Newbie questions

punkieg0 · Dec 23, 2019

Hello,
I have a new tank- set up in September completed cycling and clownfish added after. JBJ 45AIO with protein skimmer, wavemaker and AI Prime light.
I am new to coral so I got a few frags to see how this works before jumping too far in. I picked up a Duncan and Green Star Polyp about 2 weeks ago now. The duncan has never opened and the GSP was open for about a day and has since closed up.
Currently I have them both lower in the tank and have not moved them since adding.
I will be doing full testing, water change etc tomorrow on my tank but I am wondering what I should be checking for to get them to open up. I have Red Sea supplements that just shipped to me so I will be looking to add those.
Last testing on my tank showed:
1.026
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- .2
Nitrates- have been running high around 40 ppm
phosphate - .90
Calcium- 441
Alk- 8.1
PH- .80
Mag- 1620

I have read that you should leave them for a bit before moving or adjusting but I am not sure which to try first. Do I increase flow in the tank? Move them higher up? Or do I just focus on supplements and keep them where they are. They are closed up but not melting so I think I am just missing something in the water or where they are positioned. I see little green stems every now and then from the GSP like it wants to open.

As I said, these are my first so I am still figuring out what to do.

I was running David Saxton program on my light but I am now getting into the ugly stages so I was told to find a program reducing the reds and greens.
Thoughts/ advice welcome!
Thanks

The Aquatic Arsenal · Dec 23, 2019

I don't think you are quite cycled yet. Nitrates are pretty high as well as phosphates. I would not adjust anything g with your lighting. Leave the coral where they are at right now. Duncan's can be upset for awhile as well as the GSP.

punkieg0 · Dec 23, 2019

The Aquatic Arsenal said:
I don't think you are quite cycled yet. Nitrates are pretty high as well as phosphates. I would not adjust anything g with your lighting. Leave the coral where they are at right now. Duncan's can be upset for awhile as well as the GSP.

Sounds good, thank you for the quick reply.

Samina · Dec 23, 2019

What are you using for testing nitrite? You want nitrite to be at a solid 0. Tank may not be completely cycled as @The Aquatic Arsenal mentioned

PO4 is quite high, you want that 0.03-0.12ppm, and nitrates around 5-10ppm. With a softy/LPS tank, you can be a little “dirtier” as they call it but that’s around the upper limit of those ranges I listed. But since you do have nitrite registering on your kit, your Nitrate result right now will not be accurate.

I would suggest you hold off on adding any supplements right now as you do not need them right now and it’ll throw things off even more. A water change is a good idea though.

Do you have a pic of your tank?

punkieg0 · Dec 23, 2019

Samina said:
What are you using for testing nitrite? You want nitrite to be at a solid 0. Tank may not be completely cycled as @The Aquatic Arsenal mentioned

PO4 is quite high, you want that 0.03-0.12ppm, and nitrates around 5-10ppm. With a softy/LPS tank, you can be a little “dirtier” as they call it but that’s around the upper limit of those ranges I listed. But since you do have nitrite registering on your kit, your Nitrate result right now will not be accurate.

I would suggest you hold off on adding any supplements right now as you do not need them right now and it’ll throw things off even more. A water change is a good idea though.

Do you have a pic of your tank?

Water change is in the schedule for tomorrow. I’ll do all testing again after that is done. Here is a picture I took yesterday showing the brown that has shown up.