Soft corals

Big_Mclargehuge · Jul 29, 2020

Hey! So i've been having some issues with my soft corals in my tank. Zoas, GSP, pulsing xenia, and a toadstool (the Zoas are actually doing fine). I just tested all of my parameters that I have test kits for. Alk, nitrates, phosphates, and salinity. I have a Biocube 32 stock lighting. One wave maker. The problem I've been having is when I first add a coral they close up at first but then seem to do well the first day or so. The toadstool seems to be trying to open and the GSP is partially open after being closed for a week or so. The Xenia has been closed up for weeks. Only looked good the day i got it. I've gotten them all from the same LFS. Here are my numbers.

Nitrates 0-5 ppm
Phosphate 0
Alk 12.5
Salinity 1.026

I have two clowns and a decent sized CUC that seem to be doing really well. The tank is only a couple months old. I do a weekly 5 gallon WC. I feed fairly light also. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

((FORDTECH)) · Jul 29, 2020

Phosphates at 0 most likely is your issue. Nitrates and phosphates need to be at a small detectable level for corals to feed off of. Especially lps and soft corals need these numbers little higher. I’m sure others will chime in but you need like .03-.08 phosphates and 5-12 nitrates

((FORDTECH)) · Jul 29, 2020

Alk also seems to be little high. FYI natural sea water has an alk of 7-8 or so

Pistondog · Jul 29, 2020

Big_Mclargehuge said:
Hey! So i've been having some issues with my soft corals in my tank. Zoas, GSP, pulsing xenia, and a toadstool (the Zoas are actually doing fine). I just tested all of my parameters that I have test kits for. Alk, nitrates, phosphates, and salinity. I have a Biocube 32 stock lighting. One wave maker. The problem I've been having is when I first add a coral they close up at first but then seem to do well the first day or so. The toadstool seems to be trying to open and the GSP is partially open after being closed for a week or so. The Xenia has been closed up for weeks. Only looked good the day i got it. I've gotten them all from the same LFS. Here are my numbers.

Nitrates 0-5 ppm
Phosphate 0
Alk 12.5
Salinity 1.026

I have two clowns and a decent sized CUC that seem to be doing really well. The tank is only a couple months old. I do a weekly 5 gallon WC. I feed fairly light also. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

Those should be growing like weeds.
What fordtech said. Maybe stop the water changes until nutrients rise?
The dkh looks a tad high, but maybe your salt.
How old is your tank?

Big_Mclargehuge · Jul 29, 2020

((FORDTECH)) said:
Phosphates at 0 most likely is your issue. Nitrates and phosphates need to be at a small detectable level for corals to feed off of. Especially lps and soft corals need these numbers little higher. I’m sure others will chime in but you need like .03-.08 phosphates and 5-12 nitrates

Thanks! I was kind of thinking that's the issue but I'm new so I wanted to ask.

((FORDTECH)) · Jul 29, 2020

I have the opposite issue my nitrates bottom out and my phosphate stay high so I have been dosing nitrates and having to run gfo to lower phosphates

Big_Mclargehuge · Jul 29, 2020

((FORDTECH)) said:
Alk also seems to be little high. FYI natural sea water has an alk of 7-8 or so

Yeah the last time I tested Alk it was around 8.6. I'm not sure what raised it.

Big_Mclargehuge · Jul 29, 2020

Pistondog said:
Those should be growing like weeds.
What fordtech said. Maybe stop the water changes until nutrients rise?
The dkh looks a tad high, but maybe your salt.
How old is your tank?

The last time i tested Alk it was 8.6. Not sure what raised it. I did switch to Red Sea from Brightwell. I know some Red Sea can do that. My tank is only like 4 months old. Corals have been in around a month and a half or so.

((FORDTECH)) · Jul 29, 2020

Calcium reactor, ph buffer, water changes with salt that has high alk, 2 part dose . Many things can make it raise

((FORDTECH)) · Jul 29, 2020

Big_Mclargehuge said:
The last time i tested Alk it was 8.6. Not sure what raised it. I did switch to Red Sea from Brightwell. I know some Red Sea can do that. My tank is only like 4 months old. Corals have been in around a month and a half or so.

