Finicky corals

[Big_Mclargehuge]

Hey! So I've had my tank up and running about 6 months. I have gsp, xenia, and zoas. They have barely grown. The xenia almost died (added to early), The gsp is finally starting to take off (sorta), and the zoas are barely alive after being the only ones thriving for a while. Anyway. They seem soooooo finicky for beginner corals. I test my parameters. Do water changes regularly etc..I have a biocube with stock lighting, filter floss, and a UV sterilizer. Out of nowhere my gsp will just close up. The gsp and xenia close up if i mess with the tank. and just seem to be so fragile/finicky. The gsp was taking off then i did a water change and it has been upset since. It's frustrating. I Know this is a hobby of patience but not sure what to do at this point. Nitrates are a little high but honestly the gsp was looking the best it had looked when nitrates were at their highest. I just dont know. I want to add more corals and color to my tank but just feel like id be wasting my money. Just ranting i guess. Thanks for listening.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Have you tried...not touching it? What are your phosphate and nitrate test results? Have you considered that you may actually have too clean of a tank?

My GSP also does the whole "close up after water changes" thing. At this point, I might as well just call it "purple mat coral" instead of green star polyps.

I think that Xenia and GSP are beginner's corals because they thrive in beginner tanks (read: tanks that usually have a little bit off with the maintenance).

 

[tnewell]

The same thing happened when I started my biocube 29 with stock lighting. The gsp closed for a month, zoas rarely opened, Xenia wasn’t pulsing much. Then when I got my parameters controlled got into a routine water change, the corals adapted to these changes and fully extended. So give it a month of your routine, I’m sure they won’t disappoint (keep your nitrates around .10 for the zoas)