Not so much PE in the tank??

[Homewrecker]

My tank is a JBJ 30 gallon rimless
Parameters:
Salinity: 1.026
Alk 7.7
Cal: 460
Mag: 1450
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: Undetectable
Phosphate: Untested
I had my radion g3 pro set to about 50% and I've since raised it up to 60%(about 4 days ago) in an effort to help the tank out.
Other info:
Way too much SPS in here
1 Ecotech Mp40 and one Jebao QP 4(or 5??)

I really am not getting too much polyp extension right now. Nothing is dying, just not fuzzy
Any suggestions?

 

[Ty Hamatake]

I'd suggest bringing your nutrients (NO3/PO4) up. After bringing mine up, I noticed better color and PE on pretty much everything.

 

[Scorpius]

What's your PH day/night?

 

[jda]

Don't worry about this. You can do more damage chasing PE than it is worth. It does not mean anything. If you have good color and growth, then just forget about it.

 

[Homewrecker]

What's your PH day/night?

I don't test for pH because I've always found that chasing it causes more harm than not.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I'd suggest bringing your nutrients (NO3/PO4) up. After bringing mine up, I noticed better color and PE on pretty much everything.

Agreed, water is too clean and are starving. NO3 5-10 ppm and PO4 at trace should help. Lack of PE indicates lack of feeding response do to insufficient food or something is irritating them.

 

[Homewrecker]

Why do you guys like to use? I'm considering fuel and maybe some of aquarium care center's coral candy

 

[Havasuviking]

Hope I don't sound stupid but what does PE mean?

 

[CoralKouture]

Like others stated already way to clean

 

[CoralKouture]

Hope I don't sound stupid but what does PE mean?

Polyp Extension

 

[Havasuviking]

Thanks!

 

[Rakie]

Whenever I see something like this;

Nitrate: Undetectable
Phosphate: Untested

Everybody already knows what the problem is. Symptoms can be in any form imaginable, paling, retracted polyps, slow growth, tissue recession, etc etc etc.

Nutrients good. Phosphates good. Dosing kn03 good. Starving corals bad.

Too many people are having issues because they read some ancient advice about how you want zero nutrients in the tank -- This is not true, and if you read through the SPS threads you will see 2-3 people per page that need to dose nitrates and phosphates. Everyday, the same problems, the same questions, the same answers.

Dose nutrients. Corals like to eat!

 

[Homewrecker]

Whenever I see something like this;

Nitrate: Undetectable
Phosphate: Untested

Everybody already knows what the problem is. Symptoms can be in any form imaginable, paling, retracted polyps, slow growth, tissue recession, etc etc etc.

Nutrients good. Phosphates good. Dosing kn03 good. Starving corals bad.

Too many people are having issues because they read some ancient advice about how you want zero nutrients in the tank -- This is not true, and if you read through the SPS threads you will see 2-3 people per page that need to dose nitrates and phosphates. Everyday, the same problems, the same questions, the same answers.

Dose nutrients. Corals like to eat!

I’ve been feeding “coral foods” recently, no real change IMO. I’m going to buy some fuel which has been tried and true for me before. Fingers crossed for the fuzzy sticks!

 

[Rakie]

I’ve been feeding “coral foods” recently, no real change IMO. I’m going to buy some fuel which has been tried and true for me before. Fingers crossed for the fuzzy sticks!

Corals foods don't immediately raise no3/po4. While they can have an effect, typically it's the indirect nutrients which can be more useful. I'm not sure if this is due to the significantly smaller particle size being more readily absorbed by the polyps, or some other mechanism were unaware of.

If you want to dose nutrients I'd go with kno3 (potassium nitrate) from a quality freshwater nutrient shop (I like NilogC, pure kno3). I dislike stump remover, to me, while it claims to be completely pure, it has a chemical odor that fw planted ferts don't have. That's anecdotal broscience, I'll freely admit that, but more than once my nose has lead me in the right direction. (I can literally smell when I had algae die off from fluconazole).

I might also suggest for po4, Seachem Phosphorus. It's strong stuff, read it VERY carefully before dosing.

 

[Homewrecker]

Okay, so I have kind of an update. When I put my MP40 on this tank I didn’t really check the settings and just kept it on about 20% manual control (this is a JBJ 30 gal cube) well yesterday out of curiosity I went ahead and checked the default schedule on the pump and two times in the day(for about 3 hours a piece) the pump cranks up to 50% basically blasting the corals that I have noticed aren’t showing a lot of PE. I think this might have something to do with it as well. I went ahead and tuned it down to 30% at its highest and I guess we shall see what happens!

 

[Rakie]

Move your mp40 -- it shouldn't be directly blasting anything at any setting. Be it 10% or 100% The only caveat here would usually be big mature colonies that relish that type of flow