Can you solve the mystery? polyp extension

[mess7777]

I am at a loss about why I can't get polyp extension on some of my corals. Some looks great, others do not. I cannot make a discernable pattern and have not been able to case this in months. Corals are not dying, in fact I have growth on many, including those with little to no PE. So, in an effort to come to a resolution, I am reaching out to my online community to help and get this figured. Hopefully you all can bear with this initial post which may be a bit long but is necessary if I am to tell the whole story, allowing for informed advice and opinions.

The Rules :
1)I will only try 1 thing at a time
2)Changing equipment is not on the priority list, please think inside the box I already have!
3)Ideas with reasoning will be given priority
4)I may add new rules along the way

Current Setup :
-Standard 90g tank with a 30g sump. Tank is drilled on the back left. Return pump is an Aquabee 2000/L, approx 4 foot from pump to top of tank.
-Circulation return pump(approx 100g/hour), Tunze nano Wavebox, Jebao WP-25 on ELSE mode
-Pacific Sun Metis Hyperion 2x150w lighting. Max setting of 80%. Light settings at 20K with 9 hours lights on per day
-ATS waterfall style lit for 16 hours per day, cleaned as it becomes full, 2-3 weeks
-Heater
-Marine Color Dosing Alk and Ca. Mg still dosed manually
-ROX carbon from BRS, changed out every 2 weeks

Current Livestock :
-Sailfin Tang
-2 blue-green chromis
-Starry Blenny
-2 Oc. Clowns
-Flameback Angel
-Brittle Starfish
-bunch of hermit crabs and snails
-mixed reef, zoas, LPS, SPS, a few mushrooms and some xenia

Maitenance :
Water change of 5-10g each week, using Royal Nature Salt

Parameters :
SG - 1.025 (refractometer)
pH - 8.4 (API)
N - 0 (API)
P - 0 (hanna)
Ca - 420 (API)
Alk - 9.2 (Red Sea Pro)
Mg - 1300 (Red Sea Pro)

The elephant in the room : I don't have a skimmer. My sump has a poor design relative to my space underneath the tank, and I cannot fit a skimmer. I had a crappy homemade one which made little difference, but I have been skimmerless since May 2012. This may be an ultimate conclusion, but I would like to explore other options first. There are many examples of skimmerless tanks around the net that don't have PE problems. If it turns out to be this, you can laugh and say told ya so at the end, I will allow it!!

Next post - details on the issue.

 

[mess7777]

Details of my PE problem :

I am going to lump any coral that is having issues looking its best in the category of having a PE problem. For a zoa it means they don't open full or at all. For a LPS, it's only 1 coral so take it for what it is.

LPS:
- The majority of these look very good. I have 4 euphyllia all doing well, as well as 4 favias ,a couple acans, a chalice, and a hollywood stunner
- Dragon Soul Favia is the problem child here. Polyps are whitish and colors in general are less vivid. This has been mostly since switching lights to the Pacific Sun a few months ago.

ZOAS:
- Many kinds of zoas, mostly doing well, including Blue Eyed Blondies, Froot Loops, Nuclear Green, Watermelon, and Unkown Green and Yellow
- 3 that are hardly opening, Candy Apple Reds, Rainbow Paly, and an unknown Pink and Gold

SPS:
Doing well with PE - Pink Birdsnest, Yellow Birdsnest(very well). Blue/Pink Acro, Blue Stylophora, unknown green acro, Purple Montipora Digi, Montipora Confusa, green hydrophora, meteor shower(no PE but I don't think they ever do)
Doing OK with PE - Pokerstar Monti, Sunset Monti
Little to no PE - 3 types of millepora, prostata, red planet, tri-color acro, yellow tip acro, red convexa, unknown yellowish green, purple bonsai, blue tort

SOFTIES:
Xenia(weed), Red Mushroom, Turquoise Mushrooms, Polkadot Mushrooms, some other mushroom, and some clove polyps

Next post : Tomorrow I will post some photos for reference. I know this is a long drawn out post, I am hoping there are some people willing to come along for the ride and see what happens. I am not going to give up, and hopefully we can learn something along the way about PE and how to improve it.

 

[redtop03]

if some look good and some do not, I would look at water flow and lighting first, maybe too much or too little of either, since water flow may be the easiest to change, I'd start there...just a thought though, maybe someone else will chime in and be a bit more helpful

 

[mess7777]

if some look good and some do not, I would look at water flow and lighting first, maybe too much or too little of either, since water flow may be the easiest to change, I'd start there...just a thought though, maybe someone else will chime in and be a bit more helpful

Thanks for being the 1st to reply!

Flow:
Interestingly it has only been two weeks since I changed from a Koralia powerhead to the Jebao WP-25. It has increased flow substantially, but I have seen no change. I will take a video and maybe you can tell me what you think of the current flow situation.

Lighting:
These problems started before I changed my light, and my previous lights were very minimal. It has been 3-4 months now, and while corals have shown increased growth and some improved coloration, those with PE issues still don't have any PE. Again, perhaps a video will shed some "light" on this variable!