PE

[taintstick]

Great Morning Everyone!!

I am posting this out of curiosity as to why my SPS polyps act this way.
When I wake up for work I always take a look at everything and always notice amazing PE from all my SPS. Lights start to kick on at 1pm and when I get home the tank is all lit up and alive haha. But my Acros and some Millie's have little to no PE. My fish have slowest been removed since I want a proper live stock for my reef, not just jerk damsels and dottybacks. Only one I have kept is my Manderine. So that eliminates anything nipping, not implying there was any nipping going on. I understand it's natural for SPS to come out at night cause they feed. But I see other people's tanks with the same Acros and have great PE with lights on. The only thing I can think of is that it's my lighting (unnatural, black box led) or it's just what they do in my system.
Params are great and stable. Tank has been in a happy place and able to repair LPS and SPS fairly quick for buddies.
Here is a couple photos from this morning.

 

[BigJim]

It could be a number of things. Having the proper amount of random, indirect flow is a big factor. The age of your tank and how long the acros have been in your tank are also factors. The PE on my acros increased one my tank was about 9 months old. It also takes a few months for some acros to get completely acclimated and show good PE. I don’t see any signs of pests in your photos, but they could also cause a lack of PE. I wouldn’t worry about it too much if the corals are otherwise happy.

 

[bonomo53]

I think its pretty normal i always see more PE at night time. If everything is growing and has good color i wouldn't worry about it.

 

[reefwiser]

PE is in the wild always at night as that is when Plankton is more available for feeding. Some corals always have their polyps out no matter what. Fish can nip at corals and then the polyps will always wait til lights out before they come out.

 

[taintstick]

Age and pests aren't my concerns, everything has been dipped properly before being introduced. Sand is around 5 years old and the tank has been running about 2 years. Flow is all random with nothing but wave makers. No new Acros since Dec. 6th but others that are older do the same thing. Everything grows very well. I would agree it could be the time the Acros have been in the tank. But on other hand, what about the others that have been in longer.. maybe time will tell.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

PE is in the wild always at night as that is when Plankton is more available for feeding. Some corals always have their polyps out no matter what. Fish can nip at corals and then the polyps will always wait til lights out before they come out.

Its this.....

 

[taintstick]

Thanks guys for the input!

 

[Abhishek]

I wouldn't worry much about PE if the sps look happy . I have seen acros with STN but having amazing PE .
What I have observed though is I didn't have PE on my frags until I started feeding the tank heavily . Target feeding oyester feast and rotifeast in the morning before sunrise and amino acids at night has started keeping my acros PE amazing .

Regards,
Abhiahek

 

[david p.]

i had little to no PE during day, i have a low bioload for now, so i decided to increase target feeding to 4-5 times per week when light turn off. i feed phyto, acropower, reefroid and other stuff. since then PE is better. i'm on the ULN side so i had to increase feeding for corals.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

On top of what others had said, some acros don't like intense light. My acros are mostly of those found on low tide line, so they loves light. Some are deeper water acros, hence less PE. They all transformed to hairy monsters after lights out for sure.

 

[taintstick]

Haha hairy monsters.. I like that, yea I am not worried about them, they all seem to grow and have good color. I did learn that my Mr. Pacman Acro likes lower light, in fact he likes the sand bed.
I have thought about buying some phyto from a guy on here, but I hear mixed reviews.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Yes. Hairy monsters day nd night

 

[taintstick]

Gah dang!! I guess I just gotta be patient then.
Break me off a piece of that kit kat bar!!

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Gah dang!! I guess I just gotta be patient then.
Break me off a piece of that kit kat bar!!

I will give you this one instead

 

[taintstick]

I will give you this one instead

Lol!! Not a polyp in sight

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Lol!! Not a polyp in sight

Yup. This one doesn't like light that much. Just a tiny polyp occasionally, must be a slow grower.

 

[taintstick]

Nice color tho, for not liking light

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Nice color tho, for not liking light

Under bright day light it looks like crap, mostly pinkish brown under heavy blue. Best color during sunset setting with more red/warm white. Don't worry about PE too much, select a few with best PE for references. It will tell you something is not right if they don't show good PE.

 

[taintstick]

Since we are in the talk about this, what would be some good low light Acros? I have a tower in a lower lit area and would like to stock it with Acros all around it.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Echinata is one of them. I have a few frags roughly about a month or two. Still acclimating. Slowly coloring up. It is common perception that smooth skinned and sparsely distribution of polyp acros are deep water's. In my place suharsonoi are best known deep water acros but rare available for trade.