Help- Duncan coral suddenly not extended

[Seymo44]

Is aiptasia something that is a sign of a bad fish store? Should I avoid shopping there in the future, or is it just unavoidable sometimes?

I appreciate any advice on how to eradicate it

Not a bad store. Aiptasia is hard to avoid, I’ve gotten frags with aiptasia from most reputable dealers. It’s easy to control if you catch it early. They can reproduce quickly. I generally observe a coral in a separate tank for a few days then cover any aiptasia with glue when I notice them. They can irritate coral, but they aren’t the end of the world if they make their way into your tank.

 

[SelkieSam]

this is a bit of concern that you are using prime for water changes. Are you using rodi water? or tap with prime?

I get RO water from the fish store. They had recommended prime but maybe it is time to use it less often? I add it only to the new water.

 

[SelkieSam]

Not a bad store. Aiptasia is hard to avoid, I’ve gotten frags with aiptasia from most reputable dealers. It’s easy to control if you catch it early. They can reproduce quickly. I generally observe a coral in a separate tank for a few days then cover any aiptasia with glue when I notice them. They can irritate coral, but they aren’t the end of the world if they make their way into your tank.

Thank you!

 

[Seymo44]

Is there a good set of tests you recommend?

I like Salifert for alk and cal
Red Sea for magnesium
Hanna for phosphate.

Salifert is my favorite affordable test. They make a test for virtually everything.

edit: pH is hard to test since it fluctuates throughout the day. When the lights are on and photosynthesis is occurring, pH will rise. At night it will usually drop.

 

[SelkieSam]

Th

I like Salifert for alk and cal
Red Sea for magnesium
Hanna for phosphate.

Salifert is my favorite affordable test. They make a test for virtually everything.

edit: pH is hard to test since it fluctuates throughout the day. When the lights are on and photosynthesis is occurring, pH will rise. At night it will usually drop.

Thanks! Salifert was the one I was thinking of getting to better test alk and cal. It’s super helpful to know it is a good one!

 

[afrokobe]

I get RO water from the fish store. They had recommended prime but maybe it is time to use it less often? I add it only to the new water.

so RO water could still have some containments, I would double check to see if you are using RODI (reverse osmosis deionized). If you are using water from the store, if it is RODI, definitely no need to use prime.

 

[Seymo44]

I don’t mean to come across as rude, so please forgive me if I do.

I wouldnt have those rocks in there, many look to be silica based. I know you got them from the ocean, but they seem like river gravel that has washed out to sea. River gravel is usually silica based and could be leaching harmful stuff to your tank.
Also, the lights on those tanks are usually sub par for coral. It’s likely lighting that is meant for freshwater. Coral appreciate stable lighting, so I also wouldn’t be changing the spectrum constantly.

Your safest bet would to just use live rock, and aragonite based sand (live or rinsed dry) and let your system stabilize with them.
For lighting, check out the fluval nano marine light, the kessil a80, or maybe a 12” AI blade.

 

[SelkieSam]

I don’t mean to come across as rude, so please forgive me if I do.

I wouldnt have those rocks in there, many look to be silica based. I know you got them from the ocean, but they seem like river gravel that has washed out to sea. River gravel is usually silica based and could be leaching harmful stuff to your tank.
Also, the lights on those tanks are usually sub par for coral. It’s likely lighting that is meant for freshwater. Coral appreciate stable lighting, so I also wouldn’t be changing the spectrum constantly.

Your safest bet would to just use live rock, and aragonite based sand (live or rinsed dry) and let your system stabilize with them.
For lighting, check out the fluval nano marine light, the kessil a80, or maybe a 12” AI blade.

I appreciate your advice! I have no experience with reef tanks and there is an overwhelming amount of info online.

Do you have any preference on leaning towards warm or cool spectrum lighting?

 

[Rmckoy]

I have reef crystals salt and have not been dosing anything other than seachem prime and stability with water changes. As needed I have used a small amount of seachem reef buffer to raise the ph, but only a couple of times as it is usually high enough just from the reef crystals. The test strips are the tetra strips, and I also use the api nitrate, nitrite, ph, and calcium test kits separately.
The alk test is on the strip so I am unsure how precise it is.

Please don’t take this as too harsh .
Test strips have no place in saltwater aquariums .
imagine … if you invest tons of money . Wouldn’t you want something more
Than a $10 kit to assure everything is in line ?
Buffer is your culprit for adding alkalinity and I personally wouldn’t dose anymore .
Ph will naturally fluctuate from day to night and if not tested at the exact time everyday you could be testing when it’s naturally low.
There are other ways to monitor ph but i don’t believe it’s worth worrying about yet .
Alk , salinity and cal are the main ones to maintain stable at this time .
and with those stable everything else will be within range .

prime : are you using tap water or rodi water ?

