Thoughts on SPS polyp extension..

[Aquattro]

Tony, the wild milliporas I've seen didn't appear to be super fuzzy like we see them in tanks, if I recall. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to PE, more the size of some of the wild colonies!

But in my tank, for instance, my abrolhosensis isn't the typical bushy stick you normally see, you can actually see the body of the coral. The first three months, you couldn't tell if it was one branch or three!
The grounding probe idea has merit, and they're 12 bucks locally. I'll try that tomorrow.

[BlueTang<3]

The reason i think its potassium is after i dose k balance in the tank the pe is wild might be similar to after feeding the tank tho and the corals are just trying to absorb as much as possible.

[fishytime]

do you feed any kinds of coral type food?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by fishytime

do you feed any kinds of coral type food?

No, I feed the fish heavily and figure that's enough.

[ScubaSteve]

I've always wondered about this too, particularly in regards potassium dosing and PE. I've always been suspect that K makes the polyps extend by a physiological response rather than their own natural accord as potassium, for most animals, regulates muscle responses and fluid pressure balances between tissues. So dosing K might just be causing them to puff up like balloons... but really I don't know that for sure, so at this point I'm talking out of my a$$.

As for some colonies having PE and some not... I am suspecting an irritant, though figuring out what that may be could take forever. I'd venture to say it's probably sand that is bothering them.

Since I've been curious about this as well, I tell ya what... I've got some time to kill today while waiting for an experiment to finish. I'll dig into some journal articles and see if I can't get some sort of definitive answer.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

I've got some time to kill today while waiting for an experiment to finish. I'll dig into some journal articles and see if I can't get some sort of definitive answer.

That would be great. I too suspect the sand, it's really turbid. I picked up a grounding probe and some K, I'll see what that does later this afternoon. I found a way to get the sand out, so that's the next step.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I found a way to get the sand out, so that's the next step.

You've got your significant other working the 5g buckets? Tsk tsk!

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by BlueTang<3

The reason i think its potassium is after i dose k balance in the tank the pe is wild might be similar to after feeding the tank tho and the corals are just trying to absorb as much as possible.

Hmm, might give that a try.