Full polyp expansion on monti's but not acro's, WHY?

[Acronuts]

Hello all,
I need your help! I need to know why when I place a new acro, the polyps are fully expanded. Then within a few days they retract to where I can only see the tips.
My monti's and pocilliporas are out in full glory.
I am getting growth from all.
My parimeters are all fine:
ph 8.4
ca 460
alk 14 a bit high
mg 1200 to 1400
phos 0 according to test kit
nitrate is around 10-20, drops down with water changes every two weeks at 15%
no
nitrites, ammonia
I do have a flameback pigmy angel but have never seen it peck at the sps's.
Help please or am I just crazy?

 

[roka64]

What kind of lighting and how old are the bulbs?

 

[ccCapt]

Alk is pretty high, too high IMO and it may affect some corals.
Can you be a little more specific? There are thousands of acropora species. It's normal for some not to have real good polyp extension during the day. Have you checked on it at night with a flashlight?

 

[Acronuts]

roka - its not the bulbs, they are less than 1 month.
ccapt - I think that maybe the 2 part solution I use may need to be dosed differently. Maybe 2 parts ca to 1 part alk.
species include:
pearl berry
red planet
red millie
grn millie
blue table acro

I will try to check at night. I did though today feed the tank and I did notice polyps on the millies.
Maybe I am not feeding enough?
Anyhow I will let you know.

 

[ccCapt]

When calcification takes place, as in corals growing, coralline forming, etc, calcium, alk and mag is used up proportionately. The DIY 2-part solution was formulated to match that proportion. Under normal situations, equal amounts of each is what gets consumed and it is what should be replaced.
What brand salt are you using?

 

[SparKy697]

I would suggest that you dose based on your tests. The advice that if you can not test for it you should not be adding it is worth listening to. However, I have found that once my mag. was up to snuff, I did not have to dose other than after pwc. I do feed just about 1:2 alk:ca in my system.That ratio was reached after a month or so of feeding and testing while making small changes to the doses.

For my money I like the salifert tests. Then are by no means cheap, but so far they have proven to be the most reliable. Get a test kit for ca, kh, and mag that you trust and use them before adding any of those suppliments.

Just my opinion....

 

[Acronuts]

I was using instant ocean and I switched to reef crystals about two water changes ago.(1 month for me)
My LFS told me that getting a turkey baster would allow me to squirt the debris that can gets into the crevices. This allows the debris to go into the water column and get pulled by skimming. The other factor they indicated was that this would allow the nutrifying bacteria that was inside the rock more opportunty to get their job done.

It all sounds very good.
Has anyone tried Brightwell Aquatics-product called, "Reef Bio Fuel?"
It sounds like this is a safer version of vodka dosing.

 

[ccCapt]

What are you dosing? IO or RC will not give you those high ca and alk #'s. If your not dosing and got those high #'s, your test kits are bad.

 

[Acronuts]

I am dosing Ocean Blend two part solution ccapt.

 

[pat8you]

It may be that your Alk was high when you started dosing and that the two part is just maintaining that high level.

 

[thincat]

Good thread!!!

 

[Acronuts]

Last night I looked at the sps's and saw the polyps fully extended!
All were out except for one milliepora, it sits toward the back and I really could not see full PE only partial.
So now what does this say?

 

[ccCapt]

Says your angel is most likely bothering the corals during the day. Pygmy angel are hit or miss in a reef.

 

[Acronuts]

yeah ccapt you may be right. What else could it be?