 

[SelkieSam]

Please don’t take this as too harsh .
Test strips have no place in saltwater aquariums .
imagine … if you invest tons of money . Wouldn’t you want something more
Than a $10 kit to assure everything is in line ?
Buffer is your culprit for adding alkalinity and I personally wouldn’t dose anymore .
Ph will naturally fluctuate from day to night and if not tested at the exact time everyday you could be testing when it’s naturally low.
There are other ways to monitor ph but i don’t believe it’s worth worrying about yet .
Alk , salinity and cal are the main ones to maintain stable at this time .
and with those stable everything else will be within range .

prime : are you using tap water or rodi water ?

That makes sense about the buffer. I’ll refrain from using it unless absolutely necessary in the future.

I started out with the test strips, and have been slowly buying other better test kits. I have gotten some good advice on here today for other kits I should be using.

I use RO water that the fish store sells, I am not sure on its specifics…

 

[Rmckoy]

Is there a good set of tests you recommend?

Salifert , Red Sea . Hanna .
For each parameter I use
Salinity -Hanna salinity checker and refractometer
A refractometer can be purchased from Amazon for around $20 and comes with calibration solution
Alkalinity - I use Hanna
But before purchasing it I used salifert
calcium salifert
Phosphates Hanna ulr phosphorus checker
Nitrate salifert

I have not tested ph or magnesium in years .
I suggest using rodi water and measuring tds to assure its producing 0.00 TDS

hope this helped . Don’t hesitate to ask more questions if needed

 

[Rmckoy]

That makes sense about the buffer. I’ll refrain from using it unless absolutely necessary in the future.

I started out with the test strips, and have been slowly buying other better test kits. I have gotten some good advice on here today for other kits I should be using.

I use RO water that the fish store sells, I am not sure on its specifics…

I personally wouldn’t use buffer or prime .
Be mindful of that you put in .
Don’t dose anything you haven’t tested the need for sadly some lfs will push the sale of prime , or buffers which imo are additives that should never be added to new systems .

 

[SelkieSam]

How big is that Duncan? Based on the small rocks and shells along with the sand dollar, it looks like it is the size of a penny. It also seems to have something growing on the back of it, could be aiptasia, but doesn't really look like it.

Could it maybe be a feather duster worm? If so, is this bad?

it hides and then pops out of a hole very quickly.

 

[Seymo44]

I appreciate your advice! I have no experience with reef tanks and there is an overwhelming amount of info online.

Do you have any preference on leaning towards warm or cool spectrum lighting?

Generally speaking you’ll want something more cool spectrum. Many tanks nowadays are lighted with such blue light that they look like they are filled with windex. Check out a few videos about reef tank lighting and you’ll see the general color that is typically used. I personally shoot for a spectrum around 16,000k, but this is just my preference. It’s not too blue, but also not too white.

Also, as for your recent post about the critter living on the back of your Duncan… if it is something living in a tube that retracts quickly, it is likely a harmless feather duster.

 

[SelkieSam]

Thanks everyone! My Duncan is back open and fully extended today

I’ll definitely use your words of wisdom to make my little ecosystem better.

 

[Pale Morning1]

Personally I think whatever is growing on the back resembles zoas more than anything else. Did the store that you purchased the coral from have a tank with a variety or corals in it?

 

[SelkieSam]

Personally I think whatever is growing on the back resembles zoas more than anything else. Did the store that you purchased the coral from have a tank with a variety or corals in it?

Yes they had many types in one tank

 

[Seymo44]

How’s your Duncan doing?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi! I have had this Duncan coral for almost a week and it has been doing well. I just checked my tank parameters this morning and made no adjustments today since everything was good. It was happy all day but when I just looked again it has no tendrils extended, mouth is open, and I see this weird part moving on the backside.
Literally maybe half an hour between looking perfect to looking like this. I am new to coral so forgive me if the part on the

back is normal growth or something. Just concerned with the sudden change in behavior being so dramatic

Its in a bad location, best at mid tank under moderate light and water flow. I also notice you have aquarium gravel and not sand or reel sand which offers no buffering and very compacted. This will not work in marine setting.
I agree on the test kit situation and test strips are even worse and recommend Hanna or salifert brand but that aquarium gravel needs to go.
How are you testing salt level?
Are you using tap water from faucet or RODI water ?

 

[JasonVH]

I get RO water from the fish store. They had recommended prime but maybe it is time to use it less often? I add it only to the new water.

Recommend getting a digital TDS(total dissolved solids) meter. The cheap stuff- anything from 5-10 will work. Then test the store's RO water. If it reads 0 then that's good.

Slightly concerned about their Prime recommendation though.. makes me wonder based on my experience. Three LFS- including one that specializes in salt water only were selling RO/DI water with readings of 100+. That's like buying tap water... As a result of this I invested in home RO/DI kit. for my two tanks. With your 9 gallon perhaps not worth the investment. But still, a TDS meter could prove useful- if you have access to bottled distilled water test those also. Make sure it's only distilled for bottled water. Not drinking, spring water, distilled for babies etc. The generic 'cheap' distilled proved to be the better with 0 readings.

By the way- absolutely understand the overwhelming aspect of starting in this hobby! I'm also a newbie of about 9 months. Hang in there and things will more or less get clearer as you go along. There will be a lot of seemingly conflicting answers, especially between LFS is telling you vs online responses.