corals are not opening like they use too

[kadruy]

hello everyone so if anyone is out there and can help me that would be great. so i went in vaction a week ago and i did a water change like normal but cleaned out the filter and put new carbon in. when i got back all my corals looked like they do in the pictures below and i am very worried. could it be from the new carbon since i didn’t change it in awhile?? my levels are Ph-8.0 it’s a little low. ammonia-0 ppm, nitrite- 0ppm, nitrate-10ppm, calcium-480, alkalinity-196ppm or 9dkh, and phosphate is at 0. i am very worried and i don’t know what to do. if anyone could help me that would be truly amazing and i would be very grateful!

 

[Brandont21]

Do you have an ATO? Salinity swings may have made them angry

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

would need more info; how long have you had them? how old is the tank? What kind of lighting and flow?

New carbon shouldn't bother corals like that

 

[kadruy]

Do you have an ATO? Salinity swings may have made them angry

no i do not have one but my salinity is kind of high

 

[kadruy]

would need more info; how long have you had them? how old is the tank? What kind of lighting and flow?

New carbon shouldn't bother corals like that

i’ve had them for a couple months now. tank is about 4-5 months old. lighting has not changed and i’ve had the same light since i started the tank. my blue is like 85 and my white is on 25. flow there is the filter head and then 2 wave makers

 

[Nano_Man]

Can you give all your water parameters
Are you saying your blue light is on 85% and white 25% ?
What are you dosing if anything

 

[blecki]

Water change time. All other things considered, you were gone for a week. Something ticked them off during that time. You have no idea what might have happened while you were gone. It could be as simple as someone else in the house thought it smelled fishy and sprayed some air freshner in that room.

Parameters look fine but even the zoas are closed, so I would suspect either there's something important you aren't testing for missing from the water or something nasty in the water - both things are corrected with a water change.

Ironically if it was a contaminant it's possible that changing the carbon right before you left is why they are even still alive.

Any fish? Also possible you did too good a job cleaning the filter and had a nice ammonia spike while you were gone, which you now can't detect because it's all been turned into nitrate.

 

[Naturalreef]

Phosphates at 0, no question. Raise your phosphates to .08-.1 as a buffer and maintain the range. Don’t chase an exact number. High lighting with no nutrients is also hurting your coral.

 

[blecki]

I wouldn't dose, but feeding a tank that barren more couldn't possibly hurt and the clown would appreciate it.

FYI if you're using any of the colored-liquid phosphate tests they are garbage at distinguishing between zero and 0.01.

 

[Naturalreef]

No algae growing that I can see, which means no residual phosphate. I still stand by zero phosphates are ticking your corals off. Feeding or dosing to bring it up is my suggestion. Coral need nutrients.

 

[Dburr1014]

no i do not have one but my salinity is kind of high

He's already answered the question himself.
Lower the salanity to proper level.

 

[Naturalreef]

let us know how high your salinity is……I can get away with high or low salinity, but zero phosphate for too long will irritate hardy and kill sensitive coral every time.

 

[Dburr1014]

let us know how high your salinity is……I can get away with high or low salinity, but zero phosphate for too long will irritate hardy and kill sensitive coral every time.

That is also true.

 

[kadruy]

Can you give all your water parameters
Are you saying your blue light is on 85% and white 25% ?
What are you dosing if anything

i gave them above and yes that’s what my lights are own. my hammer did show growth under that light as it grew its second head. also i’m not dosing anyrhing

 

[kadruy]

Water change time. All other things considered, you were gone for a week. Something ticked them off during that time. You have no idea what might have happened while you were gone. It could be as simple as someone else in the house thought it smelled fishy and sprayed some air freshner in that room.

Parameters look fine but even the zoas are closed, so I would suspect either there's something important you aren't testing for missing from the water or something nasty in the water - both things are corrected with a water change.

Ironically if it was a contaminant it's possible that changing the carbon right before you left is why they are even still alive.

Any fish? Also possible you did too good a job cleaning the filter and had a nice ammonia spike while you were gone, which you now can't detect because it's all been turned into nitrate.

yes 2 clowns, a friendly puffer and a blue hippo tang, also yeah i might’ve i also cleaned a lot of dark green algae off the back glass wall before, could that have caused anything?

 

[kadruy]

Phosphates at 0, no question. Raise your phosphates to .08-.1 as a buffer and maintain the range. Don’t chase an exact number. High lighting with no nutrients is also hurting your coral.

okay thank yku

 

[kadruy]

I wouldn't dose, but feeding a tank that barren more couldn't possibly hurt and the clown would appreciate it.

FYI if you're using any of the colored-liquid phosphate tests they are garbage at distinguishing between zero and 0.01.

okay i gotcha thank you, what test would you recommend?

 

[kadruy]

No algae growing that I can see, which means no residual phosphate. I still stand by zero phosphates are ticking your corals off. Feeding or dosing to bring it up is my suggestion. Coral need nutrients.

okay thank you, there use to be a lot of dark green algae on the back wall that i scaped off before vaction and now when i got back it seems like algae isn’t growing that much

 

[kadruy]

let us know how high your salinity is……I can get away with high or low salinity, but zero phosphate for too long will irritate hardy and kill sensitive coral every time.

it’s at like 1.027-1.028 also i removed a bunch of dark green algae off the back wall before my vaction as well, and since i’ve been back it looks like algae isn’t growing much anymore as it use too.

 

[blecki]

So, are you sure that whomever you left in charge of feeding the tank actually fed it while you were gone?