New tank woes - mushrooms shrinking

[John Stuckey]

Hi. My Biocube 29 reef tank is on day 35.

Temp: 78-80
Salinity: 1.025
Ph: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0.1
Lighting: Stock actinic, 10k [on 8am-8pm], blue moonlight on 24 hours
Water movement: Stock return pump, Jebao
RW-4 on lowest pulse setting
Protein skimmer: Coralife
No media basket
Tank algae: very little, managed by cleanup crew
Tiny hydroid snowflakes on glass.
Tiny copepods on glass.
1 black clownfish, 1 watchman goby

These figures have been very steady for 14 days. My Yuma and Rhodactis are not happy.

Yuma almost died in the light. It's now in full shade and I now understand they are very sensitive to light shock. It's shriveled but still alive now that I've moved it in full shade. Not much fun having a coral you can't even see.

The bigger surprise is that the Rhodactis is shrinking every day too, I thought they were hardy! I think it's in low flow, moderate/low light but that's very subjective.

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Reefing Madness]

Whats your PO4 number?
What lighting did those corals come from? How did you acclimate them to your lighting?

 

[John Stuckey]

Here is the Rhodactis

 

[John Stuckey]

Whats your PO4 number?
What lighting did those corals come from? How did you acclimate them to your lighting?

That's a good question about PO4. I don't have a phosphate test kit yet but I'll pick one up today. I did not do any lighting acclimation with the Yuma and have paid the price. It's in full shade now so we'll see what happens. But for the Rhodactis I put it in partial shade at bottom of tank and it's been there for a week getting smaller and smaller. Both were in low to moderate lighting at the LFS. I bought them from the same store that I buy salt water for water changes so water chemistry should be very similar.

I do think phosphates are high right now because the tank has been overfed the last week.

 

[John Stuckey]

As an update, this Rhodactis and my Yuma recovered very nicely. My wife donated care much for the Yuma as it's just a solid green now. But I have a soft spot for it because I nursed it back to health.

 

[Reefing Madness]