My corals wont open

[bruno3047]

It’s going to be interesting to see how many people (and who) are concerned about other levels than the one that is most critical. It’s a comedy in slow motion.

 

[Jt2swag]

Keep this in mind for the future. Most of the beneficial bacteria in an aquarium is in the sand, not in the rocks. The rocks provide a good amount of bacteria, but most of the bacteria is in the sand. So if you throw away (change) all the sand, the bacteria that’s left in your rocks is not going to be enough to support the same bio load. If you buy any bottled bacteria, make sure that it’s not expired. Bottles should have an expiration date. Good luck.

Thanks again for the advice! Will definitely work on it right away!

 

[Jt2swag]

Salinity is a bit high and would upset especially soft/LPS coral (bring down to 1.025)
Phos also a little elevated (you want .04-.06)

Will definitely work on it! Thank you!

 

[Woodyman]

Dude. You got .5 PPM Ammonia in your tank and you’re wondering why your corals won’t open? Are you serious?

The 0.5 NH4 is a test read error. A cycled tank will not have NH4 in a quantifiable quantity on home test kits. If he said it was 1+ I'd ask more more questions, but at 0.5 which is well within a test kit/user error I'm not worried about that on a tank that's been setup for 2+ months.

 

[Jt2swag]

The 0.5 NH4 is a test read error. A cycled tank will not have NH4 in a quantifiable quantity on home test kits. If he said it was 1+ I'd ask more more questions, but at 0.5 which is well within a test kit/user error I'm not worried about that on a tank that's been setup for 2+ months.

So what should i do? Should i do a big water change? Or how do i test it more accurately? Im afraid its what they call “new tank syndrome”

 

[Woodyman]

Check ammonia again. Post a picture of the results using a blank white sheet of paper as the background, along with the result card.

Let's go front there.

If your tank has been established for 2+ months and you moved over the previous live rock, and haven't had any deaths in that time I really don't see this as a cycling or ammonia issue.

Stranger things have happened I guess, but that's not what I'd be betting on.

 

[Jt2swag]

Check ammonia again. Post a picture of the results using a blank white sheet of paper as the background, along with the result card.

Let's go front there.

If your tank has been established for 2+ months and you moved over the previous live rock, and haven't had any deaths in that time I really don't see this as a cycling or ammonia issue.

Stranger things have happened I guess, but that's not what I'd be betting on.

Okay! Thank you! Yeah we moved corals and anemone and fishes and shrimps and rocks over and it got super cloudy at one point but its been 2 months now and its cleared up and no death, all fishes and corals are still accounted for. I did the test earlier this morning and it looked like its between 0.25 - 0.5

 

[Woodyman]

Okay! Thank you! Yeah we moved corals and anemone and fishes and shrimps and rocks over and it got super cloudy at one point but its been 2 months now and its cleared up and no death, all fishes and corals are still accounted for. I did the test earlier this morning and it looked like its between 0.25 - 0.5

If ammonia was at a hazardous level you would know by know because you would have experienced fish death. More than likely the ammonia would get to your shrimps before a fish, if they are all still alive and you didn't have any deaths or die offs I'm confident your issue here is not ammonia.

The cloud you had prior was more than likely a bacterial bloom. The issue with those is sometimes they deplete O2 which cam lead to die off as well.

Do some searches for false ammonia readings from test kits. You will find a bunch of threads.

 

[zdrc]

Just to put out a dissenting opinion. Ammonia shouldn't really have a significant effect on corals. Ammonia is specifically poisonous to animals with red blood cells because it damages the hemoglobin used to carry oxygen in the blood stream. In essence, it suffocates red-blooded animals by making it impossible for them to get any oxygen from breathing. Corals don't have hemoglobin so ammonia really shouldn't have any affect on them, at least not until the ammonia concentrations are completely through the roof (like 10s to 100s of ppm). Here's an article about it.

 

[Jt2swag]

If ammonia was at a hazardous level you would know by know because you would have experienced fish death. More than likely the ammonia would get to your shrimps before a fish, if they are all still alive and you didn't have any deaths or die offs I'm confident your issue here is not ammonia.

The cloud you had prior was more than likely a bacterial bloom. The issue with those is sometimes they deplete O2 which cam lead to die off as well.

Do some searches for false ammonia readings from test kits. You will find a bunch of threads.

Thanks again! Really appreciate you taking the time to help and give me advice!

 

[Woodyman]

Just to put out a dissenting opinion. Ammonia shouldn't really have a significant effect on corals. Ammonia is specifically poisonous to animals with red blood cells because it damages the hemoglobin used to carry oxygen in the blood stream. In essence, it suffocates red-blooded animals by making it impossible for them to get any oxygen from breathing. Corals don't have hemoglobin so ammonia really shouldn't have any affect on them, at least not until the ammonia concentrations are completely through the roof (like 10s to 100s of ppm). Here's an article about it.

