Acropora encrusting, but no polyp extension

[George Villasenor]

I have a 55gal cube tank with a 30gal sump, stocked with a midas blenny and a potters angelfish, running Triton method.
Only dosing 1ml a day since the tank is lightly stocked with sps at the moment, should I bring up the dosage due to the parameters, and as the title says the acropora are encrusting on frag plugs and rockwork but no growth 'outwards' and no polyp extension at all. The tank is pest free and I have not observed the angelfish nipping the sps. The par the sps frags get is around 400, should it bump it up? Running radion gen3 pro.
Parameters:
Cal 400
Mag 1170
pH 8
Phosphate 5ppb
dKH 8.1
Nitrate <0

Tank is pretty new, around 4 months old.

 

[Oldreefer44]

Couple of things. How long have you had it? IMO, 400 par is plenty if not a little excessive. Also, some nitrates are necessary.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Look at your sps at night with a flashlight and inspect for bugs. They are like tiny grains of pepper. I had some get through my coral dips. Encrusting is good, however you should see some pe especially at night. Keep you dkh stable and don’t raise above its current level. With your low po4 and no3 I’d actually bring it down to 7.3. How’s your flow? They like flow just not getting directly blasted.

 

[George Villasenor]

Couple of things. How long have you had it? IMO, 400 par is plenty if not a little excessive. Also, some nitrates are necessary.

The tank, around 4 months. The frags, around 1 month now.

 

[George Villasenor]

Look at your sps at night with a flashlight and inspect for bugs. They are like tiny grains of pepper. I had some get through my coral dips. Encrusting is good, however you should see some pe especially at night. Keep you dkh stable and don’t raise above its current level. With your low po4 and no3 I’d actually bring it down to 7.3. How’s your flow? They like flow just not getting directly blasted.

I'm currently running a mp10 and they're getting decent inderect flow, but I'm going to change to 2 nero 5's in the near future.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Your tank is still young. I would try Brightwell coral amino. It could help your corals a bit. You also need more fish. Corals feed on fish poop and pee. Post a pic of the corals if you can. If you use aminos go super slow. 1/4 recommended dose.

 

[TopShelfAquatics Verified Sponsor]

I recommend more nitrates and raise your mag a bit also check your acro for the possibility of any pests. Additionally I would consider taking video of the tank in time lapse mode to make sure the angel isnt snacking while you're not looking

 

[George Villasenor]

Your tank is still young. I would try Brightwell coral amino. It could help your corals a bit. You also need more fish. Corals feed on fish poop and pee. Post a pic of the corals if you can. If you use aminos go super slow. 1/4 recommended dose.

Funnily enough, I got those exact aminos from the secret santa, gonna start using them, thanks.

 

[CuzzA]

I have a 55gal cube tank with a 30gal sump, stocked with a midas blenny and a potters angelfish, running Triton method.
Only dosing 1ml a day since the tank is lightly stocked with sps at the moment, should I bring up the dosage due to the parameters, and as the title says the acropora are encrusting on frag plugs and rockwork but no growth 'outwards' and no polyp extension at all. The tank is pest free and I have not observed the angelfish nipping the sps. The par the sps frags get is around 400, should it bump it up? Running radion gen3 pro.
Parameters:
Cal 400
Mag 1170
pH 8
Phosphate 5ppb
dKH 8.1
Nitrate <0

Tank is pretty new, around 4 months old.

Mag is really low, but with the angel present I would not expect great day time polyp extension.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Yes check and night to see if you’re getting good PE. During the day I get decent PE but nothing like when the lights are out.

 

[dave57]

I recommend more nitrates and raise your mag a bit also check your acro for the possibility of any pests. Additionally I would consider taking video of the tank in time lapse mode to make sure the angel isnt snacking while you're not looking

What phosphate levels do you recommend for these sps?

 

[homer1475]

You have an angel, no PE. Whether they nip or not, I'm willing to bet that it does give a swim-by nipping every now and then.

I had 0 PE on all my acros, until I got rid of my flame back angel. Now I have PE for days.

Even with the angel, you should have decent PE when it's sleeping at night.

FWIW PE doesn't equal healthy.

 

[happyhourhero]

It’s the potters angel.

 

[George Villasenor]

Yes check and night to see if you’re getting good PE. During the day I get decent PE but nothing like when the lights are out.

Got a look at the PE during lights out, definately getting PE, but very minimal extension.

 

[George Villasenor]

It’s the potters angel.

I’ll probably banish the angel to the sump for a bit, and if there’s changes in PE, he’ll be removed.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I would also suspect the angel.

 

[George Villasenor]

Update: Ever since I banished the angel to the sump, I have started seeing some polyp extension. Sucks that I now have to rehome the beautiful potter angel, unless I can keep him in the sump (25g chamber)? And i have started dosing nitrates as I have been getting <0 readings constantly. Phosphates has been a constant 3ppb, and I have brought up my magnesium to around 1300.

 

[CuzzA]

Good to hear. Though I think you need to rehome it. A sump is no place for an angelfish.

 

[ajhudson15]

I had a potters in ym mixed reef with tons of sps and my polyp extension was great both day and night. all angels can be different but if its not nipping then he should have pe. I would expect it is nipping at some point. my sps also start going down hill when my nitrates are to low

 

[flyfisherman]

an Angel nipping isnt the end of the world. In some cases they could stimulate growth snacking on a tip here or there. more light for the base! snails and blue leg hermits crawling all over the tank could hurt your PE too. i wouldnt worry about it especially if you are seeing growth