How to measure health/happiness in SPS?

[derek_s]

Is it just color and polyp extension? The reason I ask is because I have noticed the most polyp extension from my SPS at night, after lights out. I figured it would be under bright light. Is this pretty normal?

The PH and temp shoud the only things really affected by the day/night cycle (correct me if I'm wrong) but my temp stays steady at 79-80, and my PH 8.1-8.2.

 

[victor626nj]

it the morning they feed off the light ...but i night they go into there none photo period mode so they extend there polyps more but i might be wrong mine do the same thing..... i think its to catch nutriants in the water

 

[derek_s]

Cool, I was wondering... Hey vic, I ordered wireless vortecs earlier this week. I want to set them up similar to yours, I think. Was it pretty simple to do?

 

[kwl1763]

2 reasons polyps extend at night and both have to do with being in the wild

1) Fish are asleep so less polyp nipping will go on. There are lots of butterflies and other fish that eat polyps so it's safer to be out at night

2) There is a lot more zooplankton (aka food) in the water column at night which is what these guys eat.

Growth is a much better indicator of health then polyp extension or color.

 

[derek_s]

Ah, makes good sense. Two more things:

I am under the impression that calcium in the range of 450 and dKH around 9-12 is optimum for growth? Is this correct? I just wanted to verify.

And lastly, what is good growth? How much should I expect/hope to see in a month if conditions are kept at that 'optimal'range.

 

[kwl1763]

That's about right. Calcium doesn't need to be that high but it won't hurt anything that high

SPS growth will vary widely. Some of the fast growing monti's and acros can grow an inch a month. Other will grow an inch a year! It really depends on lots of stuff not the least of which is the coral itself. Some just don't grow as fast.

 

[derek_s]

All mine are pretty nice colors except for the blue digi I got from Jin. It was brown when I got it, and is still brown. I've tried various lighting, even sat it right next to the green digi that has great color. No luck. I'd like to know that answer as well.

 

[ralph atl]

Barbara;158758 wrote: What do you do for corals that just won't color up??? My supposed "green" staghorn is growing so fast it's unbelievable. The new growth is bright white, almost looks bleached at the tips, but it is simply new growth. However, the stag is brown. Also most of my digis are various stages of brown. I thought it was my lights, but I've now had 250W metal halides on them for a few weeks and they're still brown. Excellent growth, but brown corals. Help!

There are many reasons why stonies will brown, but I will take a guess. 1) too much light (not likely, but possible), 2) too much CO2 (how's your ph?) or 3) too much nutrients (phosphates & nitrates)

This typically happens when the algae(Zooxanthellae) in the stony thrives so well that you can no longer see the color of the coral, just the brown algae.

 

[ralph atl]

corvettecris;158735 wrote: Ah, makes good sense. Two more things:

I am under the impression that calcium in the range of 450 and dKH around 9-12 is optimum for growth? Is this correct? I just wanted to verify.

And lastly, what is good growth? How much should I expect/hope to see in a month if conditions are kept at that 'optimal' range.

optimum growth will generally occur when your tanks parems are stable month after month. Keep your ALK in range, you calcium at least 380, your phosphates at 0.024 or below & your trates low and you will do fine. Of course, barring any physical barrier like poor lighting or lack of random flow, etc.

 

[ralph atl]

Barbara;158812 wrote: Wow Ralph. You may have nailed it! My ph is generally on the low side (around 8.0 or just under), and I don't run any carbon or phosban, so I'm guessing I have some nutrients, although nothing too bad.

If my corals were brown because of not enough light, how long would it take them to color up when I get adequate lighting? Example, I've only had my MH for a few weeks, and am still running them on a shorter break-in cycle.

maybe a month or 2

 

[ralph atl]

remember, it takes 1 minute to screw everything up, and 3 months to recover.

 

[derek_s]

Cool. Barbara and I are in the same boat, as I just upped the lighting on my 29 gal. Hopefully in a month or two we will be singing joyously over our new growth and colors! lol

 

[ralph atl]

Barbara;158816 wrote: So there's still hope for me that my corals are just still browned out from bad lighting only?

yeah, but I wouldn't wait. Don't do anything either......too fast. However,go get a phosban reactor and put some phosar hc in there [or get a DD Merk phosphate kit & test it yourself (or borrow from member)]. Also, get another one for carbon. You can tie them in series on one rio 90 (5 bucks). Carbon first. Test for nitrates, too!

 

[derek_s]

Is this basically a 'must' for optimizing sps? I dont run a phos or carbon reactor, just puri-gen. I don't read any phos on my api test, but I know its there as I have very minor turf algae.

 

[ralph atl]

corvettecris;158832 wrote: Is this basically a 'must' for optimizing sps? I dont run a phos or carbon reactor, just puri-gen. I don't read any phos on my api test, but I know its there as I have very minor turf algae.

Do you have to run Carbon? no
Do you have to run GFO? no

however, it is almost necessary to do so, especially gfo. Do you need a fuge? no, but you really "should" have one with stonies.

stonies will not grow if phosphates are over 0.03. At 0.04 and they will start to die from the tips.

usually the reefers that don't have GFO, have so little fish (or none) that there is very little phosphates introduced. Also, if you have some huge algae scrubber you wouldn't need one, because that does it for you.

that API phosphate kit will not measure phosphates in a low enough range to do you any good. DD Merck, HACH, Colormeter, & maybe ELOS. If you have 1 goby in a 55 gallon tank & a 20 gallon sump/fuge, you won't need GFO.

 

[ralph atl]

purigen does take the place of carbon, so you are ok there

 

[ralph atl]

Barbara;158859 wrote: Crap! I'm in trouble. I'm not big on testing and have never owned these complicated tests that some members have. I have the cheap little test strips and when I take my water to the LFS, the test strips are pretty darn close to accurate, so I've always just depended on them. Well, after Ralph's advice, I tested again. My alk was down around 80 and my ph is down around 7.6. Nitrates are around 10, which is not bad, but holy crap! Look at my alk and ph! I just dosed some baking soda, and when that settles I'll dose some calcium. Wow. What should I do here????? AGGGGHHHHH!!

I'm not sure what 80 is on alk, but if your ph is accurate at 7.6 (not sure if it's accurate), you need to bring it up SLOWLY over the next few days to over 8.0. You will also need to figure out how you are going to maintain alk above 7 or 8 and calcium above 380 CONSISTENTLY.


http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php">http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php</a>

[IMG]http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605">http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605</a>

 

[derek_s]

Thanks for the advice. I will pick up a phos reactor this weekend and give it a shot.

 

[ralph atl]

no problem!

 

[liverock27]

I have a Fluval 305 sitting around and was wondering if I could use it as a media reactor? Could I run it on my sump and put both carbon and phosar hc in it?