Yellow Polyps Closed

lukeg1981

lukeg1981

Member
My yellow polyps are closed. Everything else is doing pretty well. My parameters are a little out. Sg is a little low. PH, Alkalinity and Temp are all a little high. You can see exact specs below. The yellow polyps are at the bottom of the tank. Any suggestions. Maybe the polyps need more flow or more light?
80.1 degrees
Salinity 1.023
PH 8.6
Alkalinity 11.2 dKH
Calcium 360 ppm
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
Ammonia 0 ppm
Magnesium 1400
Iodine .06
Kenya Tree
Birds Nest
Eagle Eye Zoanthids
Green, Red, and Blue Mushrooms
Ricordea
Frogspawn
Red Montipora
Leather Toadstool
Xenia
Bubble Coral
Glove Polyp Coral
Yellow Polyps
Biocube 29g
Tunze skimmer
Cree LED system from RapidLed
8 RB 4 B (XP-E) 8CW 4NW (XP-G)
InTank Media Basket with Cheato Carbon and GFO
JBJ ATO
Two Koralia 1s
RO/DI filter
SeaChem matrix biomedia
12 red leg hermit crabs
5 astrea snails
3 nassarius snails
2 turbo snails
six line wrasse
clownfish
royal gramma
chromis
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
I've noticed when I do a water change my polyps seam to do better, something about new water. Are you using RO/DI water? Your mag and calcium are low. mag keeps calcium up in the water column also I found that corals like salinity at about 1.025 - 1.026. So I say water change first, then re test.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
I've noticed when I do a water change my polyps seam to do better, something about new water.
Water is like underwear, sooner or later you just have to change it.
 
lukeg1981

lukeg1981

Member
Mr. Limpid-
I've been good about water changes 5 gallons (17%) once a week or week and half. The calcium is slightly low like you said, but everything I read about magnesium says that 1400 is a little high.
Red mushroom up top looks like maybe he's getting too much light? What do you think?
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Tagging along.....Alk seems a bit high, Ca seems low and mag is high 1350 would be my target area......
Curious did the yellow polyps just start acting up or been this way.....I notice your running a lot of white light....8 blues to 12 whites if I'm reading correctly......
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
Yes mag. to high is bad for coral, the best way to get levels correct is threw water changes. Mushrooms can move if he didn't like it there it would move. The problem lye's in your prams. That is the prob. with small tanks quick to change need constant moderating.
 
zeroc

zeroc

Member
The yellow polyps, or any polyp for that matter, will do that some times, they'll open back up again eventually. If you haven't changed anything and they've been happy before, they'll come around. Are you dosing anything to keep the calcium up? Since you have good coraline growth and the birds nest, monti cap and a few LPS they're going to suck down the calcium in that small tank pretty fast if you're not adding any at all. If you add calcium that should help even out the PH and Alk a bit. I would echo the above with adjusting salinity up just a little and check the temp with a second measuring device just to make sure you're at 80 just in case, both salinity and temp are personal preference but I've found 80* and 1.025-1.026 about right for me though running that warm does put you in a little less margin for high temp error than typical 78* amazing how much stuff gets mad or dies with just a 6* temp change.
 
lukeg1981

lukeg1981

Member
Acrylic51-
I'm running 8 Royal Blues 4 Blues 8 Cool Whites 4 Neutral Whites, 12 Blues 12 Whites, so it's a 50/50 mix. The polyps have been acting up for two or three weeks. They were doing really well before that.
Mr. Limpid-
Didn't realize mushrooms would move. That's really helpful to know.
ZeroC-
I dose calcium on a regular basis. Calcium has actually never been so low even though I'm dosing more calcium than I ever have before.
Sounds like everyone is saying to get water parameters more in line (parameters do change quickly in a small tank) and that lighting or flow are probably ok?
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Keep an eye on the clownfish. I've caught my old ocellaris rubbing up against polyps before. Infact, I blame him for rubbing my brain coral to death. Guess he thought it was an anemone.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
My chemistry might be off here, but I thought bringing the Alk up would aid in the PH.....Long term......
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Might add what time are you checking your PH at.....That number could vary depending on time of day.......
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///t/394981/yellow-polyps-closed#post_3515922
My chemistry might be off here, but I thought bringing the Alk up would aid in the PH.....Long term......

Yup...
alkalinity is the measurement of the resistance to the change in pH. So, by increasing alkalinity, you are actually stabilizing pH. pH is determined by the amount of carbonic acid in the system - carbonic acid is created by adding CO2 to water... It's a weak acid, but enough of it will shift your pH to below 8.2.
Calcium won't bring your pH up at all, however, you must maintain equal parts calcium to alkalinity - and maintain magnesium levels at approximately 1300 to 1350 in order for both calcium and alkalinity to be stable.
Basically, in a small tank, a 30% water change with a quality salt will do the trick.
 
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