Acropora Nana

[Huskymaniac]

Should this acro have polyp extension? Got a nice size frag 2 weeks ago and only seeing minimal PE on the base and slightly more first thing in AM. Its in a real high flow area and really high up in the tank so not sure if I should relocate to another spot. So far its holding its color so seems healthy otherwise.

 

[jda]

A Nana will usually show a little. When the colony gets larger, you will see some more in the middle of the colony.

Do not sweat PE. PE is a sign of something, but alone tells you nothing. You can have lack of PE from stress, but you can also have too much PE from stress. You can have a lot of PE when corals are happy, or you can have none. Polyp Extension is mostly for gas exchange, which is why you see it more at night when the photosynthesis in the zoox are not actively providing the corals with gas. This is also why the inner branches of a colony will have more PE since they have less flow to carry in/out oxygen/CO2 water. If they are colorful and growing, then do not sweat PE.

People have gone mad, lost corals and otherwise ruined a nice, fun hobby by chasing PE.

While we are on the subject, there are a lot of photos that you see from vendors online that have a lot of PE. Some of them use tricks for this. They stop all of the flow in the tank and wait a while - the polyps will come out if you do this since it is harder for them to breathe without flow. Some even use a still "photo box" to take the pictures. In any case, I will bet that if you turned all of the flow off in your tank, the polyps will come out too, but is that really sustainable?

 

[Leadfooted]

I had similar. It sounds like it's adjusting possibly. My experience in you case leave it alone for another 4 weeks and look for growth or color. If it increases in those forms, leave alone. If not, make slight position move. When I've done this, I expect to see growth or more color in less than 2 weeks, if not, move again. When you start to see the slightest hint for faster growth or more color, glue it for good.

 

[Huskymaniac]

I had similar. It sounds like it's adjusting possibly. My experience in you case leave it alone for another 4 weeks and look for growth or color. If it increases in those forms, leave alone. If not, make slight position move. When I've done this, I expect to see growth or more color in less than 2 weeks, if not, move again. When you start to see the slightest hint for faster growth or more color, glue it for good.

Sounds good to me. I actually had a a. Rosario frag that did nothing for almost 2 months. Now all of a sudden its got a ton of PE. As long as the color is holding I will leave it.