No Polyp Extension Please Help

buck27 · Nov 29, 2016

So I have had a few SPS frags for about a month now and so far they haven't died but I also have zero polyp extension and I mean zero. I also have a Green Clown Goby I the tank but I have literally watched for hours both night and day and he doesn't bother them at all, doesn't even sit on them.

I tested all that I could with the Red Sea test kit I had that would test CA, KH, and MG. I recently got my other test kit for Nitrates, Nitrites, pH and so on. So I run a 29 gallon Marine land cube with a hang on overflow and a Eshopps sump for a bigger tank.

I also have a SCA 302 skimmer, 2 Jabeo tw10's on wave mode. I feed the fish every other day, I dose Aquaforest products, and use Aquaforest salt. Here are my tank parameter's and if needed I will get some photos later. The last and only thing I can think is that my tank is too clean????

however my LPS (mushrooms, duncans, cloves) are doing well, my anemone is good, and my zoas are fine.

Salinity: 1.26
Temp: 79/80
Calcium : 450
Alkalinity: 9
Magnesium: 1480
Nitrate : 0
Nitrite : 0
pH : 8.2/8.3
Ammonia: 0

nex64 · Nov 29, 2016

Missing a phosphate (po4) reading if we are to assess if your tank is too clean or not.

rs1831 · Nov 29, 2016

Are you using AF probiotic salt? If you are, I would lower your alk slowly below 8.

fragit · Nov 29, 2016

What Aquaforest products are you dosing? There is a thread here called tanks based on Aquaforest products. Check it out lots of helpful folks there. I would say 2 things... one they are starving with 0 nitrates, and two for a ULNS you want to drop your alk to around 7.

buck27 · Nov 29, 2016

buck27 said:
So I have had a few SPS frags for about a month now and so far they haven't died but I also have zero polyp extension and I mean zero. I also have a Green Clown Goby I the tank but I have literally watched for hours both night and day and he doesn't bother them at all, doesn't even sit on them.

I tested all that I could with the Red Sea test kit I had that would test CA, KH, and MG. I recently got my other test kit for Nitrates, Nitrites, pH and so on. So I run a 29 gallon Marine land cube with a hang on overflow and a Eshopps sump for a bigger tank.

I also have a SCA 302 skimmer, 2 Jabeo tw10's on wave mode. I feed the fish every other day, I dose Aquaforest products, and use Aquaforest salt. Here are my tank parameter's and if needed I will get some photos later. The last and only thing I can think is that my tank is too clean????

however my LPS (mushrooms, duncans, cloves) are doing well, my anemone is good, and my zoas are fine.

Salinity: 1.26
Temp: 79/80
Calcium : 450
Alkalinity: 9
Magnesium: 1480
Nitrate : 0
Nitrite : 0
pH : 8.2/8.3
Po4: 0
Ammonia: 0

buck27 · Nov 29, 2016

Posted the Po4 reading which was also zero nex64

buck27 · Nov 29, 2016

Aquaforest products dosed are as follows... and please keep in mind it is a small tank and I only dose 1 drop of each product

Bio S, NP PRO, AF Build (I dose these three daily at a rate of 1 drop each)
AF Energy, AF Amino Mix (I dose every other day at a rate of 1 drop each)
AF Power Food (once a week)

buck27 · Nov 29, 2016

fragit said:
What Aquaforest products are you dosing? There is a thread here called tanks based on Aquaforest products. Check it out lots of helpful folks there. I would say 2 things... one they are starving with 0 nitrates, and two for a ULNS you want to drop your alk to around 7.

Ok, so lowering the alk to about 7, how would I make sure the pH stays stable? water changes? this would swing rather large I would think?

rs1831 · Nov 29, 2016

buck27 said:
Ok, so lowering the alk to about 7, how would I make sure the pH stays stable? water changes? this would swing rather large I would think?

It should not cause any large swings in ph. Just lower it slowly by not dosing anything until you get to 7.5 or so and then figure out what dosage you need to make to keep it there consistently.

Sabellafella · Nov 29, 2016

buck27 said:
So I have had a few SPS frags for about a month now and so far they haven't died but I also have zero polyp extension and I mean zero. I also have a Green Clown Goby I the tank but I have literally watched for hours both night and day and he doesn't bother them at all, doesn't even sit on them.

I tested all that I could with the Red Sea test kit I had that would test CA, KH, and MG. I recently got my other test kit for Nitrates, Nitrites, pH and so on. So I run a 29 gallon Marine land cube with a hang on overflow and a Eshopps sump for a bigger tank.

