Blue Mille placement PE

[jef4y]

I picked up a Bali blue millepora colony about 2 weeks ago, and have it up towards the top of my tank under some pretty strong T5 lighting. The area it is at gets what I would call moderate flow. It is somewhat sheltered, but there is still movement around the coral.

I don't really know what to expect with this coral in terms of Polyp Extension. I see a few strands coming out of it here & there, but nothing consistent and definitely not "furry" like some of the pics I've seen. I can move it up another 3" to the absolute top of my tank which would increase the flow and lighting a bit, but I'm not really sure what is to be expected from the coral.

Can anyone advise on what I should be seeing in terms of polyp extension? A pic would be fantastic.

Kind thanks.

 

[oz]

I have very wierd mixed results with milli's in my tank and it may be related to this topic.

I have a green milli that's in the middle of the tank with pretty strong light and moderate flow that's really shaggy. I have a blue milli that's getting strong light & less flow - not as shaggy at all. Then a red milli strong light moderate flow with very limited PE.

I'm starting to think that different milli species react to different tank parameters.

I gave a the blue milli frag to Mojo a while back and it took off like a rocket in growth and PE. Very bright blue - really strong light and flow but very low nutrient level.

Not sure if it helps but....

 

[jef4y]

Thanks OZ.

I moved the piece up to the flat rock at the top. The flow there is definitely greater than where it was. Will keep an eye on it for the next few days to a week and see if there are any changes.

 

[glxtrix]

This was mine back in the day

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Was under 3x175 MH....middle tank with about 400 PAR. I have something a little different now, on the sand bed...maybe 200 PAR and its about the same with PE. There are many millis...and some that are thought to be millis, but are not. PE will differ from species as well as tanks. Same goes for color as well. You definitely want it to have PE...it may not be super long, but they def need to be out. The best thing to do with any coral...start low (you should anyways to acclimate to your lights) then slowly move it up to see how it reacts.

 

[slinky]

mine has about the same size PE, however, at night, the PE is a lot longer, anyone knows why?

thanks.

 

[jef4y]

glxtrix;562156 wrote: This was mine back in the day

Yeah, I have nowhere near that amount of PE. I get maybe 20 or 30 individual feeders that come out. Hopefully my change will entice it a bit more.

The best thing to do with any coral...start low (you should anyways to acclimate to your lights) then slowly move it up to see how it reacts.

I don't know what my PAR is, but the lighting is pretty strong. It was, however, under MH lighting so my T5's shouldn't be abnormal to it. I started it down low (about 4" off the bottom) for 1 week, then ran it up high (didn't have anything in the middle available). Up high it was about 5" under water at the peak and 8" or so at the base. It's now about 2-3" higher but more flow as well.

Looking forward to seeing what happens with it.

As for coral PE greater at night, I see that with all my corals. Not sure why, they just stick it out to feed more at night for some reason...

 

[rolo65]

Slinky;562162 wrote: mine has about the same size PE, however, at night, the PE is a lot longer, anyone knows why?

thanks.

Usually feeding at night....extend more to try to grab more food....all my sps have alot of PE at night

 

[oz]

Most coral feed on particles in the water at night then use sunlight for algae/food during the day. This is more evident in tanks with low bioload or low nutrient levels it seems to me.

 

[jef4y]

So in the new position, during the afternoon roughly the same amount of feeders remaind out (very few, but some). In the early eve, when we fed the fish and food hit the water column, while the piece didn't get "shaggy", I probably tripled the amount of feeders that came out. And they were VERY long. It was pretty cool.

After the lights went out, no feeders at all...

The saga continues =)