Having trouble with my LPS

[Scottrshoe]

I can't figure out why I am having so much trouble with my LPS. I have four Euphilia that are doing "okay", and my Candycane and Favia are fine, but both of my acans/micromusas have died and both duncans are closed up all the time.

My tank is about six months old, 20G IM, all in one. No skimmer, but have a HOB refugium with Chaeto.

Salinity- 36
NItrates- 2
Phosphates- <0.03
Ca- 465
Mg- 1275
pH- 8.11
KH- 9.7

I have been dosing All for Reef for about a month, and just recently started dosing NEOnitro/phos.

Livestock: Diamond Goby and a pair of clowns. three shrimp and an assortment of crabs/snails

Image below was this morning, not long after the lights came on. CUC does a good job of keeping the rockscape clean, but I need a better way of keeping algae off the back wall where they can't reach.

 

[Lavey29]

LPS need dirty water, nitrates at 10 and phosphate .05 to .1. What is your flow and lights? 6 months is good time for first ICP test also to check everything. Tank stability is getting better but won't be there until close to a year. Euphyllia are also prone to bacteria infection and or pests.

 

[fishski13]

Agree what was said before, lps need a bit more nitrate and phosphate.

Plus I would look to get your salinity down to 35, 36 is slightly high.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Nice tank! I don’t know if this is much help but sometimes perspective is a good thing. Over the years the best teachers, authors and online reefing gurus have admitted their difficulties and frustrations with certain corals that others have no problem with. With that fact, I think it can only point to every tank being different. Countless variations from lighting, filtration, husbandry, tank size, live rock/dead rock, livestock choices, chemistry etc. and 30 other variations. Enjoy the ones you have success with. Maybe give them a try in a year from now when things might be more suitable for them? Just my take. Good luck.

 

[Scottrshoe]

LPS need dirty water, nitrates at 10 and phosphate .05 to .1. What is your flow and lights? 6 months is good time for first ICP test also to check everything. Tank stability is getting better but won't be there until close to a year. Euphyllia are also prone to bacteria infection and or pests.

Thanks to all for the responses.
My flow is the return pump that came with the tank and a Jebao SLW-10 the blow across the tank, perpendicular to the return pump.

My lights are two Fluval Sea Marine NANOs. I did a PAR map shortly after setting up the tank. Image attached below. These readings are for the peek. I have a slow ramp up/down with a PEEK light period of about 4 hours.

 

[Lavey29]

Thanks to all for the responses.
My flow is the return pump that came with the tank and a Jebao SLW-10 the blow across the tank, perpendicular to the return pump.

My lights are two Fluval Sea Marine NANOs. I did a PAR map shortly after setting up the tank. Image attached below. These readings are for the peek. I have a slow ramp up/down with a PEEK light period of about 4 hours.

Looks decent, maybe slightly more par intensity would help. For what it's worth, I struggled with LPS also at 6 months and was dosing neophos and neonitro. At one year the tank went through a transformation and everything became much more stable and predictable with corals thriving. I had a dirty back glass too. Urchin and turbo cleaned that up.

 

[Mical]

First off very nice tank. Just a thought, you might want to extend your light schedule peak to 6-8 hours, but do it slowly over time. On both of my tanks my lighting peaks at about 10am & runs until about 6:30 pm. Also re: duncans, are you feeding them directly?

 

[Scottrshoe]

First off very nice tank. Just a thought, you might want to extend your light schedule peak to 6-8 hours, but do it slowly over time. On both of my tanks my lighting peaks at about 10am & runs until about 6:30 pm. Also re: duncans, are you feeding them directly?

I have played around with my light schedules quite a bit, but I can certainly try extending the peak period slowly over time.

My duncans closed up after only being in the tank a few days. I broadcast feed the tank for the softies, and have tried direct feeding without much success. I also over feed the tank with a home mix of foods that has LRS Fish Frenzy as its base.

I recently picked up some Reef Nutrition's Oyster Feast to try feeding the LPS again. Can I still feed the duncans even if they are retracted? I usually see a couple of polyps peek just above the rim of their skeleton each day, but then they completely retract again without ever opening up.

 

[Mical]

I had similar issues in the early stages of my tanks but Billy Pipes has awesome video on feeding ->

 

[Lavey29]

I have played around with my light schedules quite a bit, but I can certainly try extending the peak period slowly over time.