Thank you! I did a quick search for this in the morning and couldn't find it. Forgot it was Reef Builders.

 

[MrGisonni]

Ammonia is high. That tank is not completely cycled. There was a major disruption for the flora and fauna........Micro and macro. I would chill with the lights... lower intensity and do small water changes until things settle down.

 

[MrGisonni]

Just read back... Cloudy water...... chemotrophic nitrifying bacterial dieoff then heterotrophic bacterial bloom then dieoff... Ammonia goes high. All bad things. The tank has to settle. Pay attention, test often go slow. Lower lights a tad perform water changes.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

It’s going to be interesting to see how many people (and who) are concerned about other levels than the one that is most critical. It’s a comedy in slow motion.

The comedy for me is reading these zingers, then looking at an up to date picture of said zingies' tank or lack there of .. saying classic liners like "expert" lol zing...pointing out things like ammonia lol lol lol thats not probable for the issue, unless o.p's fish are floating upside down. Keep the comedy coming great stuff!

 

[Woodyman]

Ammonia is high. That tank is not completely cycled. There was a major disruption for the flora and fauna........Micro and macro. I would chill with the lights... lower intensity and do small water changes until things settle down.

I wouldn't call a reading of 0.5 high even if it were accurate.

Saying the tank isn't cycled is getting into the cycling vs maturity debate.

Is the tank cycled - yes (can it convert ammonia to nitrate?)

Is it mature - no

 

[Jt2swag]

Just read back... Cloudy water...... chemotrophic nitrifying bacterial dieoff then heterotrophic bacterial bloom then dieoff... Ammonia goes high. All bad things. The tank has to settle. Pay attention, test often go slow. Lower lights a tad perform water changes.

Should i do water change every week? I been doing every 2 weeks about 15-20%. I felt like my tank havent settle considering it was cloudy for almost a month and just started clearing almost 2 weeks ago, thanks for all the help and advice, it really does mean alot

 

[bruno3047]

The comedy for me is reading these zingers, then looking at an up to date picture of said zingies' tank or lack there of .. saying classic liners like "expert" lol zing...pointing out things like ammonia lol lol lol thats not probable for the issue, unless o.p's fish are floating upside down. Keep the comedy coming great stuff!

Fortunately for me, I backed up my zinger with some information from a reliable source. Here it is in case you missed it. Enjoy.


.02 parts per million (ppm) it can be extremely toxic to saltwater fish and many of the organisms living in your aquarium. Ideally, a marine tank should have an undetectable level of ammonia. Levels above 0.1 ppm are a problem and should lead to an immediate investigation and remedy.

How to Get Rid of Ammonia in Your Saltwater Aquarium | BeChewy​

BeChewy gives you tips on how to get rid of ammonia in your saltwater aquarium.

be.chewy.com

 

[bruno3047]

The 0.5 NH4 is a test read error. A cycled tank will not have NH4 in a quantifiable quantity on home test kits. If he said it was 1+ I'd ask more more questions, but at 0.5 which is well within a test kit/user error I'm not worried about that on a tank that's been setup for 2+ months.

How do you know that it was an error? Did you actually read what he wrote? That he changed all the sand when he moved into a larger tank? You assumed. And we know what happens when you assume. You were in such a hurry to give your “expert” advice, that you didn’t even read what the OP wrote. What’s really comedic to me is that you said the thing that stuck out to you the most was the 0 nitrate reading, because we all know how terrible that is. You didn’t even mention the .5 ammonia reading and now you’re trying to tell us that that’s no big deal. Even though none of the guy’s corals are opening now. I’m sure it’s due to 0 nitrate reading that his corals aren’t opening. BTW. I always have 0 nitrate readings and my corals open just fine. You can see them in my avatar.

 

[Woodyman]

How do you know that it was an error? Did you actually read what he wrote? That he changed all the sand when he moved into a larger tank? You assumed. And we know what happens when you assume. You were in such a hurry to give your “expert” advice, that you didn’t even read what the OP wrote. What’s really comedic to me is that you said the thing that stuck out to you the most was the 0 nitrate reading, because we all know how terrible that is. You didn’t even mention the .5 ammonia reading and now you’re trying to tell us that that’s no big deal. Even though none of the guy’s corals are opening now. I’m sure it’s due to 0 nitrate reading that his corals aren’t opening. BTW. I always have 0 nitrate readings and my corals open just fine. You can see them in my avatar.

This is where I bow out. You can continue your titrate with someone else.

 

[bruno3047]

This is where I bow out. You can continue your titrate with someone else.

Stop giving bad advice.