We cant get Star Polyps and Green Button polyps to grow

[scudd]

Our tanks have been established for a little over 2 years. All tests check out that the water is fine, but I can't get these damn things to spread. I'm thinking it's the lights. We currently have about 260 watts/compact fluorescent on a standard 55 gallon. Thing is, when we had a chunk of Star Polyps in my lower tank (20 gallon) under a 50/50 Compact sharing the same water and these things grew fine. Has anyone figured out the secret to getting these things to procreate?

[Reefland]

What are your Nitrate reading; along with Temperature and Salinity? I don't think it's the lighting, compact flourescent should be great for these guys.

[scudd]

What are your Nitrate reading; along with Temperature and Salinity? I don't think it's the lighting, compact flourescent should be great for these guys.

Nitrate 0 , temp around 80, Salinty 1.021-.22 ...

[Reefland]

Salinity could be a prohibiting factor as reef tanks should be kept closer to natural conditions which are 1.025 - 1.026. Now I am not saying you should go and increase it overnight because that is something that should be done over the course of several weeks to a couple of months to ensure you give plenty of time for acclimation between adjustments. What else do you have in the aquarium?

[scudd]

Salinity could be a prohibiting factor as reef tanks should be kept closer to natural conditions which are 1.025 - 1.026. Now I am not saying you should go and increase it overnight because that is something that should be done over the course of several weeks to a couple of months to ensure you give plenty of time for acclimation between adjustments. What else do you have in the aquarium?

We have 3 bubble tipped anenomes (split from 1) , 2 clarki clowns, 3 dominoes, various mushrooms, a toadstool leather, 2 brain corals, frogs paw, a few rock anenomes, and of course turbo snails and blue hermit crabs - those are all healthy and growing.

[Reefland]

How long have you had these star polyps now? Sometimes that's just the way it is, kind of like some people cannot stop Xenia from growing and others can't get a stalk to live. If the polyps are expanding and appear healthy other than not spreading, I wouldn't worry.

[Poseidon]

LOL!!! I can't get rid of them fast enough!! BUT I can't grow Mushrooms or Leather Corals at ALL!!! Go figure! I feed Cyclop-eeze 2-3 times a week, and the GSP, Green Button and Yellow Polyps have all but taken over a large section of my tank. I am trying to arrainge a trade to a LFS for Live NOT covered in GSP for rock that IS...

I can't for the life of me figure out what keeps leathers and shrooms from growing in my tank, when SPS and other "harder corals to keep" grow like mad.

A LFS owner once told me softies and LPS secrete "something" into the water that can prohibit growth of other species... I don't know if that is accurate or not, but maybe it explains why somethings grow well and others won't???

[saltjunkie]

i cant get them to grow either.. i have buttons everywhere...
one lil rock of gsp that i have had for years.. dont die, dont spread????

[apophis924]

I know the feeling. I gave up on GSP. All the books say they are easy and all they do for me is die, But i can grow sun corals aniomes, and even elegance corals no prbolem and i dont have a skimmer or a sump and those are susposed tp be hard. go figure. Now i just grow a LOT of what ever grows in my tank even something as simple as a mushroom can be impressive if you got 100 of them.

[Papa Doug]

Mine always did better with good lighting, such as under 250w Iwasaki bulbs. They seemed to exist but not spread much under lower lighting or lower down in a tank. Also like a brisk current, enough to make them sway like a wheat field in the wind.

My friend has a colony, {pic in soft tank thread}, that never grew much until he moved it near the top.

Please excuse the shamless plug, but its the only pics of this tank I have left.

http://reefcentral.com/totm/2001-04

The star polyps seen were grown mainly under 250w Iwasaki,s although thats not whats used in the pic. They layed down so much encrusting mat, it was layered. You can see how it grew up the overflows. A pair of clowns use to reside on the right hand side.

The large colony of brown polyps shown at the back also thrived in bright light. It once also faded away to nothing under 5 normal output bulbs.