All corals are closed for long time in my friends tank!

[Likin]

Hello reefers,

after long time I forced myself to ask you about my friends tank problem. All his corals are closed ..., without any reason. He is who introduced me and my friend into this hobby. Now he is angry and thinking about ending this nice hobby, he doesn't speak English and I hope that we will find any solution here with this huge community.

He also started a small 30l nano with same water, and corals what was dying closed in his main tank, started live in the new 30l tank... Nobody could not tell why :O

Photo of typical state bellow.
Last ICP test is also bellow .

Tank details:
Age: 1,5 years
Tank size: 110x40x40 cm (170 liters)
Filtration: Sump (50 liters)
Skimmer: Tunze 9410 (freshly)
Absorbation media: None, only mechanical filtration
Light: MARS AQUA (blackbox) 300W running on Blue 40-50% and white for eye comfort..
Jet pumps: Jebao SOW8 + Jebao SOW4 (each side of tank)

Fishes:
1x Paracanthurus Hepatus
1x Centropyge bicolor
1x Centropyge eibli
1x Amphriphrion ocellaris
1x Acanthurus olivaceurs (juvel.)
1x Valencienna puelarris
1x Chresyptera hemicyanea
1x Escencius midas

If you need to know any additional data, ask me..

Have a nice day,
Likin

 

[Sharkbait19]

Which types are the closed ones? Just the leathers?
They are known to close up for long periods of time just because they feel like it. Try adjusting the flow or moving them somewhere else in the tank and see if they perk up. That worked for mine.
What are the nitrates? Too low can cause corals to close due to not enough nutrients.
Other thing to mention is that the angels could be picking on the coral. They are known to do that.

 

[Likin]

Which types are the closed ones? Just the leathers?
They are known to close up for long periods of time just because they feel like it. Try adjusting the flow or moving them somewhere else in the tank and see if they perk up. That worked for mine.
What are the nitrates? Too low can cause corals to close due to not enough nutrients.
Other thing to mention is that the angels could be picking on the coral. They are known to do that.

He tried to move all rocks, corals, etc. many times... still closed. Also tried to other flow, trying moving pumps, buying new pumps...

Closed are soft, leather, LPS, and SPS too ... Thats why i didnt wrote any category.

The corals are on same size for 1,5 years, no progress, they are not fully open...

Nitrates: 15
PO4: 0.05

 

[Sharkbait19]

How long have they been closed?
The only reason all should be closed is if there is something seriously out of place in params, temp, lighting, or flow. Most likely the first one.
Hard to tell without nitrogenous waste (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and salinity readings.

On a side note, is there an upgrade plan because those tangs will outgrow the tank fast?

 

[ChaosAquaculture]

What are the alkalinity, calcium, nitrates and phosphates? What is the lighting as well? - kali

 

[Likin]

How long have they been closed?
The only reason all should be closed is if there is something seriously out of place in params, temp, lighting, or flow. Most likely the first one.
Hard to tell without nitrogenous waste (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and salinity readings.

On a side note, is there an upgrade plan because those tangs will outgrow the tank fast?

Idk about upgrade, salinity is correct 34ppt ... How long closed? For an year...
All other measurement are above in main topic. He tried everything, light percentage change, etc..

 

[Likin]

What are the alkalinity, calcium, nitrates and phosphates? What is the lighting as well? - kali

Nitrates: 15
Calcium: 496
Phosphates: 0.05 (was 0.02 while doing ICP test)

It is possible that this China box what he bought before an year have bad LEDs from factory? (for ex. all royal blues are blues only.. ?)

 

[Sharkbait19]

Looks bigger than 45 gal...
I’m not good with lighting, so I won’t be of help there? Try increasing the whites a bit?
A year being closed would be enough to kill...
Those leathers are the only ones that look closed as far as I can see.
Everything else looks fine, just like less colorful morphs.
For corals to be closed for a year, something has to be horribly wrong, but nothing seems too off.

 

[Likin]

Looks bigger than 45 gal...
I’m not good with lighting, so I won’t be of help there? Try increasing the whites a bit?
A year being closed would be enough to kill...
Those leathers are the only ones that look closed as far as I can see.
Everything else looks fine, just like less colorful morphs.
For corals to be closed for a year, something has to be horribly wrong, but nothing seems too off.

Yeah, leathers are closed and the other coral looks different, when i put his coral into mine, the colors revert to normal. In his tank looks bleachy...

For example alien zoanthus.
Correct is the dark first photo, in his tank it looks like second photo... every coral not extended, bleached..



Same Euphilia:
great First (moved to other tank with same water), Bad second (main tank),

 

[Sharkbait19]

Zoa skirts change based on certain parameters, but I don’t think long or short is a sign of poor health.
Euphilia is definitely concerning. Based on the picture, and all params being in line, my guess is that the lighting is upsetting them. If that is the only thing that hasn’t changed as a problem solving test, it is worth a shot.

 

[Wasabiroot]

It is possible it is a combination of several factors. For a predominantly soft coral tank, the phosphate is quite low (while on its own not being a bad number, many of these corals prefer silty or nutrient rich waters). It could also be the angelfish-they are notorious coral nippers.