Struggling with Coral

[Mike_1]

Hello,

I've been struggling with a few of my coral and I was hoping you guys could tell me if it's placement, lighting, or something else.
My torch is completely sucked in and has been for over a week, my Duncan is as well and has been that way for a week or two and my tube coral just retracted the other day.

Xenia/GSP/Zoa all seem fine and fish are all doing well. My parameters are:
Salinity 1.024
Alk 9.6 Hanna tester
Calcium 440 api
Ammonia 0 api
Nitrite 0 api
Nitrate 10 api
Phosphate.25 salifert
Temp is set to 78
I do water changes weekly. Water is R/O. Any help or advice is appreciated.

 

[WWC Verified Sponsor]

Hello Mike,

Parameter wise the Phosphate being at .25 is high we would like to see that no higher then .10. What kind of flow is the torch and Duncan getting?

 

[Mike_1]

I'm not sure how to bring the phosphate down more I'm running Phosguard. Maybe I'm overfeeding? I do half. Mysis cube a day for 2 clowns, a bengaii, royal Gramma, and 2 firefish.

If I'm overfeeding it's probably the 3 peppermint shrimp and six blue crabs. I do 3-4 pellets a day of api bottom feeder.

I'm not sure how to measure flow. The torch is near my larger wave maker and seems to have decent flow. Duncan on the rocks doesn't seem to have as much.

The tube coral I just.moved today to that spot and it looks like the tubes are slightly raised which seems like good news.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Duncan likes lower light. Mine can take pretty heavy flow. Best I can say is try a lower light area. You’re tank is looking great. You’re on the right track. Keep playing with light and flow by placement but otherwise hold the course and be patient.

This Duncan is getting a good amount of light (enough for SPS) with high flow.

This Duncan is buried in a cave and gets low flow. It spreads out a little more than the other.

 

[medi]

That doesn't sound like you're overfeeding to me. How big and how old is the system? When was the last time you changed filters in your RO, and have you checked the TDS recently?

 

[WWC Verified Sponsor]

I'm not sure how to bring the phosphate down more I'm running Phosguard. Maybe I'm overfeeding? I do half. Mysis cube a day for 2 clowns, a bengaii, royal Gramma, and 2 firefish.

If I'm overfeeding it's probably the 3 peppermint shrimp and six blue crabs. I do 3-4 pellets a day of api bottom feeder.

I'm not sure how to measure flow. The torch is near my larger wave maker and seems to have decent flow. Duncan on the rocks doesn't seem to have as much.

The tube coral I just.moved today to that spot and it looks like the tubes are slightly raised which seems like good news.

Mike when was the last water change you did? and what percentage of water are you removing?

 

[Mike_1]

45gallon about 11 months?

Ro was coming from lfs but I just got a RO
system about a month ago

 

[Mike_1]

I do water changes weekly and 5-10 gallons

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

.25 phosphate usually means an API test, right? Its not sufficient. It measures from 0 to .25, but we keep our phosphate around/below .1, which cant be read on the API test.

 

[Mike_1]

I do water changes weekly and 5-10 gallons

.25 phosphate usually means an API test, right? Its not sufficient. It measures from 0 to .25, but we keep our phosphate around/below .1, which cant be read on the API test.

Salifert test.

 

[adsf430]

I wouldn't feed the bottom feeders and just feed a full cube of mysis. Mysis is mostly water and will dirty the tank much less than uneaten pellets, the bottom feeders will also eat the fish waste. What's your PH? I've found most issues arise when PH not being kept always above 8. do you regularly check alkalinity? It's fluctuates absorption based on your PH swings.

 

[Mike_1]

I wouldn't feed the bottom feeders and just feed a full cube of mysis. Mysis is mostly water and will dirty the tank much less than uneaten pellets, the bottom feeders will also eat the fish waste. What's your PH? I've found most issues arise when PH not being kept always above 8. do you regularly check alkalinity? It's fluctuates absorption based on your PH swings.

I'm doing weekly alk tests. It stays between 9-10.

I can stop feeding the bottom feeders. My oh today was 8.4 but I don't usually check that tbh.

 

[adsf430]

I'm doing weekly alk tests. It stays between 9-10.

I can stop feeding the bottom feeders. My oh today was 8.4 but I don't usually check that tbh.

Notice you didn't write your Magnesium above, do you know it? I'd check Alk daily but doesn't seem to be the issue.

 

[Mike_1]

Notice you didn't write your Magnesium above, do you know it? I'd check Alk daily but doesn't seem to be the issue.

I don't. I use reef complete for calcium which has mag but I don't own a mag tester. Should I get one?

 

[adsf430]

I don't. I use reef complete for calcium which has mag but I don't own a mag tester. Should I get one?

Yes, my first tank crash when I started reefing was from very low magnesium. That could definitely be your issue.

 

[Mike_1]

Yes, my first tank crash when I started reefing was from very low magnesium. That could definitely be your issue.

Ordered and Will be here Friday. I also moved the Duncan's to see if that helps at all.

 

[Mike_1]

Duncan likes lower light. Mine can take pretty heavy flow. Best I can say is try a lower light area. You’re tank is looking great. You’re on the right track. Keep playing with light and flow by placement but otherwise hold the course and be patient.

This Duncan is getting a good amount of light (enough for SPS) with high flow.

This Duncan is buried in a cave and gets low flow. It spreads out a little more than the other.

I moved both Duncan's one under the rocks in a tiny cave area and one off to the side. The one in the tiny cave area is already opening back up so that's super exciting! Thanks for that advice. I actually moved a few coral around based on what I was reading but now that I've done that I'm going to leave everything alone for a bit and see how they are doing.

 

[Mike_1]

Dunno if anyone will see this but after testing this morning it appears my mag is 750. The test says natural seawater is 1280, so what can I use to bring that up safely??

 

[Lavey29]

I

Dunno if anyone will see this but after testing this morning it appears my mag is 750. The test says natural seawater is 1280, so what can I use to bring that up safely??

If you are doing weekly water changes I doubt your magnesium is 750. Get a second opinion test done. Mag does not deplete much at all week to week.

 

[Mike_1]

I

If you are doing weekly water changes I doubt your magnesium is 750. Get a second opinion test done. Mag does not deplete much at all week to week.

I'll redo it here In a minute. Yesterday I did about 8 gallons while I cleaned everything.

I

If you are doing weekly water changes I doubt your magnesium is 750. Get a second opinion test done. Mag does not deplete much at all week to week.