Corals not taking off, receeding

[Erik the Red]

Hi,
Ive been having my reef tank for about 1 year now. It’s not my first reef ever.
I have chosen only “easy” corals: green seriatopora hystrix, green montipora capricornis, montipora digitata, torch, hammer, frogspawn, zoas, stylophora pistillata, blastomussa wellsi, a goniopora and a plexaura flexuosa.
Other than that, there’s a pair of ocellaris, 5 turbo snails and 2 lysmata amboinensis
I’ve never experienced normal coral growth in the tank…all my corals have been struggling. For this reason, in the last i decided to start feeding more the fishes and use AB+ once in a while. As a results, some of the corals are doing better (blastomussa welssi, zoas, plexaura, goniopora, hammer and torch) while others are really struggling (sps started bleaching from the base, frogspawn is closed most of the time).

I don’t know how to fix this!All my values looks somehow OK, apart from Phosphates that are low:

No3 7.3
po4 0
Mg 1290
Ca 385
Alk 7.5 (0.5 lower each 7 days)
PH 8.0

I keep feeding, but most sps are practically gone and actually also all other corals have never really taken off so far…
i think i am already putting lots of nutrients in the tank, but can’t get those no3 and po4 to raise!
What am i doing wrong?!

i have a small tunze 9001 and prime 16 running BRS AB+ schedule at 70%

 

[Doctorgori]

edge burn on monti’s is sometimes low alk….
just one opinion but I run my tanks a lil higher just to be safe….
alk 8.5 CA 425 ish mg 1300 PO .5 nitrate under 20
added… get a accurate po reading …tank could be hungry

 

[Erik the Red]

edge burn on monti’s is sometimes low alk….
just one opinion but I run my tanks a lil higher just to be safe….
alk 8.5 CA 425 ish mg 1300 PO .5 nitrate under 20
added… get a accurate po reading …tank could be hungry

Thanks Doctorgori, how do I safely satisfy the corals appetite? Should i feed AB+ daily?

I’m ordering the hanna po4 checker today

 

[dk2nt9]

I would start with keeping PO4 at 0.03 ppm, see Reef Chemistry section here about this. I am dosing Brightwell NeoPhos, there are other options too. Not just dose and leave, but check later if it's still there.

Next, possibility of too big alkalinity fluctuations, as with doing large water changes with high alkalinity salt mix.

If there is a lack of organics in the water column, add some feeding like phytoplankton for increasing biodiversity (as a start for a food chain), amino acids like TLF AcroPower or any other, a little of powdered food for small polyped corals, TLF GoniPower for goniopora and mouth sized food for LPS 1-2 times a week. For LPS this helps to recover almost gone corals.

With zero nitrates and bleaching, maybe lower light with more blue for a time being.

See if flow is not too direct. Run carbon, just in case. Also there are bacterial formulations as Dr. Tim's for restoring balance in the tank, if wrong kinds of bacteria took over.

 

[Erik the Red]

I would start with keeping PO4 at 0.03 ppm, see Reef Chemistry section here about this. I am dosing Brightwell NeoPhos, there are other options too. Not just dose and leave, but check later if it's still there.

Next, possibility of too big alkalinity fluctuations, as with doing large water changes with high alkalinity salt mix.

If there is a lack of organics in the water column, add some feeding like phytoplankton for increasing biodiversity (as a start for a food chain), amino acids like TLF AcroPower or any other, a little of powdered food for small polyped corals, TLF GoniPower for goniopora and mouth sized food for LPS 1-2 times a week. For LPS this helps to recover almost gone corals.

With zero nitrates and bleaching, maybe lower light with more blue for a time being.

See if flow is not too direct. Run carbon, just in case. Also there are bacterial formulations as Dr. Tim's for restoring balance in the tank, if wrong kinds of bacteria took over.

I’ve just ordered Nyos Phosphate+ to raise PO4, and I have a bottle of DSR 2xNO3+ to start dosing NO3 when needed. (even though NO3 are at a good level right now).

Alk is pretty stable as corals are not growing
I use Red Sea Salt

those are the products i use to feed in the water column

Flow is not direct, pumps are on the 1\3 top of the column facing each other, slightly misaligned on both axis. Reef crest anti-synch. Create a nice gently flow on bottom and a bit more rough on top, but never direct to corals.

i lowered the whites and UV channels to give some breath to the corals.

i hope the Nyos PHOSPHATE+ arrives within a week, as there’s nothing available locally, here.