Corals not extending all the way

[Chris H Reef]

Hey all,

I recently put a Xenia and gsp in my reef tank. The tank is only about 3.5 months old but I wanted to try a couple “easy” corals.

The Xenia and gsp are not extending out as far as they did when I bought them about 2 weeks ago.

Is this due to the lights being too strong or weak or is a water quality thing?

I’ve also been experiencing diatom algae since putting the corals in. Maybe that’s it?

Perimeters:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Sal 1.025
Alk 9

 

[Uncle99]

What’s phosphate?
Softies love some phosphate?

Do those levels posted change throughout the day, or remain consistent?

 

[Chris H Reef]

What’s phosphate?
Softies love some phosphate?

Do those levels posted change throughout the day, or remain consistent?

Unfortunately, I don’t have a phosphate checker.

Yes those levels remain fairly consistent. If anything ph may flux but only a bit from about 8.0-8.2.

 

[TheGrimReeferTx]

Could be a couple of things. What par are they at?

I think it could be a phosphate issue, or a like of bio diversity could be contributing.

 

[Chris H Reef]

Could be a couple of things. What par are they at?

I think it could be a phosphate issue, or a like of bio diversity could be contributing.

I don’t have a read on par but my lights are running at 55% blues and 30% white for about 9 hours.

 

[Uncle99]

Unfortunately, I don’t have a phosphate checker.

Yes those levels remain fairly consistent. If anything ph may flux but only a bit from about 8.0-8.2.

Need that, IMM, trace phosphate a must.
I can only measure this one parameter with a Hanna Checker.

 

[Chris H Reef]

Need that, IMM, trace phosphate a must.
I can only measure this one parameter with a Hanna Checker.

I’ll look into the Hanna checker.

Depending on what my levels are how would I go about either raising or lowering phosphates?

 

[williamCreery]

I wouldn’t worry. But just do some water changes every 2 days.

Small water changes! Keep an eye on the polyp extension. If it improves.. you’ll know either 1 of the 2 things, something leaching in your water? Metals, etc

Or parameters were incorrect somewhere, but by then once it’s fixed your IP water test result would have been emailed lol

 

[Uncle99]

I’ll look into the Hanna checker.

Depending on what my levels are how would I go about either raising or lowering phosphates?

Me, I just use brightwell neo-phos to bump phosphate from time to time.

Some mix their own but I am a lousy mixer, I just want to open and pour.

It’s hard at 3.5 months to maintain corals, systems are many times unstable still at this point.

Whether or not phosphate is a contributor, at the end of the day, it needs to be available at all times, say 0.05-.1ppm in new setups, maybe .2-.3ppm in matured systems.

Adding pods, bacteria, and feeding phyto aids diversity which in turn, feeds corals.