My duncans closed up after only being in the tank a few days. I broadcast feed the tank for the softies, and have tried direct feeding without much success. I also over feed the tank with a home mix of foods that has LRS Fish Frenzy as its base.

I recently picked up some Reef Nutrition's Oyster Feast to try feeding the LPS again. Can I still feed the duncans even if they are retracted? I usually see a couple of polyps peek just above the rim of their skeleton each day, but then they completely retract again without ever opening up.

Duncans are a good coral to give you tank status. If they are closed like that then there is stuff out of balance in the tank. Flow seems fine. Light duration could be a factor as mentioned above but that should not prevent them from opening during the day which leaves water parameters. We already mentioned nitrates and phosphate but there is a whole spectrum of trace elements also. All for reef and water changes do replenish these but perhaps something is off there such as iron or iodine. I keep magnesium at 1400 also it helps prevent nuisance algae. Check out ICP lab test. I do it every 4 months.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks to all for the responses.
My flow is the return pump that came with the tank and a Jebao SLW-10 the blow across the tank, perpendicular to the return pump.

My lights are two Fluval Sea Marine NANOs. I did a PAR map shortly after setting up the tank. Image attached below. These readings are for the peek. I have a slow ramp up/down with a PEEK light period of about 4 hours.

For SPS, par levels are a little low

 

[Lavey29]

For SPS, par levels are a little low

True but he doesn't show any in the tank currently.

 

[Scottrshoe]

For SPS, par levels are a little low

I do not have any SPS

 

[Scottrshoe]

I had similar issues in the early stages of my tanks but Billy Pipes has awesome video on feeding ->

I have been trying this method with Reef Chili, as well as broadcasting it. I've not tried the Reefroids though...perhaps I will give it a shot, by adding it to the routine.

 

[mdb_talon]

In my experience if my Duncan's are not happy it's always been because they are hungry! They can deal with wide varieties of light and flow I seriously doubt that is the issue unless you have no flow at all on them. Could always be an infection or chemical in tanks or something like that but I think that is less likely than they are just hungry.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I do not have any SPS

I realize- just saying and should have said- if getting SPS, PAR will be a little low

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

the 2 most important things are light and flow.

The light is barely putting out 100 PAR , and I see only one powerhead (my 15 gallon has 2 strong powerheads and its a softie tank). These are the 2 area's that I would upgrade first and see the result before taking other action

 

[Scottrshoe]

the 2 most important things are light and flow.

The light is barely putting out 100 PAR , and I see only one powerhead (my 15 gallon has 2 strong powerheads and its a softie tank). These are the 2 area's that I would upgrade first and see the result before taking other action

From what I have read online, I thought 50-150 PAR was about the sweet spot for LPS (Euphyllia specifically). As for the powerhead, this is a question I have asked and received multiple different answers, so I not sure about that. Right now I am nervous about increasing the flow in the tank, as my mushrooms are already "flapping" a bit and my torch has a lot of movement in it...Do you think I need more flow?

 

[Dave1993]

nah flow looks fine

 

[Nano sapiens]

From what I have read online, I thought 50-150 PAR was about the sweet spot for LPS (Euphyllia specifically). As for the powerhead, this is a question I have asked and received multiple different answers, so I not sure about that. Right now I am nervous about increasing the flow in the tank, as my mushrooms are already "flapping" a bit and my torch has a lot of movement in it...Do you think I need more flow?

IMO/IME, your lighting is just fine and your flow is plenty for LPS (as long as the polyps are gently 'swaying in the breeze', it's usually all good). At six months, the system is still a baby, so as mentioned be patient and give it time. Even with a direct transfer of old established LR and LS to my current small system, it took around 1 to 1-1/2 years until I had the type of stability that allowed me to successfully keep/grow all the coral types that would be appropriate for my lighting and flow.

If I were you, I'd just keep growing/adding those coral types that are doing well since good coral cover is important to help promote a mature and healthy reef system. After at least a few months try adding a specimen or two of the types that are currently causing you issues.

While I don't know anything about how the tank was initially set up, I can say that having a diverse population of reef-associated microbes (natural sources, not 'bottled-bac') will help with stability/maturity.