I thought Red Sea was to have lower alk but I’m not sure. I use tropic Marin pro mixes at 7.5 alk

Dr. Dendrostein · Jul 29, 2020

Big_Mclargehuge said:
Hey! So i've been having some issues with my soft corals in my tank. Zoas, GSP, pulsing xenia, and a toadstool (the Zoas are actually doing fine). I just tested all of my parameters that I have test kits for. Alk, nitrates, phosphates, and salinity. I have a Biocube 32 stock lighting. One wave maker. The problem I've been having is when I first add a coral they close up at first but then seem to do well the first day or so. The toadstool seems to be trying to open and the GSP is partially open after being closed for a week or so. The Xenia has been closed up for weeks. Only looked good the day i got it. I've gotten them all from the same LFS. Here are my numbers.

Nitrates 0-5 ppm
Phosphate 0
Alk 12.5
Salinity 1.026

I have two clowns and a decent sized CUC that seem to be doing really well. The tank is only a couple months old. I do a weekly 5 gallon WC. I feed fairly light also. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

I was in same boat. Add some activated carbon follow directions. Should be night and day, the results.

Big_Mclargehuge · Jul 29, 2020

((FORDTECH)) said:
Calcium reactor, ph buffer, water changes with salt that has high alk, 2 part dose . Many things can make it raise

I'm guessing it's my salt since I don't have any of the other things lol.

Dr. Dendrostein said:
I was in same boat. Add some activated carbon follow directions. Should be night and day, the results.

I actually do run activated carbon. I forgot to mention that i run that.

Pistondog · Jul 29, 2020

Big_Mclargehuge said:
The last time i tested Alk it was 8.6. Not sure what raised it. I did switch to Red Sea from Brightwell. I know some Red Sea can do that. My tank is only like 4 months old. Corals have been in around a month and a half or so.

Maybe do an ammonia test (with a 4 month old tank) to verify nitrifying bacteria still intact.

jeffchapok · Jul 29, 2020

They are starving. Softies love dirty water. My PO4/NO3 runs .5/50 and my softies get huge.

Big_Mclargehuge · Jul 29, 2020

jeffchapok said:
They are starving. Softies love dirty water. My PO4/NO3 runs .5/50 and my softies get huge.

Thanks!

Big_Mclargehuge · Jul 29, 2020

Big_Mclargehuge said:
Thanks!

Suggestions on raising them?

PicassoClown04 · Jul 29, 2020

Feed heavier, and bump up your cuc or fish. I put some Xenia in a sps tank and it’s withering, however it’s doing great in my mixed reefs. They like a lot of nutrients so feed heavier and bump up your cuc to match. I suggest either another fish or a shrimp (Fire, blood, peppermint, skunk, etc) to help eat that left over food. You will see near immediate improvement (a week or less probably). Here’s my tank with a lot of my softies. As you can see, I’ve got three fish. I also have a fire shrimp and a large cuc with 10 large shelled snails, 15 hermits, and numerous stomatella snails. The picture of the Xenia are actually the ‘frags’ I have for sale, that’s how well my colony is doing. Definitely bump up your feeding and your softies will thank you!

Big_Mclargehuge · Jul 30, 2020

footgal said:
Feed heavier, and bump up your cuc or fish. I put some Xenia in a sps tank and it’s withering, however it’s doing great in my mixed reefs. They like a lot of nutrients so feed heavier and bump up your cuc to match. I suggest either another fish or a shrimp (Fire, blood, peppermint, skunk, etc) to help eat that left over food. You will see near immediate improvement (a week or less probably). Here’s my tank with a lot of my softies. As you can see, I’ve got three fish. I also have a fire shrimp and a large cuc with 10 large shelled snails, 15 hermits, and numerous stomatella snails. The picture of the Xenia are actually the ‘frags’ I have for sale, that’s how well my colony is doing. Definitely bump up your feeding and your softies will thank you!

Thanks! Your tank looks awesome btw. I have a pretty decent sized CUC but I definitely think i will add another fish and bump up my feeding. Thanks, again!