I also have a SCA 302 skimmer, 2 Jabeo tw10's on wave mode. I feed the fish every other day, I dose Aquaforest products, and use Aquaforest salt. Here are my tank parameter's and if needed I will get some photos later. The last and only thing I can think is that my tank is too clean????

however my LPS (mushrooms, duncans, cloves) are doing well, my anemone is good, and my zoas are fine.

Salinity: 1.26
Temp: 79/80
Calcium : 450
Alkalinity: 9
Magnesium: 1480
Nitrate : 0
Nitrite : 0
pH : 8.2/8.3
Ammonia: 0

If your sps havnt died since youve got them indicates your water quality is fine especially if you havnt had PE at all. No to little PE all day and night certainly points to a predator. Try looking for red bugs/host copepods or even flatworms. I would give some of those frags a dip to see if anything comes off

buck27 · Nov 29, 2016

Sabellafella said:
If your sps havnt died since youve got them indicates your water quality is fine especially if you havnt had PE at all. No to little PE all day and night certainly points to a predator. Try looking for red bugs/host copepods or even flatworms. I would give some of those frags a dip to see if anything comes off

I thought the same originally as well, they are clean as can be, the tank is not very old and I don't have any bugs, the green clown goby is in there but I have not seen him nip, sit, or bother the sps at all, I have literally watched the tank day and night for about 6 hours each and saw nothing not to mention the times I stop randomly and watch as well.

buck27 · Nov 29, 2016

rs1831 said:
It should not cause any large swings in ph. Just lower it slowly by not dosing anything until you get to 7.5 or so and then figure out what dosage you need to make to keep it there consistently.

will do, I currently use EVS B Ionic 2 part

Reefnjunkie · Nov 29, 2016

Agree with Sabellafella on the inspection for pests. With low nutrient ( which I have similar readings) you might give ME Polyp Extender a try-I had great results it's worth looking into

GL

buck27 · Nov 29, 2016

Reefnjunkie said:
Agree with Sabellafella on the inspection for pests. With low nutrient ( which I have similar readings) you might give ME Polyp Extender a try-I had great results it's worth looking into

GL

I will give it a go, thanks for the info

buck27 · Dec 1, 2016

waiting for the KH to naturally fall to 7.1 ish then will dose to keep it there, currently still no PE. I did turn off the carbon and GFO however, with the aquaforest it really isn't needed according to the reading I have been doing.

Acro maniac · Dec 1, 2016

Seems to me you shouldn't need to dose that stuff if your doing wc regularly if there frags in a new tank.
Wc should replace all the necessary elements and ions that are used by the corals unless you have colonies.
My concerns would be what are you using for topoff water and make up water? You should be using rodi water with 0tds. Could be that simple.

buck27 · Dec 1, 2016

Acro Maniac, I have wondered about my water and even thought of just going back to the normal ole reef crystals with regular water changes. I do have a 6 stage RODI unit that I make my water with. I do not however have a TDS meter. I played around the last 2 days with shutting off the carbon/gfo and actually feeding just a bit more than usual to see if the bacteria was in fact keeping up. I only have 2 clowns, bicolor blenny, 2 bangai cardinals, and a green clown goby in the tank. I found the results to be the same and actually gained nitrates lol.

For the Nitrates I will be changing the filter sock, cleaning the skimmer, turning Carbon/GFO back on (BRS Dual Reactor) retest tomorrow.

current test
Calcium: 460
Alkalinity: 8.7
Magnesium: 1600
Nitrate: 2
Nitrite: 0
pH: 8/8.2
Ammonia: 0
Po4: 0

ReeferMaddness843 · Dec 1, 2016

I tend to run my tank "too clean" although I have no idea why (unless it's overloading of my rock, which I did). My sps journey has just begun and so far I'm loving it. I had the same issue as well with no PE to start. I dose ME amino PE. Been a big difference. I get limited extension during the day but at night after dosing (I dose 5ml almost daily) the polyp extension is greatly increased. I just started about a week and a half ago and am very pleased. Let the sps journey begin.

Acro maniac · Dec 2, 2016

Handheld Tds meter on amazon are pretty cheap. Some people say they are to accurate but I check my water every time I make rodi. It works well for me.
I would also bring your mag down. 1600 is pretty high. Just remember success takes time so anything you correct might take a few weeks to see results. Good luck

buck27 · Dec 3, 2016

I am going to try the ME Amino PE. Also, I think the high Mafnesium could be the salt??? I have not dosed Magnesium once. I know the only way to bring it down is a water change and no dosing but that's all I have done and it's risen slightly since the water change. I did another water change last night but went back to the box of Reef Crystals I have and I have also stopped dosing the Aquaforest supplements for now as well. I'm going to see if I can't just get the tank back to a normal state and then go from there. I did catch the Green Clown Goby sitting on the sps yesterday though so he must come out and become a sump dweller. Just need to figure out how to catch the $&@!.