Problem with welsos

reefer505 · Jul 30, 2016

I've been having some weird problems in my tank with 3 types of corals, I have a nice welso and traco that do not inflate. I have had the traco for almost a year and it never loses flesh but always closed up. The welso has been in my tank for about 3 months and does the same thing. At night they inflated a very small amount but not much. I just sold a pair as well and in the buyers tank they inflated almost immediately. They welsos were in my tank a month and did nothing. I went ahead and put them under a ledge to see if could be the lighting with luck. Acans do the same thing until they melt away. Weird thing is I have 2 bleeding heart scolys that are doing great. All my other corals are great including about 40 acros and millis. Tank is a mixed 230 gallon.
Salinity is 1.026
Alk 8.5 -10
Cal 380
Mag 1300
Nitrate 16 (raised it up to see if water too clean)
Phosphate 0
Flow 2 mp40s on reef crest

Any ideas?

Titanwerx · Jul 30, 2016

Make sure nothing is nipping at them maybe?

reeferfoxx · Jul 30, 2016

Nitrates are too high, imo. Between 3-10 is target amount. Your phosphates are low too. Try and raise phosphates to 0.02-0.04.
You said alk is 8.5-10. Which one is it? Because a drop from 10 to 8.5 can cause corals to react. Need to keep that number as consistent as possible.
Calcium at 380 is low as well, 380 is the number at which corals will not show any growth. Need to raise that to 450.

reefer505 · Jul 30, 2016

I usually keep my nitrates at 5 but had been told possibly too low. I normally keep my alk at 9.5 but also have been trying to figure out issue so I have tried from 8.5 for a few weeks up to 10 for a few weeks. Calcium is being taken up by my acros big time. I just switched to b ionic 2 part to keep up better. I set up a go pro and did not see any nipping.

reeferfoxx · Jul 30, 2016

I'll attempt to try and convey how alk and nutrients should be balanced.

If you have low to zero readings on nutrients you should keep your alkalinity around 7dkh

Minimal nutrients like no3 3-6 ppm and po4 0.01-0.04 should have alkalinity between 8-9dkh

High nutrients should have higher alkalinity 9-12dkh

reefer505 · Jul 30, 2016

I have been in this hobby a really long time and I have never heard of this. I'm not saying your wrong but can you tell me where you heard this or where this is stated? I'm having excellent growth in my sps, euphillia, Zoa's,. Scolys, everything but my brains and acans. If my calcium was the issue I'd think my acros would be the one affected

reefer505 · Jul 30, 2016

As you can see here everything else is doing great

reeferfoxx · Jul 30, 2016

reefer505 said:
I have been in this hobby a really long time and I have never heard of this. I'm not saying your wrong but can you tell me where you heard this or where this is stated? I'm having excellent growth in my sps, euphillia, Zoa's,. Scolys, everything but my brains and acans. If my calcium was the issue I'd think my acros would be the one affected

@Randy Holmes-Farley can better explain this.

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Alkalinity generally limits the calcification rate in many circumstances, and it appears that if nutrients are very low and alkalinity is high, reefers often observe "burnt tips". One possible explanation is that the skeleton grows faster than the tissue can keep up, making the tissue thin and susceptible to damage.

When nutrients are higher, one has more choice on alk level, and if you want faster coral growth, pick higher alk. If you want less growth, or lower alk for some other reasons, that is fine too.

reefer505 · Jul 30, 2016

OK so again talking about acros and sps. I'm good on those. OK m getting plenty of sps growth and growth tips not burnt tips. There's definitely a difference but what about the welsos.

reeferfoxx · Jul 30, 2016

Well, your calcium is low. Your nitrates are high. Phosphates are low. It's a mixed reef. And that is a shallow coral that needs strong light and calcium. I would start there.
When your parameters are within acceptable range and your welsos are still not doing well, then we look at other things?

silva218 · Jul 30, 2016

I agree that the calcium and phosphates are too low. Do you run gfo?

reefer505 · Jul 30, 2016

I run a small amount of gfo as was recommended to try to see if that could be the issue. I have about 5 different maintenance crews and 3 LFS trying to figure out the issue. We're at the experimenting phase. Surprisingly I have gotten better PE since raising my nitrates

reeferfoxx · Jul 30, 2016

reefer505 said:
I run a small amount of gfo as was recommended to try to see if that could be the issue. I have about 5 different maintenance crews and 3 LFS trying to figure out the issue. We're at the experimenting phase. Surprisingly I have gotten better PE since raising my nitrates

8 people couldn't tell you that your calcium is low and that GFO is stripping out too many nutrients?

silva218 · Jul 30, 2016

A friend of mine was having trouble with his wellso's and brains a few months back. Stopped running gfo and noticed a big difference in inflation. He now runs gfo every other month for 1 week to get his phosphates back in line

silva218 · Jul 30, 2016

reefer505 said:
I run a small amount of gfo as was recommended to try to see if that could be the issue. I have about 5 different maintenance crews and 3 LFS trying to figure out the issue. We're at the experimenting phase. Surprisingly I have gotten better PE since raising my nitrates

The better PE is interesting... I wonder if it is directly correlated to higher nitrates and/or lower phosphates.

Do our polyps actually uptake any phosphates or nitrates directly?

reefer505 · Jul 30, 2016

I havnt used gfo before 2 weeks ago and only use enough for a 30 gallon tank and seriously my calcium isn't that low. If you havnt seen a tank thrive in 380 calcium then your just not experienced. That's just under nsw. and that's not the issue this is with experimenting. I normally keep my tank alk at 9.5, cal at 420, mag at 1350 and the welsos were doing the same thing

reefer505 · Jul 30, 2016

reeferfoxx said:
8 people couldn't tell you that your is low and that GFO is stripping out too many nutrients?

did you not pay attention to what I was saying? We have been experimenting with levels. I even sent a sample to triton and they couldn't tell me what could be the issue

adestafi · Jul 30, 2016

What's the flow and par where your welso is? Mine likes low light/low flow

reefer505 · Jul 30, 2016

I have them in this cave with no direct light a And low flow. Just ambient light

reefer505 · Jul 30, 2016

The rock that over hangs covers then completely. Wasn't sure if was too much light so tried as experiment. At night it does puff a bit more but not much which was why did the over hang