Problem with welsos

[reeferfoxx]

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

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

For being an experienced reefer, you should know the correct lighting, right?

NSW near the surface is 420 not 380. 380 is acceptable but is the lowest end your calcium should be. I'm just trying to help you. But you seem to be doing everything perfectly.

 

[DeniseAndy]

From my experience with those guys is the flow and light are more of an issue to inflation. Low flow is ideal as they are in that environment and built to be in low flow. They are fleshy and need food to eat. They do not rely only on light. Also, some fish love to pick at the flesh.

Your tank looks great, but I think due to your focus on the sps and the higher flow corals, none of these or acans (fleshy guys) can thrive. It is just not compatible. Some people can make their tanks with correct flow and such for a truly mixed reef, but most of the time one species or genus (even family) will not be compatible.

For instance in my sps tanks, I could never keep the fleshies. In my gorg tank absolutely no lps or sps, in my low flow tank, fleshies do great! The scoylies are slightly less fleshy and survive better from my experience too. They also regenerate easier when damaged.

I would say, it is more of a compatibilty issue rather than a water parameter issue, but that is m2c.

 

[reeferfoxx]

From my experience with those guys is the flow and light are more of an issue to inflation. Low flow is ideal as they are in that environment and built to be in low flow. They are fleshy and need food to eat. They do not rely only on light. Also, some fish love to pick at the flesh.

Your tank looks great, but I think due to your focus on the sps and the higher flow corals, none of these or acans (fleshy guys) can thrive. It is just not compatible. Some people can make their tanks with correct flow and such for a truly mixed reef, but most of the time one species or genus (even family) will not be compatible.

For instance in my sps tanks, I could never keep the fleshies. In my gorg tank absolutely no lps or sps, in my low flow tank, fleshies do great! The scoylies are slightly less fleshy and survive better from my experience too. They also regenerate easier when damaged.

I would say, it is more of a compatibilty issue rather than a water parameter issue, but that is m2c.

If you are basing this solely on flow, you can adjust flow from tops of the tank to bottom of the tank.

 

[Bdog4u2]

The less I feed my welso the more it expands until night when it shrinks and tentacles come out. My nitrates got over 180 a few years back and it didn't phase it at all.

 

[reeferfoxx]

The less I feed my welso the more it expands until night when it shrinks and tentacles come out. My nitrates got over 180 a few years back and it didn't phase it at all.

Was your tank a mixed reef or LPS and softies only?

You guys forget, high nitrates kill sps coral. When balancing parameters for a mixed reef, it takes not going overboard with nutrients. But you still want nutrients. Flow is important too. As well as lighting.

 

[reefer505]

Im going to surround the. In some acrilic baffles to see if maybe getting flow that I dont see

 

[DeniseAndy]

Yes nutrients are also an issue for these guys as sps is much lower than the lps. Generally, the smaller the polyps the smaller the need to feed. So, these guys need to feed on more than light. That is why flow is soooo important. They need to be able to catch and eat. They also need more food in the water if you are not target feeding regularly.

The most successful of my fleshy corals have been in a low flow system. I never could keep acans or trachys with sps. Too much turbulence and little nutrients. I am not only talking about nitrates and phosphates. I am talking about nutrition in the water column. Phyto, eggs, bugs, etc.

However, this is only my personal experience and others may have other experiences with them. Light was never an issue when I kept them. I have run them with MH and with T5s. Currently mine are under T5s.

Other thing to consider is chemical warfare. This is a big problem in my tanks from time to time. The fleshies seem to lose all the time.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Yes nutrients are also an issue for these guys as sps is much lower than the lps. That is why flow is soooo important. They need to be able to catch and eat. They also need more food in the water if you are not target feeding regularly.
Too much turbulence and little nutrients. I am not only talking about nitrates and phosphates. I am talking about nutrition in the water column. Phyto, eggs, bugs, etc.
Other thing to consider is chemical warfare. This is a big problem in my tanks from time to time. The fleshies seem to lose all the time.

Parameters are always important especially in mixed reefs. There are plenty of successful mixed reefs that have scoly, brain coral, acans.
As far as keeping 'nutrition' in the water column, thats next to impossible if you have any kind of mechanical filtration. nitrates and phosphates are important.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Of course parameters are important. I was just giving an alternative to parameters as being the issues. He sounded like he was aware of parameters and their implications. Plus, you were covering that side.

 

[Lab_Adam]

How much flow are they getting? What happens if you take some tank water and a bucket and put in there for 30minutes? Maybe your tank has too much for them.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

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

not necessarily, sometimes brains do worse than acropora, especially at higher phosphate levels coupled with lower light. Another common problem is nipping, my yellow tang nips on all of the brain corals and makes them shrivel up and die, I finally caught him picking at those after i lost a few of the brain corals, funny thing is , that he doesn't touch anything else. The good way to test this is put an egg crate around your brain coral and see if it starts inflating after a few days.

 

[reefer505]

How much flow are they getting? What happens if you take some tank water and a bucket and put in there for 30minutes? Maybe your tank has too much for them.

I have them in a little cave. I went ahead and am trying this in the tank so no flow. I really hope it works them I can add some more rock to block done flow

 

[reefer505]

Just checked parameters and now I'm at Alk 9.4 Cal 400. So it's coming up

 

[reefer505]

If this doesn't work I'm going to try the egg crate cage

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

mine have low flow with direct light from 6bulb ATI. The only time my brains have shriveled up is when my ph drops. Other than that my levels fluctuate here and there an no problems. Only thing I can think of is nipping or Ph change... Well that's how it is in my tank. Good luck ! Oh and make sure they aren't rubbing against rocks or anything too.

 

[reefer505]

So the flow is not the problem they never inflated. So time to make the cage

 

[reefer505]

Made the cage no luck, I made changes to my tanks parameters over a month's time. Calcium is 440, alk 9, mag 1320 phosphate 0.03 and nitrates 16. I started used redsea reef energy 40ml daily and switched my 2part to B-ionic. The trac is a bit more "puffy" but not very much and the welso is still the same. At night they are both very puffy but definitely not fully inflated

 

[ritter6788]

Have any dwarf Angels? They will nip at them almost every time. I see a blue hippo in your tank, I owned a couple of them that nipped at my trachyphyllia and one that nipped at Acans. Even when the fish is removed it takes a long time for the coral to open up once its used to being picked at a lot.

 

[reefer505]

no angels and i built a cage with egg crate to prevent nipping and no nipping. does anyone use china boxes and have nice welsos? im wondering if it could be the lighting

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

try a lux meter. Not the app.
$14 red one on amazon.
divide total lux by 63. should be close

ie 40,000 / 63 = 634 par
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lighting-upgrade-with-a-lux-meter-saltyfilmfolks.248417/

Im curious if its the intensity.