Hello everyone, I recently installed a Current USA Orbit Extreme 436 watt T5 High Output Lighting System so that I could convert my Fish-Only to a Reef and start collecting some Corals. I have added Yellow Polyps which for over 2 weeks have not fully bloomed. I though it may be an issue with water quality and I check my parameters:

Temp: 82.5
Salinity: 1.025
PH: 0.0
Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrates: 0.0
Nitrates: 0.0

I thought that maybe the coral did not survive the transport from the Local Fish store and the acclimation into the tank. So I purchased another coral which after 4 days is also acting the same way. They are currently located within the middle of the aquarium and being exposed to about 9 hours of 436 T5 lighting with Actinics could this be to much? I have shortened the photo period to 6 hours in hopes that this would help them. What else could I be doing wrong? I really want some color within my tank. :confused:

zero, sorry bud, but first of all it should be phrased," i dont want my animals to die off, not i want colour in my tank", putting it this way kinda makes u sound abit cold.which of course i know is not your intention!!
second, what is the species name of this yellow poylp? other will be able to input their experiences!
third, do u know how long they were housed at the LFS and under what lighting conditions.?by now they should be on their way to blooming with proper acclimation proccedures.

forth, did u have the space to quarentine these corals, or really check them for unwanted hitchhikers, a pest could be a cause for them to be regresssing rapidly?
4 days on the second addition u said!

fifth, it could be the length of the lighting period, personally i would not advise dropping the lighting time just yet, corals like all of us need energy to grow. in saying that, i dont know the species, or the distance u have the lighting set at, u have not mentioned that they look like they are burning/bleaching ect

sixth, what additives are u adding to the tank?
also you guys might keep ur temp higher than us, but its 2-3points highter than i would have mine

seventh, im going to stand aside now and let the community of your peers fill in the gaps

we will try to narrow it down for u ok, i do hope u can bring this under control soon bud!

i forgot, u said fish only expanding to reef setting, i haven't followed a thread if u mentioned ur fish, but are they the type of fish that can be hassleing the corals?

also u say the levels are 0 accross the board. in a fish only system?

http://photos.fishindex.com/par/parazoanthus_gracilis_yellow_polyps2606.jpg
Parazoanthus gracilis (Yellow Polyps)

Aquarium Inhabitants:
1 Percula Clownfish
1 Fox Faced Rabbitfish
1 Lawnmower Blenney
1 Scooter Blenney
1 Decorator Crab

The store uses Metal Halide Lighting and were small frags which I checked for Hitchhikers and couldn't see anything. I dont know what burning or bleaching looks like. These are my first corals. Also I didn't mean to sounds cold :-( As for my water quality I have massive amounts of skimming and filtration going. :-) Please help everyone!

Do you know how many watts the MH's were at the LFS? It might have been pretty low. And where in the tank were they located? My point being that they might not have been getting very much light at the LFS. Going from that to 400+ Watts of T-5 could be a bit of a shock. Did you acclimate them to the new light over time? If so how did you do it?

Jimm, I didn't know that you had to acclimate light. I just acclimated the salinity level of the water.

NYC,
they look like they are doing ok.
Zoathids are funny corals sometimes. somedays opening all day and night, other times they will go for days closed up.
best bet is to get some small puts of food and spot feed them.
you can place pieces on each polyp, or cut all the flow and use a turkey baster and blow some food over them .

check to see that they are catching and closing around the food to eat it. if they are then they are likely ok.

its a good place to start.. :)

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e102/Jasonanatal/th_DSC00144.jpg (http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e102/Jasonanatal/DSC00144.jpg)
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e102/Jasonanatal/th_DSC00143.jpg (http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e102/Jasonanatal/DSC00143.jpg)

Here are photographs of what the Coral Currently look like and have looked like for the past 2 1/2 weeks.

Have you tested your Ca2+, Mg2+, and dKH levels as well? Are they in the normal range? These can also effect polyp extension.

Light acclimation can be done by using something to "block" some of the light and then slowly removing/decreasing this over time in order for your coral to adjust to the lighting. but, if the LFS was using MH and you've got T8s, it might be less of an issue.

They look lonely to me.

I assume the 0.0 PH was a typo, what is it really? What are you using to test your water? And how old is the test kit(s)?

In a fish only tank, I kinda assume that the Nitrate 0.0 reading is a typo, or inaccurate also, unless you change water religiously.

Temp: 82.5
Salinity: 1.025
PH: 0.0
Ammonia: 0.0
Nitrates: 0.0
Nitrates: 0.0



ph is 0 ??????

maybe he meant phosphates

maybe he meant phosphates
unlikely because the order of listing. logic says that he meant ph and had a typo. strange how it just popped up now. i saw this thread before, and i'm sure i'm not the only one who DID NOT NOTICE.

oh yeah, what can live in a ph of 0.0?

Ph 8.3 Lol

thanks for that clarification....:-)