Why can’t I keep certain corals?

[Webbinator]

Looking to see if I might be able to get some advice on where I might be going wrong with my tank. Started out with an Evo 13.5 about 18 months ago. Afer having that up and running for about 13 months I broke it down and upsized to an IM 30 long setup. With both tanks I've struggled to keep several popular and supposedly easy corals alive and thriving. I seem to have problems with torches, duncans, and acans for some reason. They all do ok for a couple of months and then start to decline and then just die off. Also I have frogspawn, hammers, mushrooms, leathers, a chalice of some sort, and even some basic sps that all do fine. They are thriving and growing well. My LT nem is doing awesome. I keep my parameters as follows: Alk 8.6 / Cal 430 / Mag 1350 / Phos .05 - .07 / No3 10 / SG 1.026 / temp. 78. Dosing Alk and Calcium with dosers to keep those stable. I'm also running 2 Prime HD lights approx 10" off surface using Pirates of Caribbean at roughly 60% with 0 whites. I run 2 Jabao sow4 wave makers on medium flow and also run a skimmer. Does anything jump out that could be an issue? Thanks!

 

[Flippers4pups]

What's your source water?

 

[Mical]

The corals you seem to be having problems with IMO are the ones that require more direct feeding (not broadcast fed). I've had the same issues with torches & duncans

 

[W1ngz]

Gonna go with flippers on this one, maybe the source water. Everything you've listed looks good and long as its stable. The only other thing I can think is flow, the three you mention aren't fans of strong flow in my experience.

 

[Webbinator]

Gonna go with flippers on this one, maybe the source water. Everything you've listed looks good and long as its stable. The only other thing I can think is flow, the three you mention aren't fans of strong flow in my experience.

I produce my own RODI always at 0 tds.

 

[Silverfish]

Mixed reefs r difficult bc all the corals hv very specific needs. Whether it’s flow or lighting, it’s very diffucult to dial it in for all your denizens.

 

[Webbinator]

Gonna go with flippers on this one, maybe the source water. Everything you've listed looks good and long as its stable. The only other thing I can think is flow, the three you mention aren't fans of strong flow in my experience.

Also have always placed Acans and Duncan’s on sandbed in lower flow and medium light. Torches I’ve placed in a little higher flow but basically medium light.

 

[Webbinator]

This was my most recent Duncan attempt. It looked and acted awesome for several weeks then just started to decline. It looks nothing like this now and barely opens up. It was originally around 6 heads but only two seem to still be alive now.

 

[W1ngz]

What's your fish and invert population like? Any coral nippers?

 

[CuzzA]

You need to feed them. I feed my LPS corals almost daily. Reef Roid sludge, chunks of fish or clam, CoralAmino.

Each acan head gets fed. They will eat small chunks of fish. Hell, my zoas and palys eat chunks of fish.

Start feeding your corals and the growth and reproduction will take off.

 

[Silverfish]

I agree with Cuz but make sure you pay attention to your nitrates and phos. The extra food will make it go up for sure. I’m constantly trying to figure out what is enough and what is to much. To find that perfect balance btw healthy coral and correct parameters.

 

[Webbinator]

What's your fish and invert population like? Any coral nippers?

No nipping fish. The only thing that might even mess with them would be my cleaner shrimp and I never see it near them.

 

[Webbinator]

You need to feed them. I feed my LPS corals almost daily. Reef Roid sludge, chunks of fish or clam, CoralAmino.

Each acan head gets fed. They will eat small chunks of fish. Hell, my zoas and palys eat chunks of fish.

Start feeding your corals and the growth and reproduction will take off.

Maybe that’s where I’ve been going wrong since I had only been spot feeding once a week at best.