polyp extention??

[zhenya]

Hi all SPS lovers and keepers
Over the period of last month or two I have noticed that all of my acropora colonies have not nuch of the polyps showing during lights on period but at night it is another story all together I'm not sure why they made this transition but it is sure noticeable. FWIW, I did not introduce any predators(like angelfishes or shrimp or crabs) and not much has changed,exept my attempt to switch to Crystal Sea salt.I have to say that two colonies that did bleach have recovered nicely after the 10g water change with this new salt. Oh yes,I did change my light bulbs to XM 20K but I don't think it would make any affect on the polyp extention.Not that I mind the absence of polyps during the day that much(it just make pics taking alot harder ) but it just makes me wonder if something is at play that I don't see.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'd like to pick your brain and hear your thoughts.Anyone else had their corals switch to a more natural way of feeding at night instead of the daytime?Also,I realize that this is a old as time question and perhaps has no one definite answer but I still would like to hear other peoples experiences. ;)

[scubadude]

Hi all SPS lovers and keepers
.............Oh yes,I did change my light bulbs to XM 20K but I don't think it would make any affect on the polyp extention.

Why not Gene? I would think that this would affect the corals....maybe its not the common denominator (but I think it might be) between the lights and the new salt I would say thats the best combo possibility. You had radiums before the XM's ? did you put more light on or just changed same wattage bulbs?

[zhenya]

Why not Gene? I would think that this would affect the corals....maybe its not the common denominator (but I think it might be) between the lights and the new salt I would say thats the best combo possibility. You had radiums before the XM's ? did you put more light on or just changed same wattage bulbs?

Hi Rocky,

The wattage did not change,it is still a 250w but the Kelvin number is now 20 instead of 10.I fogot to add in my first post that growth rates had not diminish at all,just the polyps are absent during the day and frankly I'm a bit worried about it.I know that in nature corals extend their polyps at night but my corals are in a glass box and were always displaying polyps during day time. I did not change feeding times(always at night)and I see at night that the polyps come out just like they used to at day time
I wonder if I should do a large water change with IO salt and see if this will change anything?
What else could play a role in this?I think that I'm missing something simple and perhaps not testing for it?

[SueT]

Gene, Hi....The first thing I learned when I started keeping sps corals was to watch for polyp extension. Then came the thoughts that polyp extension or lack thereof meant nothing more than the coral either extends during the day or at night time. Some 24/7. I still go by how my sps corals look by the polyp extension. If you have noticed all of them doing the same thing I don't think I would be worried. If only a couple started doing this I might be worried.

You have recently changed the lights and the salt so I think they are probably re-acclimating to new surrounds{so to speak}. I would just keep a close eye on them as I know you do anyway.

HTH...

[zhenya]

Thanks,Sue

I'll keep my eyes open for anything unusual but so far nothing had been happening in terms of preblems that I could see.Corals are growing and I see polyps come out at night in full so... I just feed the tank as usual-at night.

If you have noticed all of them doing the same thing I don't think I would be worried. If only a couple started doing this I might be worried.

Pretty much all of them exept the milleporas and the montiporas.

[zhenya]

Sue,

This is two pics that should explain what I mean by saying that growth rates had not slowed down. First pic is of A.yongei when I got it sometime this spring and the second is as of last night.

Edit: the first pic is as of last night and the second pic is as when I first recieved it and glue it up

[srfmon]

Sue,

This is two pics that should explain what I mean by saying that growth rates had not slowed down. First pic is of A.yongei when I got it sometime this spring and the second is as of last night.

Edit: the first pic is as of last night and the second pic is as when I first recieved it and glue it up

Boy, that yongei is a fast grower.
I have had sps switch their polyp entention times as well (but not all of them! - go figure!) . I think scubadude is right it might be a lighting issue. I switched from sunburst to ushios - no other changes.
It really doesn't matter to me as long as they do well & grow.

[zhenya]

Srfmon,Hi

That coral is a sprinter for sure ,Thanks! I have couple of other fags that surprized me alot.I think it is becouse they are tank grown that they show such growth and resistanse to disease and I'll not buy another wild colony if I can help it, ever... I'll post couple of more pics when I have a chance of some growth sequence of some frags that I got from SueT and Patrick Monaghan and some other people.

[srfmon]

Srfmon,Hi

That coral is a sprinter for sure ,Thanks! I have couple of other fags that surprized me alot.I think it is becouse they are tank grown that they show such growth and resistanse to disease and I'll not buy another wild colony if I can help it, ever... I'll post couple of more pics when I have a chance of some growth sequence of some frags that I got from SueT and Patrick Monaghan and some other people.

I've got a Monti cap. growth sequence but it needs updating. it's been a while since I uploaded a new picture. It's bigger now.
http://surferstevo.tripod.com/monticap.html

[MtnDewMan]

Nice Gene

I too would not worry too much about polyp extension. They will extend when they need to extend. If you are giving it proper nutrition with lights on and they are not "hungry" per se, you may find they don't extend when you normally have seen them extend. The real key is at night, in my opinion and experience, they will all extend at night after a couple of hours after lights out. If they are all furry things at night, then you have no worries.

Those are some nice pieces you have there too

[zhenya]

Thanks, Chuck

Glad to see you back.You're right,I think I better worry about things need worrying,like what I'm going to do when things start really get large and the turf wars break out I hate to just wack half the corals to the original frag sizes :eek3:

[MtnDewMan]

Well a good thing to do when they get that large is to cut large healthy sized pieces off and ship them to Washington ... as you know there is a reefer here that is basically starting from scratch again