Question for you SPS keepers

ReefDave · 10-10-2003, 02:29 AM

Hey folks,
As most of you know my tank is only about 6 weeks old, and I was recently sent a couple care packages from a friend in NC and of course good ol' Johnny.

Well everything is doing well, except the acro frag that was sent to me by the friend in NC. I know my tank is probably a little young for an acro but it was free, and it was a suprise, he through it in as an "extra".

Well everything that survived shipping is doing very well. The clove polyps have already reproduced and attached to a 2nd rock ( my first frag!) mushrooms splitting, zoos fully extending....even the poor BSP's that spent three days in the mail are coming out daily. My fish are doing find (so long as the brittle star doesn't eat them). And most suprising is that the montipora cap that was sent to me has actually grown a full 1/4" around almost all of its edges, its not quiet 1/2" wider than the day I recieved it...

Ok now the question. The little acro frag that was sent has not "fully" opened its polyps yet (two full weeks as of today) The day I recieved it I could make out the polyps but they weren't extending really......today they are pulled up inside the acro pretty much all the way. The color of the coral is slightly lighter than the day I recieved it, but still brown (not bleached anywhere). At first I thought that I noticed a little bit of growth to the tips, but now I think its my mind playing tricks on me. It is not sliming.

Ok...so the coral hasn't really put out its polyps in two weeks. The biggest difference in my tank and the tank it came out of is lighting. In the "Brian's" tank it was 12" under 400w lights. In my tank it is 14" under 250w lights......So I would expect it to be "pissy" for a while. Also I am having some trouble keeping the temp down on my tank, it hangs out around 80-83 degrees daily, never dropping much below 80-79 at night. I will be buying another fan soon to keep the temp down a little more, but in the mean time I was wondering if this is normal behavior for an SPS frag that has been moved to a new tank. Like I said the monti looks great as does the rest of the tank....

Ill try to post a "week one" pick and a "today pick".

Dave

ReefDave · 10-10-2003, 02:37 AM

Ok,
Well maybe I am an overly concerned parent. What appeared to be really bad to me seems it might be my imagination. I had been looking at a picture from last week, and comparing it to what I was seeing when I look into my tank. However two things are different from one to the other.

1. The picture from last week was a macro shot, of course the polyps looked bigger.. and
2. I have added actinic lights since then.....

So here is the comparison.....I still am not getting full polyp extension, however my believe that it was actually getting worse might have been premature...

wanareef · 10-10-2003, 03:18 AM

Dave

It's normal for sps's to be like that. It takes time for them to acclimate to he new surroundings. Coming from 400 to 250 and being a little lower, it takes time. If you want you can place it higher in the tank - get it closer to the light.

jmo

MontanaRocknReefer · 10-10-2003, 07:40 AM

Hey Dave!

Glad to hear the BSP are coming out of it! I will try to load ya up with some more stuff this spring!

Miss ya in chat!

Geoff · 10-10-2003, 09:08 AM

looking at the pics, things seem alright. as long as your Ca and alk are in line you should be fine. i have several acros that do not extend at all during the day. i would look at them after dark. this is when all of mine fully extend. i have a blue one that i very seldome see any polyps at all on it. i have had it for close to 6 months now. it is slowly encrusting the rock so i know it is growing.

i would keep an eye on the encrusting and see if it gets bigger. if it does then i would not worry.

BTW-nice looking acro. i need to get me a yellow one!!

G~

laddy00 · 10-10-2003, 02:40 PM

Some of my SPS don't have full polyp extension during the day either, but at night when I use a flashlight to see them they are fully extended. They all seem to be growing fast so I wouldn't worry about yours as long as it looks healthy and is growing

ReefDave · 10-10-2003, 03:08 PM

Update....
I moved the Acro further up in the tank, and will slowly move it lower as it grows....I moved it up about 10" earlier today and re-arranged a powerhead so that it was getting a little more reasonable flow, within two hours it already looks like the first pic, so I am feeling a little bit better....when I got these lights I thought "wow, thats going to be overkill...2-250w over a 36" tank" never would have believed that I would have to move stuff up "higher" in my tank. Do you think I will eventually be able to move this little guy down in the tank? I have it in the highest point right now, but I would like to get some more SPS in the future and it kills me to think that I only have 1 "acceptable Perch" to place SPS on...

BTW, the lighting is 2-250w MH Iwasaki's, and 2 96w PC Actinic 03's. All bulbs are 10" from the water surface...

I also went out and bought a monster fan to put over the sump to try to bring down the temp a little......I noticed today that I had been mis-reading my themometer, and that its getting close to 86 degrees during the day. I noticed today that by opening up the cabinet doors I dropped it by 2 degrees, so hopfully this fan can get me another 3-4....its a really fast hard blowing fan....ill keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks for everyone's help...this tank was built in hopes of being an SPS tank, I just got my first frags a little sooner than expected....anything I can do to assure they live makes me feel a little bit better.

Thanks

mnreefgeek · 10-10-2003, 03:52 PM

Dave - I have 1 - 250wt & 1-150wt MH and a 55pc over a 20. I have to run a reverse light cycle and have 2x4" fans in the hood, but i don't top out over about 82. If heat is really that much of a problem, short of buying a chiller, maybe you should run your lights at night. It has done wonders for my tank.