new to lps. a few questions

[BoneXriffic]

I recently moved up in the coral world to lps corals. I bought an acan frag with three heads and a torch.

What i would like to know is if this seems normal...ill try to get pics tommorrow.

The acan is difficult to read....color seems the same after having it a week. I have it in the sandbed i notice little fingers extended when lights go out. Normal? Hermit crabs crawl over him ocassionally. Will this stress it?

And for the torch....his tentacles dont extend super far but seems to have great color when lights on. When lights off he retracts quite a bit. Does this sound ok? He is on a rock not far off of sand bed

Tank is 29gal 30x18x12 and i have a 250 mh 14k sitting 8inches above tank.

Just put new bulb in so i cut light down to 4 hr per day and adding an hour every three days to help them aclimate. Currently up to 6 hr per day.
Any signs i should look for that light is too much?

All advice is much appreciated, also any other info tips or care youd like to add is always welcome

 

[Tahoe61]

I recently moved up in the coral world to lps corals. I bought an acan frag with three heads and a torch.

What i would like to know is if this seems normal...ill try to get pics tommorrow.

The acan is difficult to read....color seems the same after having it a week. I have it in the sandbed i notice little fingers extended when lights go out. Normal? Hermit crabs crawl over him ocassionally. Will this stress it?

And for the torch....his tentacles dont extend super far but seems to have great color when lights on. When lights off he retracts quite a bit. Does this sound ok? He is on a rock not far off of sand bed

Tank is 29gal 30x18x12 and i have a 250 mh 14k sitting 8inches above tank.

Just put new bulb in so i cut light down to 4 hr per day and adding an hour every three days to help them aclimate. Currently up to 6 hr per day.
Any signs i should look for that light is too much?

All advice is much appreciated, also any other info tips or car toud like to add is always welcome

What you're seeing with the Acan is a feeding response. Personally I do not keep hermit because they do crawl on LPS and other inverts and steal food. Hermits are also attracted to declining specimens.

The Torch/Euphyllia sounds normal.

I would give it 5 days to up the photoperiod. It takes a couple days to a week or so to see photoshock. Nice job though on considering the acclimation aspect.

As always images assist in helping to identify issues.

 

[kimba]

Some coral do like to eat at night, so I would say it's normal. As long as he is extending his little feeders, it's good. I like to watch mine eat so I kinda train them to come out during the day. I put lights on and wait for them to open up, then feed. In time as soon as my lights go on, they all open up looking for food.

I don't have a torch, but I do have a frog spawn and he shrinks every night. I think it's how he "sleeps" He opens up as soon as the lights come on. So I would say as long as your torch is opening up, I would say it's fine. If he receeds so far that you can see his skeleton, that's not good at all.

 

[Shep]

What you're seeing with the Acan is a feeding response. Personally I do not keep hermit because they do crawl on LPS and other inverts and steal food. Hermits are also attracted to declining specimens.

The Torch/Euphyllia sounds normal.

I would give it 5 days to up the photoperiod. It takes a couple days to a week or so to see photoshock. Nice job though on considering the acclimation aspect.

As always images assist in helping to identify issues.

+1 on everything Tahoe said.

 

[BoneXriffic]

Some coral do like to eat at night, so I would say it's normal. As long as he is extending his little feeders, it's good. I like to watch mine eat so I kinda train them to come out during the day. I put lights on and wait for them to open up, then feed. In time as soon as my lights go on, they all open up looking for food.

I don't have a torch, but I do have a frog spawn and he shrinks every night. I think it's how he "sleeps" He opens up as soon as the lights come on. So I would say as long as your torch is opening up, I would say it's fine. If he receeds so far that you can see his skeleton, that's not good at all.

The first morning when the lights kicked on i could see the skelle in a small portion but then he fully opened. And night i can get a glimpse of it but it appears to be out, just not extending.


Thank you both for the info as well

 

[BoneXriffic]

Sorry for the crap quality here they are though

View attachment 20160408_062917.jpg

View attachment 20160408_062907.jpg

 

[Tahoe61]

Check chemistry to rule out chemistry as the reason that the Euphyllia/Torch is not fully expanding. Next location as it relates to how much flow and intensity of the light the coral is receiving. Too much flow and the coral may not fully expand.

HTH

 

[BoneXriffic]

Tbh. He isnt a big torch to begin with. A frag off of the lfs bigger ones. Not sure how fully extended he should be lol. This pic was after mh just fired so

 

[kimba]

I think your tourch is a frogspawn

 

[BoneXriffic]

Lol leave it to me...ill look up the diff

 

[BoneXriffic]

Ah so the shorter tentacles is normal for it

 

[reef_junkie]

+1 on frogspawn. Doesn't look like torch to me

 

[BoneXriffic]

So, did sime testing. Calc is 420 ph is 8.3 nitrate is less than 20, and alkalinity is 9.....all good....then i tested phosphates and got a .5 i am going to assume they arent liking that. So i am adding some gfo and goig to do a few daily 5 gal water changes. Sound about right?