him for some time. Just can't figure why the birdsnest corals are usually fully extended when he spends just as much time there.
 
dnov99

dnov99

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
jgraz said:
I've been suspecting him for some time. Just can't figure why the birdsnest corals are usually fully extended when he spends just as much time there.
Click to expand...

Birdsnest are a much smaller polyp than most acros, perhaps he doesnt not nip at them due to this...
 
S

sjfishguy

Sounds like clown goby to me too, esp if PE comes back in another tank. I would get rid of it, they are a pretty lousy fish for an SPS tank
 
jgraz

jgraz

Well today someone on reef central pointed out something that I did not see. I posted a bunch of pics and it seems that the nano has red bugs
b67fe082.jpg

That is the pic they saw them in. After looking closely at the tank, I see them on my pearl berry and Cali tort. Guess its time for a new thread.
 
dnov99

dnov99

FRAG SWAP VENDOR
Yep, that explains everything. Try to get some interceptor, but as of right now, they stopped production of it or something like that.
 
jgraz

jgraz

Frags only went to the nano, never from the nano to my other tank. With that said I am keeping an eye on that tank also.
I do believe I have traced the problem to the pearl berry frag I recently acquired. While I bought it a a very LFS to me it only came in about 1 hr before from an unknown tank. And due to time constraints and for the fact that i was out of coral rx I was unable to dip. I'm an idiot. Lessons learned.
 
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