PE = happy SPS?
 

Well since I have recently got into SPS; I am experimenting with my level of lighting. I am putting acros on the top and did not see any PE yet (put them in yesterday). I have put a monti cap a bit higher than the bottom and its growing crazy. I also have digitatas placed a little lower than middle and they have full PE. Does that mean atleast the digitatas are happy with the level and the flow?

I am waiting on the acros PE since I heard that it takes days for them to PE.

20 gallon long with 12" high and 2 T5HO lights (10,000k + actinic) 30" fixture resting around 3" above water level. I am getting crazy growth on monti cap (better than mushrooms LOL).

Advice and suggestions please :)

No, I put frags in my tank this morning that sat all night in bags after a trip from the mainland, they had PE within 20 minutes. It shouldn't take days at all.

I see many acros that doesn't have PE (or very microscopic PE). Like the branchy branchy one (tri color I guess). Plus I was looking through some forums (ah yah my curiosity :$) and saw that there are people claiming they see no PE but their corals grow.

My digitatas have great PE at like 2/3rd down from the top. So, I guess they are happy right?

I kept my acros at the top rock (picture in my signature but doesn't have the acros; was just added yesterday) with good flow. I am putting smaller pieces of SPS in different locations to note how they perform :P

Then again, an acro can have no PE and grow like crazy and be happy. Also bare in mind that in the wild many acros don't extend polyps until night time. Check you acros at night. I have some acros that never put out their polyps during the day but at night you can barely see the skeleton through the polyps.

But as a generalization, yes PE = happy SPS. I use PE as a windsock for how happy they are. I sit and move the flow around until I see a colony start to stick out its polyps. Happy. If it gets too much flow, they retract. Not happy.

Keep in mind that your tank is still very new. As long as the frags start to encrust the rock in a couple of weeks, don't worry about PE. Yes, they can grow fine without it. I'm not even sure happy acros have PE, or unhappy. A good sign is night time PE, so check with a flash light after lights out. That shows a feeding response typical in the wild.

Yah I have experienced the flow with PE relationship already. My green birdnest is the most sensitive I guess. I changed the flow a bit few days ago and it went all in and when I changed it back to its previous flow, its polyps were out.

New to SPS so loads and loads of questions. I just hope my lighting is good enough. Since the monti cap is growing crazy at the bottom so I am expecting enough lighting for acros at the top.

Yah the encrusting. I glued them yesterday to the rocks. How long does it generally take for acros to encrust? Birdnest and montis took like a week or something to cover the glue.

If everything is perfect for them, they can encrust in a week or so.

Hoping for the best :)

The parameters are ideal for them. I am more concerned about the flow and the light. I kept my birdnest at the same flow with xenia and the birdnest have crazy PE and is throwing out new branches too :P Still cannot figure out the flow equation :P

I never ever consider flow with SPS, I just put new frags wherever there's a free spot. I have pumps in each corner, plus return lines, so flow all over the place, but with a wave pattern. As long as a coral isn't getting direct flow that is too strong (peeling tissue off), they should be fine.