Corals look to be stressed

[gabriel21946]

Hello all. I am new to this forum. I have a 90 gallon red sea 350 and have some soft corals in my tank along with an anemone. Some of the corals look to be stressed. I have a hammer coral that looks fine, but the other corals are retracted. My salinity is 1.024, my alk is 7.2, which is not excessively low I have ecotech led lights and have them set to their default settings for soft corals. Is there anything else I should be testing. Thanks in advance

 

[Just Jared]

First off WELCOME!!
Have you tested any other parameters aside from alk and salinity? I’m not the most experienced person but if you can give people here as much information about your tank as possible you will get the best possible answer. Pictures would be the second most important part of the information needed to help you.
Knowing those parameters or any recent changes or additions to the tank give everyone a better chance at helping you.

 

[gabriel21946]

First off WELCOME!!
Have you tested any other parameters aside from alk and salinity? I’m not the most experienced person but if you can give people here as much information about your tank as possible you will get the best possible answer. Pictures would be the second most important part of the information needed to help you.
Knowing those parameters or any recent changes or additions to the tank give everyone a better chance at helping you.

I haven't tested any other parameters. I'll post some pics tomorrow during the day. I ordered a hanna PH tester which I shoukd get this week.

 

[gabriel21946]

Wanted to go ahead and add some pictures. Maybe this will help as well

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

how old is the tank? It looks brand new

 

[shakacuz]

tank could be too new for corals.. what are your other parameters? cal, mag, temp, ph, nitrate, phostphate?

 

[gabriel21946]

The tank was setup back in August so 5 months old. When I tested my water parameters at the store it had no nitrates, temp is monitored so it's a constant 77-78 degrees. I order a ph tester which I shoukd get by Saturday.

 

[gabriel21946]

I just did two measurements for cal. First was 511 and second was 492

 

[Lavey29]

The tank was setup back in August so 5 months old. When I tested my water parameters at the store it had no nitrates, temp is monitored so it's a constant 77-78 degrees. I order a ph tester which I shoukd get by Saturday.

No nitrates is very bad for corals. Your alk is low too. What is your phosphate?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Wanted to go ahead and add some pictures. Maybe this will help as well

Your salinity is low. My candy canes get mad when mine is below 1.026

 

[gabriel21946]

Funny my local fish store said .024 was good and that's how he maintained all his tanks, but everything I read says .025 - .027 salinity. I haven't tested phosphate yet, but will do so this afternoon

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Funny my local fish store said .024 was good and that's how he maintained all his tanks, but everything I read says .025 - .027 salinity. I haven't tested phosphate yet, but will do so this afternoon

You can get by on 1.024 but nothings gonna be happy

 

[gabriel21946]

I'll work on raising salinity to see how that affects them

 

[gabriel21946]

No nitrates is very bad for corals. Your alk is low too. What is your phosphate?

I thought having low to no nitrates was a good thing.

 

[AnotherReefHobbyist]

I thought having low to no nitrates was a good thing.

low nitrates is good up to a point, I would shoot for 2-10 for nitrates.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Just reading through and I think if I'm correct your cal very high, I keep mine at 450 give or take, salinity I keep very stable at 1025. I have similar corals yet I'm still learning, I have candy cane also and it looks like you have green Star polyp these I find quite hardy, I have lost various corals (it's your thread so I won't interfere)
I think you need to check all parimaters, not just check but maintain this, if your aquarium is still cycling then this will effect everything you introduce, do you have any fish or invertebrates?

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Just reading through and I think if I'm correct your cal very high, I keep mine at 450 give or take, salinity I keep very stable at 1025. I have similar corals yet I'm still learning, I have candy cane also and it looks like you have green Star polyp these I find quite hardy, I have lost various corals (it's your thread so I won't interfere)
I think you need to check all parimaters, not just check but maintain this, if your aquarium is still cycling then this will effect everything you introduce, do you have any fish or invertebrates?

 

[Lavey29]

I thought having low to no nitrates was a good thing.

Nope, that's bad for corals because that is part of their nutrients for food and will cause bad problems for your tank if you bottom out your nitrate and phosphate. Nitrates 5 to 10ppm and phosphate .05 to .1 for good LPS and softy coral health.

 

[gabriel21946]

Just reading through and I think if I'm correct your cal very high, I keep mine at 450 give or take, salinity I keep very stable at 1025. I have similar corals yet I'm still learning, I have candy cane also and it looks like you have green Star polyp these I find quite hardy, I have lost various corals (it's your thread so I won't interfere)
I think you need to check all parimaters, not just check but maintain this, if your aquarium is still cycling then this will effect everything you introduce, do you have any fish or invertebrates?

I have one fish. Back in November not sure what happened, but I lost all my fishes (4) I went to my local fish store to check my parameters and they said all parameters were normal and they couldn't identify the issue other than they probably got a bacteria. I just introduced a fish after like 2 months and he has been doing fine. I have turbo snails and hermit crabs and I have a cleaner fish. I just tested my parameters this morning. My phosphates are at .07 and my salinity is still at .024 after a water change. I have been gradually raising my alk and as of this morning it's at 7.9 dkh. I use a pax bellum refugium reactor and a bashsea twisted skimmer. I did raise my return pump flow rate to see if that improves anything. I have a vector s2 capable of 1400 GPH. It was running at 4% it was the default setting. I have raised it to 40% to get more water flow.

 

[Lavey29]

4% ? Thats

I have one fish. Back in November not sure what happened, but I lost all my fishes (4) I went to my local fish store to check my parameters and they said all parameters were normal and they couldn't identify the issue other than they probably got a bacteria. I just introduced a fish after like 2 months and he has been doing fine. I have turbo snails and hermit crabs and I have a cleaner fish. I just tested my parameters this morning. My phosphates are at .07 and my salinity is still at .024 after a water change. I have been gradually raising my alk and as of this morning it's at 7.9 dkh. I use a pax bellum refugium reactor and a bashsea twisted skimmer. I did raise my return pump flow rate to see if that improves anything. I have a vector s2 capable of 1400 GPH. It was running at 4% it was the default setting. I have raised it to 40% to get more water flow.

4% ? That's probably the feed mode setting for the pump. You want like 8x to 10x turn over in your sump.