Frogspawn closed up

[Joseph Hearn]

Hi, I have set up a Red Sea Reefer 170 about 5-6 weeks ago, and last week I added a branching Frogspawn and a Blastomussa head., for the first 3 days they opening up. And now the frogspawn has been closed for the last 2 days, and the blastomussa is about half open. I am just worried this isn't normal and there is something wrong with the corals or tank conditions. I am currently dosing 2 mL NoPox a day, which has been slowly increased from 1mL due to the nitrate level; there is a slight bacterial bloom since I started increasing th NoPox. The light is a 90w Red Sea Reef Led 90, running at 50% with the corals about 8 inches from the bottom (12" down from the light).

Tank Parameters -
Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 20 ppm
Phosphate = 0.03 ppm
pH = 8.0 - 8.3
Calcium = 430 ppm
Alkalinity = 8.3 dKH
Magnesium = 1260 ppm.

Thank you for any advice.

 

[jaxredsoxfan]

Hi Joseph, I think it might be just a little too soon for corals. While the Nitrates at 20 isn't terrible, I think maybe it is indicative of the tank not quite finished with its cycle.

 

[Cell]

5 week old tank and you are dosing Nopox? Where are the excess phosphates coming from that would require this?

 

[Cell]

Hi Joseph, I think it might be just a little too soon for corals. While the Nitrates at 20 isn't terrible, I think maybe it is indicative of the tank not quite finished with its cycle.

Nitrates at 20 does not indicate an unfinished cycle. Are you confusing nitrate with ammonia or nitrite?

 

[jaxredsoxfan]

Nope, just with that new of a tank and dosing NOPOX and still have 20 Nitrates, i would guess its at the end of the cycle. Absence overfeeding or some other source, nitrates should come down on their own with water changes once the tank has stabilized.

 

[Cell]

Nope, just with that new of a tank and dosing NOPOX and still have 20 Nitrates, i would guess its at the end of the cycle. Absence overfeeding or some other source, nitrates should come down on their own with water changes once the tank has stabilized.

0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-6 weeks in. Its cycled.

 

[Joseph Hearn]

I used the Red Sea maturation kit, which said to dose NoPox and the ammonia bottle also contained nitrates I think, as they were up to 75 before water changes and NoPox. I assumed that was normal for the kit.

 

[lapin]

I would do 50% water change and see what reaction your corals have. The first suspect is water conditions. Next would be lighting and flow.

 

[Joseph Hearn]

Thanks, I'll give it ago and see how they do

 

[Cell]

I would stop dosing, add some carbon, and do a 10% h20 change, 20% max and observe.

 

[Cell]

Any updates?

 

[Joseph Hearn]

I took some water to my local fish shop, and they tested it and the ammonia reads about 0.5 ppm, turns out my Salifert test kit always reads zero even with ammonia. So that's been replaced with a tetra test kit. I have stopped dosing, changed about 40% of the water and added 2kg of cured life rock to the sump; and stopped feeding until Thursday. All I can do is wait and hope now.

 

[Cell]

Do you have fish?
Did you start with live rock and/or sand?

@brandon429 thoughts?

 

[BeejReef]

I took some water to my local fish shop, and they tested it and the ammonia reads about 0.5 ppm, turns out my Salifert test kit always reads zero even with ammonia. So that's been replaced with a tetra test kit. I have stopped dosing, changed about 40% of the water and added 2kg of cured life rock to the sump; and stopped feeding until Thursday. All I can do is wait and hope now.

Those sound like good moves. You're looking at the Salifert vial through the side, held just above the colored reference paper, right? That's usually a pretty reliable brand.

 

[Joseph Hearn]

Do you have fish?
Did you start with live rock and/or sand?

@brandon429 thoughts?

There are a pair of clowns (about 40 weeks) old fish wise. And it was started with 15 kg of dry carib sea rock, but no sand.