Elegance coral help

drmantistoboggan · Oct 24, 2020

Hi everyone,

Purchased an elegance coral two weeks ago. I haven’t been able to get it to fully open in my tank. Last week I moved it to a more low flow area. It seems a little happier but still not opening. Any ideas or thoughts?

Blumy · Oct 24, 2020

Place it in the entrance to a cave if you have one. They prefer low light and flow. Mine has the shade of the cave just touching the back of it. Highly diffused light where it is at, not direct at all. Growing like a champ there.

esther · Oct 24, 2020

drmantistoboggan said:
Hi everyone,

Purchased an elegance coral two weeks ago. I haven’t been able to get it to fully open in my tank. Last week I moved it to a more low flow area. It seems a little happier but still not opening. Any ideas or thoughts?

What are your water parameters? Also, low flow and indirect light work great for our elegance. We have ours on the sand as well.

drmantistoboggan · Oct 24, 2020

He’s in a lower flow area of the tank now.

Ph is between 7.85 and 8.05 each day according to apex
Temp 78
Nitrate 4.0 ppm (slowly bringing down with NoPOX)
Phosphate 0.

I do not have readings for calcium, magnesium or alkalinity, buying those test kits tomorrow. The tank has been lightly stocked so figured water changes were taking care of it.

esther · Oct 24, 2020

drmantistoboggan said:
He’s in a lower flow area of the tank now.

Ph is between 7.85 and 8.05 each day according to apex
Temp 78
Nitrate 4.0 ppm (slowly bringing down with NoPOX)
Phosphate 0.

I do not have readings for calcium, magnesium or alkalinity, buying those test kits tomorrow. The tank has been lightly stocked so figured water changes were taking care of it.

pH seems a little low. We run our tank between 8.10 and 8.35.

drmantistoboggan · Oct 24, 2020

Blumy said:
Place it in the entrance to a cave if you have one. They prefer low light and flow. Mine has the shade of the cave just touching the back of it. Highly diffused light where it is at, not direct at all. Growing like a champ there.

Does it touch the liverock with yours? I read that touching the rock could hurt it. Mines on the very corner of my 4 foot tank. I have an AP700 in the middle of the tank. Par in that spot is about 65-70

esther · Oct 24, 2020

drmantistoboggan said:
Does it touch the liverock with yours? I read that touching the rock could hurt it. Mines on the very corner of my 4 foot tank. I have an AP700 in the middle of the tank. Par in that spot is about 65-70

Yes. It's up against live rock. No issues there. We've had it over a month now and it's growing.

drmantistoboggan · Oct 24, 2020

esther said:
pH seems a little low. We run our tank between 8.10 and 8.35.

It’s a little low but I’ve read chasing ph can be more detrimental. I’m slowly increasing NoPOX in my tank which has been raising the ph as well

esther · Oct 24, 2020

drmantistoboggan said:
It’s a little low but I’ve read chasing ph can be more detrimental. I’m slowly increasing NoPOX in my tank which has been raising the ph as well

We don't chase pH either. It just is what it is in our tank. Be careful with NOPOX. Doesn't seem like you need it with your parameters. Just curious why you're dosing it. Having 4ppm of Nitrate's isn't bad. Bottoming out on Nitrates with 0 PO4 can be sooooooo much worse.

ScottR · Oct 24, 2020

drmantistoboggan said:
He’s in a lower flow area of the tank now.

Ph is between 7.85 and 8.05 each day according to apex
Temp 78
Nitrate 4.0 ppm (slowly bringing down with NoPOX)
Phosphate 0.

I do not have readings for calcium, magnesium or alkalinity, buying those test kits tomorrow. The tank has been lightly stocked so figured water changes were taking care of it.

PO4 is at zero. Which test kit do you use? Corals need PO4. How many fish do you have and how do you feed?

drmantistoboggan · Oct 24, 2020

So all these tests are with Red Sea kits or my apex. I had nitrates at 16 and then started dosing NoPOX. It’s at 4 now I’m shooting for 2 by adjusting dose 0.5 ml each week.

I feed twice a day, morning is pellets and flakes. Evenings I give a cube of frozen on rotation between mysis, bloodworms and krill. I soak the cube in selcon. I also feed the tank goniopower twice a week due to having a goniopora in the tank.

Tank stock: 80 gallon tank

Foxface,
Kole tang
3 red fairy wrasse
Coral beauty angel
Marine betta
Maroon clownfish.

drmantistoboggan · Oct 24, 2020

Also nori on a clip each morning

Jrod381 · Oct 24, 2020

Leave your nitrate where it’s at maintain between o-10ppm, ph is a little on the low side but you really want stability with all parameters more than a number. Elegance like low flow, they can adapt more light with time. Curious to know about your other parameters cal, alk and mag

drmantistoboggan · Oct 24, 2020

I’ll post those up tomorrow evening after I buy the test kits! At this point is it better to just leave it as is or should I move it under the cave a bit?

Jrod381 said:
Leave your nitrate where it’s at maintain between o-10ppm, ph is a little on the low side but you really want stability with all parameters more than a number. Elegance like low flow, they can adapt more light with time. Curious to know about your other parameters cal, alk and mag

sfairtx · Oct 24, 2020

Your nitrates are fine at 4. Could be the Nopox. That stuff can be tough.

Jrod381 · Oct 24, 2020

Yes stop dosing nopox for now, and move the elegance near a more shaded area but you need to test your other parameters. Also check your salinity sometimes we look at it other numbers and forget about salinity

drmantistoboggan · Oct 24, 2020

Jrod381 said:
Yes stop dosing nopox for now, and move the elegance near a more shaded area but you need to test your other parameters. Also check your salinity sometimes we look at it other numbers and forget about salinity

Salinity is 1.024.

Not going to “stop dosing NoPOX” that’s actually really bad for a tank to suddenly stop carbon dosing. I’ll stop Chasing 2.0 and hold study at the dose I’m at though.

I’ll push the elegance back closer to that cave behind it though! Thank you everyone!

sfin52 · Oct 24, 2020

drmantistoboggan said:
Salinity is 1.024.

Not going to “stop dosing NoPOX” that’s actually really bad for a tank to suddenly stop carbon dosing. I’ll stop Chasing 2.0 and hold study at the dose I’m at though.

I’ll push the elegance back closer to that cave behind it though! Thank you everyone!

I agree your tank is addicted to the nopox. I would slowly raise the nitrates to 10 and the phosphates need to be above zero.
Zero is asking for a dino bloom.
Zooenthelly is an algea and it needs both po4 and no3 for photosynthesis.

I agree that chasing ph will cause harm as well. Stable stable is what coal wants. Lower ph will slow coral growth

Whats the alk and calcium

Blumy · Oct 24, 2020

drmantistoboggan said:
Does it touch the liverock with yours? I read that touching the rock could hurt it. Mines on the very corner of my 4 foot tank. I have an AP700 in the middle of the tank. Par in that spot is about 65-70

Directly no but when extended it does. Regarding the cave entrance, it is somewhat shielded from the gyre flow and the light hitting it is not direct. Being a low flow area, it tends to be “dirtier” there and from what I understand, elegance’s like that.

drmantistoboggan · Oct 25, 2020

Alright everyone, so I have numbers for you.

Salinity was 1.024
Temp 78.7
Ph 7.94
Nitrate 4-5 ppm
All 6.72
Ca 440
Mag 1360

The magnesium seems to be the most off. Would this be affecting the coral and what is the best way for me to raise mag? I have some B-ionic 2 part I’ve never used before. Could start dosing that