Xenia and gsp not opening up

ribek gurung · Oct 20, 2021

Hi i am new to this hobby. I ve recently introduced zoas, pulsing xenia and gsp to the tank.the gsp and pulsing xenia is not opening up however the zoas are doing fine. I ve noticed that my ph has lowered to 7.8. Is that the reason ?i have tried different light colours but they dont seem to open up. I will attach some pictures as well. TIA

vetteguy53081 · Oct 20, 2021

Both affected by lack of water flow as well as needed low level nitrate and iron in their water
Neither favor bright lighting also

kittenbritches · Oct 20, 2021

What are your water parameters right now? Despite growing like weeds, I've found them to be my canary in the coal mine when it comes to parameters being off.

James M · Oct 20, 2021

What do you mean by different light colors ?

reefz · Oct 20, 2021

You must not be doing something right when you cannot grow the two hardest to kill coral on earth. Flow?lighting?Peramiters?I'd go do some research on keeping coral.

PandorasChalk · Oct 20, 2021

I am new as well, and I found my xenia after arriving in the mail took 3-4 days to open and flourish. Put both down by the sand bed for now and wait, if what I have read sounds right. My zoas did fine out of the gate, but I'd start low then work up high on the gsp and the xenia.

ribek gurung · Oct 21, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Both affected by lack of water flow as well as needed low level nitrate and iron in their water
Neither favor bright lighting also

Its a 90l tank and i am running it on a canister filter and a wave maker as well. I dont think water flow is the issue. Nitrate is 0, ammonia 0.25 and phos 0.5

vetteguy53081 · Oct 21, 2021

ribek gurung said:
Its a 90l tank and i am running it on a canister filter and a wave maker as well. I dont think water flow is the issue. Nitrate is 0, ammonia 0.25 and phos 0.5

Phi’s slightly elevated and with canister nitrate will follow
What test kits are you using?

alton · Oct 21, 2021

Softies love pollution. 0 Nitrates is not good
And welcome to R2R

Uriken · Oct 21, 2021

The fact that you have 2 corals that are showing distress tells me there is a piece to the puzzle that is out of whack. I know my Xenia was flourishing then all of a sudden it looked like a small ball with tiny polyps. Looking at my water I found my alkalinity was down with everything else still hanging in there. I made an adjustment and all my corals woke up really nicely accept for the Xenia. I then started to do some careful watching of what may be going on in the tank and then realized the coral next to them easily could be stinging the Xenia. At this point I moved it to the sand bed to recover. I would recover your PH / Alkalinity with a water change just as one suggestion.

kittenbritches · Oct 21, 2021

Xenias are super sensitive to ammonia and love nitrates. Have you recently added any fish? Is your tank still cycling?

Despite xenia growing like crazy, they're not incredibly hardy.

Uzidaisies · Oct 21, 2021

The light may be an important factor here. What kind of light is on the tank? Also, if your detecting ammonia and no nitrates, I have to assume that the tank is not cycled. When did you set the tank up?

ribek gurung · Oct 21, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Phi’s slightly elevated and with canister nitrate will follow
What test kits are you using?

Ap

Uzidaisies said:
The light may be an important factor here. What kind of light is on the tank? Also, if your detecting ammonia and no nitrates, I have to assume that the tank is not cycled. When did you set the tank

Uzidaisies said:
The light may be an important factor here. What kind of light is on the tank? Also, if your detecting ammonia and no nitrates, I have to assume that the tank is not cycled. When did you set the tank up?

Hi mate. The tank has been setup for 3 months now. I had nitrates and nitrite before but since i added fish the nitrate and nitrite has decreased to 0.

vetteguy53081 · Oct 21, 2021

I asked about test kits as I suspected false readings which API is notorious for.
I would get a second opinion on water from a trusted LFS that does not use API kits for testing

ribek gurung · Oct 21, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
I asked about test kits as I suspected false readings which API is notorious for.
I would get a second opinion on water from a trusted LFS that does not use API kits for testing

vetteguy53081 said:

I asked about test kits as I suspected false readings which API is notorious for.
I would get a second opinion on water from a trusted LFS that does not use API kits for testing

Click to expand...

i use api except phosphate and alkalinity which i use selifert

ribek gurung · Oct 21, 2021

Uriken said:
The fact that you have 2 corals that are showing distress tells me there is a piece to the puzzle that is out of whack. I know my Xenia was flourishing then all of a sudden it looked like a small ball with tiny polyps. Looking at my water I found my alkalinity was down with everything else still hanging in there. I made an adjustment and all my corals woke up really nicely accept for the Xenia. I then started to do some careful watching of what may be going on in the tank and then realized the coral next to them easily could be stinging the Xenia. At this point I moved it to the sand bed to recover. I would recover your PH / Alkalinity with a water change just as one suggestion.

I ve ran a airline tube outside the house from the skimmer hoping to raise the ph.