What’s wrong with my coral!? | Plz help!

[LAA]

I recently purchased a few corals for my 20 gallon reef tank. One of them is a green acropora. I have had it for a little more than a week and at first it seemed to be doing great. But recently it has started to lose a lot of color and looks kinda pale. If anybody knows what wrong with it and how I can solve this issue please comment.

 

[Gtinnel]

I'm not sure that I would be able to help but some info on the tank would be beneficial. Age of tank and parameters especially.
IMO it doesn't look too great in the before picture either.

 

[Rmckoy]

not sure where you bought it from but it doesn’t look happy at all .

IMO moving frags is stressful on it’s own .
more often moving a unhappy frag will not end well .
How old is the tank ?
Parameters ?

 

[LAA]

The tank is gonna be a year old in October (currently 9 month)
salinity stays around 1.025
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
ammonia 0
ph 8.5
kh 12


When I was purchasing corals it looked pretty healthy at the store.
I purchased a hammer and green star polyps at same time an they are doing fine. also I have a zoa in the tank which is beginning to spread more rapidly.
for fish I have 2 clowns and 5 mollies
2 blue leg hermits
1 astrea snail
1 trochus snail
1 peppermint shrimp
2 nassarius snails

 

[Rmckoy]

The tank is gonna be a year old in October (currently 9 month)
salinity stays around 1.025
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
ammonia 0
ph 8.5
kh 12


When I was purchasing corals it looked pretty healthy at the store.
I purchased a hammer and green star polyps at same time an they are doing fine. also I have a zoa in the tank which is beginning to spread more rapidly.
for fish I have 2 clowns and 5 mollies
2 blue leg hermits
1 astrea snail
1 trochus snail
1 peppermint shrimp
2 nassarius snails

What test kits are you testing with?

you want to increase nitrates or confirm zero to be correct

 

[Rmckoy]

Alk , phosphates ?
Is alk stable ?

 

[LAA]

Alk is stable.
yes the nitrates are at 0
i am using api test kit Along with

Salifert Carbonate Hardness & Alkalinity (Kh/Alk) Test Kit​

 

[Rmckoy]

Alk is stable.
yes the nitrates are at 0
i am using api test kit Along with

Salifert Carbonate Hardness & Alkalinity (Kh/Alk) Test Kit​

Feed more .
increase nitrates a little .
You might want to confirm tests as api can be inaccurate .

 

[LAA]

Yes nitrates are at 0
alk is stable
I am using the following test kits

Salifert Carbonate Hardness & Alkalinity (Kh/Alk) Test Kit along with API test kit for nitrate, nitrit, etc.​

 

[Jekyl]

Alk is stable.
yes the nitrates are at 0
i am using api test kit Along with

Salifert Carbonate Hardness & Alkalinity (Kh/Alk) Test Kit​

Nitrate being 0 is a problem. Also need to know phosphate, calcium and magnesium. Alk is high.

 

[LAA]

Feed more .
increase nitrates a little .
You might want to confirm tests as api can be inaccurate .

Okay. Thank you.

 

[LAA]

Nitrate being 0 is a problem. Also need to know phosphate, calcium and magnesium. Alk is high.

Ik the alk is high but It is stable.
I am not sure of the calcium, phosphate and magnesium levels. How would I test this?

 

[Jekyl]

Ik the alk is high but It is stable.
I am not sure of the calcium, phosphate and magnesium levels. How would I test this?

Salifert tests for each is how I do it.

 

[LAA]

What would appropriate levels for those be?
also I don’t have a skimmer on this tank because I read that small tanks didn’t need them. Would adding one help with this or no?

 

[olonmv]

What light are you using?

 

[LAA]

What light are you using?

Wills aquarium light

 

[Rmckoy]

What would appropriate levels for those be?
also I don’t have a skimmer on this tank because I read that small tanks didn’t need them. Would adding one help with this or no?

a skimmer will help oxygenate , remove organics . But I have also read many people can have a successful system without a skimmer .

 

[Jekyl]

I keep my levels at:
Alk 8-9
Nitrate 10
Phosphate .1
Calcium 420
Mag high 1300s

 

[Jekyl]

What settings are you running the black box light at?

 

[BoxKing]

Agree, increase nitrates.. SLOWLY. Would be good to know your NO4 as well - I assume they’re prolly low like your NO3. DKH seems very high, especially with untraceable nutrients.

How did you get to 12DKH? If by water changes only, then I’d assume your CAL is in the mid 500’s, MAG prolly close to 1500. This is due to your salt.

Stable parameters vary per tank inhabitants, and how many of each variety of corals.
Either way… here is a little baseline:
NO3 5ppm-10ppm
NO4 ,03-.1
PH 8-8.3
Salinity 35ppm
CAL 430
DKH 8.5

What lights are you using? High PAR levels with no nutrients will starve your SPS, as will being too low in PAR levels.