Candy Cane help

Hi,

I have two small candy canes and I'm not really sure how they're doing. I have them both high in the tank. (55 gallon). Calcium is 450, alk is ~ 5 meq/mL. Both are in medium flow areas. I've noticed that the polyps that are facing down away from the light have died. Because of this I figured they needed as much light as possible so I put them high in the tank. I still have never seen them extend their tentacles at night like they supposedly do. Should I try moving one lower in the tank as an experiment?

Here is my lighting:

48" with two 65 watt 10,000K Daylight and two 65 watt True Actinic 03 Blue Compact Fluorescent Lamps plus three 3/4 watt Lunar Blue-Moon-GLow LED 470nm Lamps.

It seems like it's surviving, I'm just not sure if there's something I could be doing to help it thrive or not.

 

How high exactly are they? They do not require much light at all, so even with your PC's they could be getting too much. How is the flow where they are at? Too much flow will irritate them as well, they prefer a pretty low and gentle flow.

 

One is about mid-way up and the other is about 4 inches from the surface.

Just curious, are T5 and PC the same types of lighting? I have T5s, not sure if that makes a difference. I'll try lowering them a little I guess?

 

They look pretty good i had some that were totally gone looked like they where just tree branches no polyps what so ever i think i even had em out of tank for a while and they came back real nice i have em high in my tank with metal halide light they are totally fine very hardy id say

 

Just kidding, I did some research and I do have PC lights, all this time I thought I had T5s. Oh well! Live and learn!

 

T5 lights give off a ton more light than PCs. If Candy Canes don't need lighting move them down and make sure they aren't getting blasted with flow like Pack said.

 

I think your candy canes look great! I have the same ones only I have 3 heads. I have never seen them stick their feeders out at night. I also have a neon green one and the same, never seen it feed. On the other hand, I have about 30 heads of purple candy canes and their feeder tentacles are almost always out. All night long and most of the day. Strange!

 

No, they don't really look great. Their polyps should be alot puffier (for lack of a better word-see picture below). I don't think you mentioned how much flow they're getting? Might be too much.

 

These are really pretty candy canes....

 

They were until bryopsis killed them. I had that coral for over 10 years before it died.