What's the longest time

[Imperial]

What's the longest time you've had to wait until the polyps on a sps coral opened?

I got this lavender and light blue acro about 3 weeks ago and the polyps have yet to open up. I don't see any signs of bleaching and the rest of my sps's are doing fine. Should I be worried? Is their something I can do to get them to open?

thanks

 

[reefrunner]

Hmmm, water parameters? Lighting? Etc...

I had an acro that took a sabbatical from polyp extension for a couple months, growth was still good and the color was good, it just never opened it's polyps. I talked to mojo (Mike) and he told me to take a close look in the middle of the nite and sure enough the polyps were extended. Not completely, but they were extended. Now it has better polyp extension than any or my other corals.

 

[ReefLady]

I'm with Kevin, let's hear about your temp, specific gravity, nitrate, phosphate, alkalinity, calcium and lighting.

T

 

[Imperial]

I'm curently running 220w pc in a 20 gal tank and the frag is about 3.5" down from the surface of the water. Here are my params
pH 8.3
temp 78-80
SG 1.025
Phosphates 0
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 10
Nitrite 0.1
I'm not sure about cal levels I need get another kit but my coraline has not slown down in growth

 

[Imperial]

I forgot to check last night to see if the polyps where extended. I will check it out tonight.

 

[mps9506]

What type of SPS is it?
Some of my acro's only extend polyps at night, others during the day, others 24/7.
My monti's always have open polyps except when I piss em off.
Pocillopora always has it's polyps extended also.
One of my acros only has very noticable polyp extension on the axial corallite while all the other polyps appear much smaller for some reason.
EDIT, sorry just reread the post and you said it was an acro.
Like Kevin said, check at nite, like in the middle of the night too
I've noticed most of my SPS get pretty pissed when my alk drops. But they get just as pissed when it gets too high. So definately get a kit to test that.
Mike

 

[Imperial]

ok, so I took a flash light to the tank last night and it looks like the polyps are opening up a little bit. So does taht mean I shouldn't worry?

 

[reefrunner]

Not necessarily, but it's a good sign. If the coal is growing and healthy otherwise, I wouldn't worry. You may be able to stimulate polyp extension by feeding planktonic foods during the day. Make sure the coral has good waterflow, plenty of light and impecable water quality and it should be fine.