couple of corals questions

Susan Edwards · Jan 11, 2018

I had some corals I put in QT but they didn't do well (10 gal) so after losing half of what I had bought I moved them to the display tank. Didn't do well where I had them so I just put them on the bottom to see if they survived. Figured they were on the way out--lost causes from the qt

I think the chalice is recovering. And maybe the goneastrea. And even the war coral has 2 bits of color yet. Should I just leave them where they are or try moving them to better lighting and flow. They do have some flow down there. I'm hoping they are recovering slowly

Chalice--seems to be more "meaty or fleshy" Previous flat and hard looking

War coral. Still has some color in 2 places

Gonestrea-still has color. Looks to have some flesh down in center. Previous just looked hard

Diesel · Jan 12, 2018

Tell us about your QT setup for corals, equipment, water quality,

Reefing Madness · Jan 12, 2018

If they appear to be perking up, I'd leave them alone, you may have found the spot they like.

Susan Edwards · Jan 12, 2018

@Diesel It was a new qt. 10 gal HOB aqua clear power filter, heater & powerhead. Originally with 3 levels of egg crate and some rubble rock beneath--had it stepping up from low to high. LFS suggested at least 6 lbs of rubble or rock so had a piles on one end and a plastic storage container with some under the egg crate. Tank uglies came and it was a mess as flow wasn't getting beneath. Had some corals on the very bottom and couldn't aim flow too well or they'd get too much. Added another powerhead but just couldn't get it right--either too much for the corals or not enough for tank flow. By the time I changed the set up, I'd lost several corals in that first batch. Added live sand and rock and placed corals among rocks and sand. Better flow, good lighting. They still did not do well so put them in display. Left it going, got nice and clear and clean. Dau brought me over a bunch of frags. Put them in, some sand, some rock. 4-5 of one coral, and 4 of another (so I could trade some at the LFS). Again, no matter where they were, sand or rock, they started fading out. Immediately put them in the display. Now the qt has an anemone not doing so well. Took the rock he was hiding under and put him in the qt. He's hanging in there but bleached and no tentacles. Been months...

I think the 10 gal just isn't able to stabilize as well. Too small for a coral qt. I'll be getting a RS max--40 gal I think from my daughter so was planning to use that for a coral qt/grow out

Diesel · Jan 12, 2018

Susan Edwards said:
@Diesel It was a new qt. 10 gal HOB aqua clear power filter, heater & powerhead. Originally with 3 levels of egg crate and some rubble rock beneath--had it stepping up from low to high. LFS suggested at least 6 lbs of rubble or rock so had a piles on one end and a plastic storage container with some under the egg crate. Tank uglies came and it was a mess as flow wasn't getting beneath. Had some corals on the very bottom and couldn't aim flow too well or they'd get too much. Added another powerhead but just couldn't get it right--either too much for the corals or not enough for tank flow. By the time I changed the set up, I'd lost several corals in that first batch. Added live sand and rock and placed corals among rocks and sand. Better flow, good lighting. They still did not do well so put them in display. Left it going, got nice and clear and clean. Dau brought me over a bunch of frags. Put them in, some sand, some rock. 4-5 of one coral, and 4 of another (so I could trade some at the LFS). Again, no matter where they were, sand or rock, they started fading out. Immediately put them in the display. Now the qt has an anemone not doing so well. Took the rock he was hiding under and put him in the qt. He's hanging in there but bleached and no tentacles. Been months...

I think the 10 gal just isn't able to stabilize as well. Too small for a coral qt. I'll be getting a RS max--40 gal I think from my daughter so was planning to use that for a coral qt/grow out

Thank you for this info.
Now one more question was the water in the QT new water?
The damage I see on the coral looks like salt burn, doesn't mean that the SG was high but just fresh salt mix
Your QT is nothing wrong with, use tank water with 25% new saltwater mix and do a few water changes.
Feed the tank some grinded between your fingers fish flake food.
In a QT you prefer a little bit higher than normal on your nutrients level.
Make sure the tank has been running for a few weeks, having a damsel in there to keep up with the eco-system is no luxery either.

Susan Edwards · Jan 12, 2018

Thanks @Diesel . The water at the time was new, maybe with some display water added. I'm very careful with just mixed salt so don't think that was the case. I believe the qt tank had been going for maybe a week. Or 3-5 days at least.This was back in September I believe. So those corals I posted shots of were bought in September and they just started receding or never did anything--never fleshed out. I had them in that tank for about 4-6 weeks--Going back to my pics, I see they were in my display tank on Nov 9th. So they had a lot of unhappy time and moving them was my last hope in saving them. I'm hopeful that they will recover--been about 3 months in the display now.

Now, just the anemone and some snails in the qt now, I do add a bit of my thawed fish food--tip the container and add just a bit every few days. So right now, the tank has been up and going since september. November 9 is when I removed the corals, thanksgiving is when I tried to add some new corals to the qt: orange sedosa montipora frags and some frags of reverse sunset (capricornis montipora). It was stable but still not a happy environment, not sand, not on rocks. I suspect the tank is just too small for corals or too hard to get flow and lighting just right
Here is a pic of what it was, and what it is and my unhappy anemone.

Diesel · Jan 13, 2018

Not sure why your water is whitish but it can also be the light.
Not sure if you mentioned it already the type of light you have.
Pretty sure you know your test results of your water in the QT but it seems like something is off,
Whitish water can be high alk or the salt.
Bleaching of corals as the nem can be lack of nutrients or bright light.

Susan Edwards · Jan 13, 2018

Most likely the light. It is this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0PF72P/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Same salt as the display tank, refugium and 20 gal qt

The nem didn't get bleached in that tank. It was put in there either Nov or Dec. It was already bleaching and lost most of its tentacles in the display. It did great for a while after I got it--ate, had it's place, never moved. I had placed it on top of the rock it's under, it went under and would come out each day facing the back of tank. Then without warning it stopped coming out, stopped eating and started losing color and tentacles. I was afraid it would die in my tank so I removed the rock it is on and placed it in the empty qt tank where it is hanging in there. I add some drops of selcon or fish food juice to the water for it. Not sure if I should try to squirt stuff at it. Haven't tested water since adding it. Just small water changes or top offs as needed. Not sure it is worth putting in a lot of effort as I'm not sure it can come back.

I'll put off qt'ing corals until I get my dau's red sea 130. That will be a better system. Right now, this tank is just my emergency nem tank