Duncal Coral not extending

[tchampion]

I have had this Duncan Coral for about 3-4 months now. When I first got it, I placed it in the substrate of my 55gal tank. The tentacles were extending out. After a week or so, the tentacles retracted, and since then, have never come out again. It is still growing. It only had a total of 4 heads when I purchased it. Currently, it has about 10 heads and has grown in height by about 1". After it started to retract, I placed it in a shaded area under a large rock with decent flow. I have 2 10,oook daylight and 2 Acentic T-5 light on a regular schedule. Total illumination is about 9 hours (3 hours of daylight, 3 hours of overlapping light, and 3 hours of night lights.

My water parameters are:
pH 8.2
Sp Gravity 1.0250
Amm: .0ppm
Nitrate: ~10ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Calcium: 430ppm
Magnesium: 1270
Temp: 74.5
Phosphates: 0ppm

Nothing is obstructing or bothering the Duncan as it site. There are no other Corals within 12" (other than a large Green Star Polyp above it (not even touching). All of my other corals are doing well. Some more than others, but that's part of our hobby. My fish load consists of 4 Ocellaris Clownfish, 2 Clarkies (I know that I shouldn't mix species, but they get along well), 1 yellow Tang, 1 Coral banded Shrimp, 1 Rock Anemone, 1 Harlequin Starfish, 1 Pencil Urchin, 1 Pin Cushion Urchin, and a host or crabs and snails. Thank you in advance for your responses....

Tim

 

[Leonardo7689]

They are photosynthetic and requires light to grow. By the looks of your pics, you have them in the shades of the live rock. Did you consider moving it towards the light?

 

[Zeroblake]

Yeah Leonardo is right, this coral needs good source of light I recently bought a frag with only one head and then i saw than start to grow up a second head, i just got it like 2 weeks ago. I placed it almost 6" from the bottom, with good point of light and a good flow of water!!

Good luck with your coral!!

 

[Leonardo7689]

This is when we first got them



And this is what they look now a few months after

 

[Zeroblake]

This is when we first got them

And this is what they look now a few months after

Woow!! They looks amazing!! Nice pics!!

 

[Leonardo7689]

Woow!! They looks amazing!! Nice pics!!

Thank you!

 

[tchampion]

When I did my original research on this species of Coral, it stated that it was from Australia, and that it didn't like too much light. They suggested that I move it into a shaded area of my tank, with a steady water flow. There is a good possibility that it was just acclimating or had been trampled my one of my crabs. That would explain the retracted tentacles. As I said in my previous post, its size has about doubled, and it has grown several heads since the day that I introduced it into my tank. This evening, I will re-locate it into the substrate, getting better light and also a nice flow. I'll give it a week or 2 before I start to wonder if there are other factors keeing the tentacles from extending. Thanks for your advice.