Coral Not Growing/ Dying Off

[espieg]

My coral has not been doing very well for some time now and I’m wondering if it could really all be contributed to low nutrients. I feed often but can’t seem to get nitrate up even after stopping my skimmer.

My levels are

alk - 7.5
Cal - 400
Mag - 1350
nit - 0
Phos - 0

I know alk is fairly low but it’s hard for me to believe that that is the sole reason behind the coral dying off, especially because it remains consistent. My temp stays between 77.5 and 78.2 and the salinity is always at 1.024. I’ve had little to no coral growth in 6-8 months (outside of a cyphastrea extending half an inch). Help is appreciated and I’m sure I’m doing something wrong so hopefully you guys can tell me what to change.

 

[CocoReef]

I cant offer much advice as Im still learning but personally I noticed much more growth after I started feeding my corals if you arent already doing so

 

[espieg]

I cant offer much advice as Im still learning but personally I noticed much more growth after I started feeding my corals if you arent already doing so

How often are you feeding them?

 

[Uncle99]

They are starving if your nitrate and phosphate is actually zero.
Feeding takes to long to ramp up, if your sure your zero, bump both by dosing them upwards…..slowly…..with something like neo-nitro and neo-phos, into the 5-10ppm nitrate and 0.05-.1ppm phosphate.

I wonder if light PAR is too low if the cyphastria grew, it does usually in low light sett8ngs.

I maintain 1.025.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

If your salinity is low so are all your other elements....
Raise to 1.025-1.026
Give it 2 weeks. Top off with rodi water. Try again.
Soft corals like zoanthids and mushrooms are gonna be your friend.
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Turn the skimmer back on. Lower the level of the skimmer water inside the skimmer if you want to I guess.
Don't chase numbers like p02 or n03.
D

 

[DirkCourage]

What about your lighting? This might be the issue more than chemistry. Aside from that, if your nutrients are low some direct feeding with AB+ might help. Reef Roofs also seem to be guaranteed to raise PO4.

 

[MaxTremors]

Photosynthesis (and therefore growth) cannot happen if there is no or limited nutrients (NO3 and PO4).

 

[CocoReef]

How often are you feeding them?

I feed frozen mysis with a turkey baster before my weekly water change but Ive heard others say they feed anywhere from 1-3 days a week. I can't attribute it to the feeding alone because feeding my corals is what helped me keep my PO4 up

 

[Dburr1014]

Alk is fine.
If you raise salinity to 1.026, you alk and cal will raise some too. Po4 and no3 need to come up... What test kit did you use?

 

[Nonya]

Alk is fine.
If you raise salinity to 1.026, you alk and cal will raise some too. Po4 and no3 need to come up... What test kit did you use?

My nitrates and phosphates are essentially zero. My corals are healthy and happy.

I'm assuming when you say you feed mysis you're talking about LPS and softies?

You never mentioned pH.

What lights are you using? What intensity?

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

It isn't 0. It's undetectable. It's used up as its processed.
You can feed pellets or a finer coral food ya true
D

 

[espieg]

What about your lighting? This might be the issue more than chemistry. Aside from that, if your nutrients are low some direct feeding with AB+ might help. Reef Roofs also seem to be guaranteed to raise PO4.

I have 3 kessil a360xs covering 6 feet.

 

[cooltowncorals]

I found that running a CO2 scrubber and consistently getting PH 8.1-8.4 is when my coral growth took off.

I also usually find that when I add a coral it does nothing for a month or so then takes off so be patient. (Some corals are really slow growing so be aware of growth rates for the corals you buy.)

pick goals for your water levels and try to move in that direction slowly with small changes.

use a dosing pump and a auto top off to keep your water consistent.

I would not want to be at zero for nitrate and phosphate unless I was purposely running ULNS. One of the things about running that way is they are dumping large amounts of coral food (or phosphates) in daily. See Red Sea coral food instructions for UNLS it’s like a triple dose.

I would use neophose or neotrate that other poster suggested as well

personally I would dose nitrate to 2-5 ppm and phos to .5

check in 24-48 hours and see where it’s at

I dose nitrate a 2-4 times a month in my tank when I see it get to zero my clams suck it up.