Coral Issues

[MangoSentinels]

Thanks everyone for the replies and all of the information. I have taken my GFO reactor down for now.

I will target feed the corals some shrimp daily and see how that goes.

I ordered some NeoPhos and hopefully that can get my Phosphate up to .03 and my animals can bounce back quickly.

 

[MangoSentinels]

Unfortunately, My Bubble Coral and my Elegance coral didn't make it. My Hammer coral is still alive and doing pretty well. I've been trying to slowly raise my phosphates but its gone from undetectable to 0.24. Is that too high? How can I go about fine tuning that parameter?

 

[Shirak]

Unfortunately, My Bubble Coral and my Elegance coral didn't make it. My Hammer coral is still alive and doing pretty well. I've been trying to slowly raise my phosphates but its gone from undetectable to 0.24. Is that too high? How can I go about fine tuning that parameter?

Sorry to hear about the two corals :< They were in pretty rough shape with the gaping mouths and recession :<

Good to hear on the hammer! It looked like it was in fairly good condition still just retracted mostly.

Yes too high. Best to try and keep it under .1 Some will say .02-.05 range is ideal. Fine tuning is an art... I have a small GFO reactor and I test every other day or so for PO4 and if it starts to rise up around .1 I put the reactor on for a day and test the next day again. It's small enough that will not cause huge drops.. maybe .02/day drop if that. I also keep an eye on nitrate and make sure there is nitrate available for the refugium to utilize, in so doing then phosphates will be removed also.

 

[MangoSentinels]

Hey all,

After much work I was able to fine tune some of my levels. The wall hammer has started to have its mouth open on 2 of its heads. Is it just adjusting with all of these level changes that have been happening recently or should I be worried?


Salinity 1.026
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates 5
Phosphates 0.02
Alkalinity 11.4
Magnesium 1200
Calcium 505
PH 8.0
Temp 78 Deg

 

[Shirak]

Hard to say. Mouth open is not really a good sign imo, especially if it persists.

Your alk is kinda high so I would try to bring that down but not abruptly. Are you dosing any Alk products?

I would try and get your Mg up also 1350-1400 roughly.

I would certainly try and keep things stable otherwise.

 

[MangoSentinels]

Hard to say. Mouth open is not really a good sign imo, especially if it persists.

Your alk is kinda high so I would try to bring that down but not abruptly. Are you dosing any Alk products?

I would try and get your Mg up also 1350-1400 roughly.

I would certainly try and keep things stable otherwise.

I dose Tropic Marin All for Reef daily.

 

[Shirak]

All you have is the Wall hammer now for coral? I would stop dosing the AFR or at least reduce significantly. One stony coral you can meet it’s needs with weekly water change. With it struggling it’s properly not using up much Alk and Ca
I would mix up a batch of salt water. Before doing the water change check the Alk Ca and Mg. I think you can get your tank parameters back in line for alk and Mg with a series of 10-20% water changes over a week or two. Would be good to know what the salt is mixing at though. I use HW Marine Reefer because it’s 9dkh and very consistent at the levels I target on my tanks