TheBChamp

What kind of lighting is over that tank? Do the button polyps open up more? High nitrates may be the cause of them being closed up like that.

How many snails do you have in the tank? The rule of 1 per gallon still holds truth.

I have 6 T5s over the tank about 9 inches over the water I guess.. 3x 10K, and 3x actinics.. its around 234watts. The polyps were good before, and they started going downhill when I put the T5s in. Im pretty sure I shocked them at first cause it was probly at least 150 watts more then when I previously had..
I do only have one big astrea snail though, and about 4 large nassarius snails.. so yeah im pretty short on those I guess.
The algae on the sand is really hard to syphon though.. Im going to have to try and scoop the top layer off or something. I also noticed these tiny lookin flat worms on the glass, which I dont recall ever seeing.

The stuff on the sand could be diatoms or it could be cyano. Adding some other critters can help keep it clean. Here's the list of things I would add:
1 tigertail cucumber
1 serpent starfish
10 hermits
1 fighting conch
5 nassarius

For the rock & glass:
15 ceriths
15 astrea

How long are you running the T5 lighting each day? Your corals are hardy, but look a bit bleached. that makes me think too much light based on your description of the bulbs and the bulb height off the water.

Temp swings of more than a few degrees can be a big stress for livestock, try to limit this if possible. If your tank is running warm and cooling at night you want to set your heater so it doesn't dip too low from your high point. Do you have a skimmer? are you using RO water? If you can give us your Water Parameters and Hardware details that would be great.

My actinics come on around 11AM and turn off around 10:30 PM.. and daylights.. from about 1 to 7..
Yeah the button polyps have bleached and are never open like they used to.. the mushroom coral seem fine though.. in the picture they seem pale but they are a nice dark redish brown.
The temp doesnt swing much i dont think.. i check often and it is always around 75.

I do not have a skimmer yet.. i think im gonna DIY that up soon. and no I do not use RO. I use prime in my tap water and try to let it sit in the 5 gallon buckets at least a couple days before i do a water change. And preferably a week.

I will check all my water parameters tomorrow as I have had a long day and my daughter is getting tired and cranky.
Thanks alot guys.

You absolutely must get off the tap water, unless the TDS measures something unusually low (like below 10). Tap water contains metals and fluoride, which Prime won't remove. It usually fuels nuisance algae. Leaving water stagnating in a bucket for a week isn't good either. Prime doesn't take long to do its job, and during your waiting period anything can get into that water to pollute it. You should just get one of these: http://www.melevsreef.com/rodi.html

Yeah i know I need RO.. but until then. I mean I do keep a power head in the bucket with the lid mostly closed.
My buddy has RO and was thinkin on selling stuff.. but that'il get expensive.

I understand your desire to avoid the additional cost, but you simply never know what may come in your tap water at any given time. If you want to buy water from your friend or your local fish store (LFS), that's an option. For me, I didn't want to ever lug water around so I bought one of my own. It paid for itself within the first year.

Any my tank looked way better.

Ok so the Nitrates are at an all time low.. could not detect any. I dont have a phosphate kit though..
My salinity sits kinda high but has been like that for a while. 1.027-1.028
Maybe I can slowly bring it down, and see if that helps. The big aiptasia is right close to the polyps.. do you think he would be stinging them? He cant reach all of them though.