Duncan corals only partially open?

[Emi2852]

For the 1-2 weeks my Duncan has only been opening as much as it shows in the photo. My 6 line wrasse likes swimming behind it occasionally and other thank him there’s only 3 snails in my 20g. He did fall into the sand at one point, but he had already been only opening a little each day.

parameters:
Temp: 26C
Salinity: 1.025
Ph: 8.03
Alk: 11.5 DKh
Cal: 380ppm
phos: 0
Nitrate: 0
Iodine: 0.02ppm
Ammonia: 0
Mag: 1275ppm

 

[Euphyllia97]

Alk seems a bit high compared to your calcium and magnesium to be in balance?

Could maybe increase calcium and mag or even better would be to decrease alk as you are running a 0 nutrient system.

 

[Emi2852]

Alk seems a bit high compared to your calcium and magnesium to be in balance?

Could maybe increase calcium and mag or even better would be to decrease alk as you are running a 0 nutrient system.

How would you recommend lowering the alk?

 

[Euphyllia97]

How would you recommend lowering the alk?

If dosing:
Lower any alkalinity dosing that you are using at the moment. Let alk drop 0,3 Dkh everyday untill you reach a value around 9,5 - 10 if you want to run it a bit higher.

If not dosing:
Let your tank use up some alkalinity and add some calcium to your tank. If calcium rises, your alkalinity will lower. They are inversely proportional.

Just make sure you limit your alkalinity changes to about 0,3 Dkh everyday. Big swings can hurt your corals.

 

[Emi2852]

If dosing:
Lower any alkalinity dosing that you are using at the moment. Let alk drop 0,3 Dkh everyday untill you reach a value around 9,5 - 10 if you want to run it a bit higher.

If not dosing:
Let your tank use up some alkalinity and add some calcium to your tank. If calcium rises, your alkalinity will lower. They are inversely proportional.

Just make sure you limit your alkalinity changes to about 0,3 Dkh everyday. Big swings can hurt your corals.

I don’t dose, I think it’s that high because I’m using Red Sea coral pro salt, and it mixes to be about 12 dhk. So won’t it just rose again when I do a water change?

 

[Dolelo96]

I remember you’ve had a few issues with some of your corals. I have a mixed reef with a Duncan, Torch And zoa/palys. These are my numbers:

Temp 77
1.026
Ph 8-8.03
Kh 8.3
Ca 435
Mg 1300-1350
No3 .25
Po4.08-.12

Here’s a link to “Reef Chemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley”.

Reef Chemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley

Need some help with the chemistry aspect of your aquarium or have some knowledge you would like to share? Please start a new topic. This forum is moderated by Randy Holmes-Farley.

www.reef2reef.com

It will help explain the direct correlation between alk/calcium/magnesium. If your planning on having corals, stability is key. Also, you cant just depend on water changes to maintain your levels. As corals grow, they will use these elements. For example, your Calcium may be 430 on Monday, but your corals are going to consume calcium, depleting it each day. If your not dosing, it may be 420 by Friday, which isn’t great for your corals. The same applies to alk/magnesium. You can google ‘BRSTV“. They have tons of videos on everything on reefing. I think Red Sea has some videos too. Good luck!

 

[Emi2852]

I remember you’ve had a few issues with some of your corals. I have a mixed reef with a Duncan, Torch And zoa/palys. These are my numbers:

Temp 77
1.026
Ph 8-8.03
Kh 8.3
Ca 435
Mg 1300-1350
No3 .25
Po4.08-.12

Here’s a link to “Reef Chemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley”.

Reef Chemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley

Need some help with the chemistry aspect of your aquarium or have some knowledge you would like to share? Please start a new topic. This forum is moderated by Randy Holmes-Farley.

www.reef2reef.com

It will help explain the direct correlation between alk/calcium/magnesium. If your planning on having corals, stability is key. Also, you cant just depend on water changes to maintain your levels. As corals grow, they will use these elements. For example, your Calcium may be 430 on Monday, but your corals are going to consume calcium, depleting it each day. If your not dosing, it may be 420 by Friday, which isn’t great for your corals. The same applies to alk/magnesium. You can google ‘BRSTV“. They have tons of videos on everything on reefing. I think Red Sea has some videos too. Good luck!

Thank you for the resources! I am definitely going to do some reading! After posting this I actually came across some of the brs videos and watched them before bed.

 

[Emi2852]

I remember you’ve had a few issues with some of your corals. I have a mixed reef with a Duncan, Torch And zoa/palys. These are my numbers:

Temp 77
1.026
Ph 8-8.03
Kh 8.3
Ca 435
Mg 1300-1350
No3 .25
Po4.08-.12

Here’s a link to “Reef Chemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley”.

Reef Chemistry by Randy Holmes-Farley

Need some help with the chemistry aspect of your aquarium or have some knowledge you would like to share? Please start a new topic. This forum is moderated by Randy Holmes-Farley.

www.reef2reef.com

It will help explain the direct correlation between alk/calcium/magnesium. If your planning on having corals, stability is key. Also, you cant just depend on water changes to maintain your levels. As corals grow, they will use these elements. For example, your Calcium may be 430 on Monday, but your corals are going to consume calcium, depleting it each day. If your not dosing, it may be 420 by Friday, which isn’t great for your corals. The same applies to alk/magnesium. You can google ‘BRSTV“. They have tons of videos on everything on reefing. I think Red Sea has some videos too. Good luck!

actually tho in regards to your stats, how do you get phos and nitrates to stay in the tank? I’m not running anything on my tank, no skimmers, no reactors or anything and since day one I haven’t had any of those nutrients.

 

[Dolelo96]

Did you cycle your tank? I would work more on keeping your parameters stable.

 

[Dolelo96]

Do a google search, “BRSTV dosing”. There are a lot of good videos explaining the whys And how to’s

 

[Emi2852]

Did you cycle your tank? I would work more on keeping your parameters stable.

yea used a frozen shrimp and it took 5 weeks or So. I haven’t had any major swings, the numbers have been pretty much the same since I started the tank.

 

[Idoc]

actually tho in regards to your stats, how do you get phos and nitrates to stay in the tank? I’m not running anything on my tank, no skimmers, no reactors or anything and since day one I haven’t had any of those nutrients.

I was in the same boat... couldn't keep no3/po4 in my tank in the first year. Then bam...dinos struck. I started dosing no3/po4 and then eventually the system equalized and i was able to maintain those nutrients without dosing.

 

[Dolelo96]

yea used a frozen shrimp and it took 5 weeks or So. I haven’t had any major swings, the numbers have been pretty much the same since I started the tank.

Have you ever dosed calcium or alkalinity?

 

[Emi2852]

Have you ever dosed calcium or alkalinity?

I dosed calcium once, but I’ve been lowering my dhk slowly with each water change it’s at 11 now, and it had made my calcium and mag go up, so my cal is 440 and mag 1350

 

[Emi2852]

After getting my alk lowered and I moved the Duncan to a new spot he is thriving! There’s even two new heads starting to sprout!
Thanks for the help everyone!