High Tide Aquatics

SPS Not Fully Extending? Help!

I have two birdsnest that won't fully extend their polyps, and some are completely retracted. They are 3-1/2" away from each other. Some of their polyps are extended, but not very much. One is a really fuzzy birdsnest from Neptune Aquatics with very long polyp extension and the other is a silvery/blue birdsnest from Green Marine. What could be wrong?

All of the other SPS in the tank are fine, as well as the Yuma and all of the zoas.
 
lots could be wrong... you've given us very little to go on. More details are needed ;)
 
Water parameters.
Lighting.
Flow.
Stuff that you have/haven't done or changed lately.
Were the birdsnests ok before?
How long have they been in the tank?
 
Mr. Ugly said:
Water parameters.
Lighting.
Flow.
Stuff that you have/haven't done or changed lately.
Were the birdsnests ok before?
How long have they been in the tank?

Salinity is 1.024-1.026
pH is 8.3
Ammonias, nitrates and nitrites are all at 0
If needed, I can test Ca, Mg, and dKH in the next half hour.

I'm running a 150w 14000K MH about 14" above them for 9 hours every day. The flow is about 240GPH in a 29g tank. I've started 15% daily water changes because I have to do a 50% WC on my Jawfish's quarantine bucket. I've also recently began using B-Ionic Calcium and Alkalinity buffers. The birdsnests were perfectly fine before. One has been in the tank for two weeks and the other has been in there for over a month.
 
Plumstr8 said:
Cal. & KH are very important to SPS
What's the water test say? :~
Especially if you just switched methods. Have you been testing on a regular basis? It may take some time to get your new dosing dialed in.
 
miles405 said:
Plumstr8 said:
Cal. & KH are very important to SPS
What's the water test say? :~
Especially if you just switched methods. Have you been testing on a regular basis? It may take some time to get your new dosing dialed in.
Yep, what they said.

Double check your alk and Ca since you just changed that maintenance recently.
 
Test results from 20 minutes ago:
dKH - 8.0
Ca - 435ppm

I screwed up on my Magnesium test so I'll try that again later. The test kits are Saliferts so they should be very accurate. It says on the test kit's instructions that natural seawater's dKH is 7-8. It says on Neptune Aquatics' paper about the relationship between Ca, Mg and KH that the KH is supposed to be 11-13. Is there a difference between dKH and KH? If not, what should the KH be at?
 
Coral reefer said:
More flow wouldn't hurt either

I'm planning to upgrade the pump to something around 350GPH. :)

mavjoy said:
Have you check the corals closely? Did you dip them or added any new stuff lately?

Everything I've added to this tank has been dipped in either Coral Rx or Povidone given out at the BAR meetings. No corals have been added since the swap corals, which all seem to be doing great.
 
Euphyllia said:
They seem better now and are extending fine. I'm going today to get the Rio 6HF HyperFlow Pump (350 GPH). :)


Before you buy, read :)

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/6/aafeature2
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/aafeature
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/9/aafeature2
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/11/aafeature
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature
 
GreshamH said:
Euphyllia said:
They seem better now and are extending fine. I'm going today to get the Rio 6HF HyperFlow Pump (350 GPH). :)


Before you buy, read :)

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/6/aafeature2
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/aafeature
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/9/aafeature2
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/11/aafeature
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature

IIRC, SPS like lots of flow and that's the main thing I'll be keeping in the tank besides a few zoas. :)
Is the Rio 6HF too much flow for a 29 gallon (20 gallons of actual water)?
 
just read the articles... they will explain a LOT to you. Then read the coral feeding article I posted a while back from Corals Science.org

http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/nutrition-5/how-corals-feed

We can spoon feed you all the answers you seek but that does very little to educating you.
 
Euphyllia said:
GreshamH said:
Euphyllia said:
They seem better now and are extending fine. I'm going today to get the Rio 6HF HyperFlow Pump (350 GPH). :)


Before you buy, read :)

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/6/aafeature2
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/aafeature
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/9/aafeature2
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/11/aafeature
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature

IIRC, SPS like lots of flow and that's the main thing I'll be keeping in the tank besides a few zoas. :)
Is the Rio 6HF too much flow for a 29 gallon (20 gallons of actual water)?

Not at all, I have 2x Koralia evo 750gph in my 28 pointed up and towards each other.
 
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