GSPs not opening

[Espawna]

I purchased a colony of GSPs and a frag of zoas two weeks ago and they still have yet to open. I have a 28 gallon JBJ nano cube I recently inherited with the stock hood. After a week of them not opening I took my water to be tested at the LFS, everything was good except high SG around 1.027. I bought some salifert test kits to test more parameters. And added fresh RO to drop the salinity.

Temp:78F
Ph:8.15
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate : 0
Alkalinity :9.3
Calcium:380
Magnesium: 1350
Specific gravity: 1.025


I decided to upgrade my light fixture to an ai prime LED since I figured that might be the issue as well as added a new power head for more flow. Still not opening. My zoas turned translucent so I figured there was no saving them. My GSPs still look purple and have a little algae on them in some places but haven't opened at all. Is there a way to know if they're dead? I figure they might need some time to adjust to the new light as well. But figured the blue light would help.

 

[mdrieder]

My GSP would always close up tight if my nutrients were at 0-0,
also they are quite hard to kill, and may open up after months of being closed.

 

[Espawna]

My GSP would always close up tight if my nutrients were at 0-0,
also they are quite hard to kill, and may open up after months of being closed.

Is it possible for my water to be too clean? I've been doing 20% water changes every weekend because I thought that would help. It's probably why my nitrates are so low. I've been dosing with coral food I got from the LFS.

 

[mdrieder]

It all depends on what test your getting these results from. If the test has a low enough range to show .01 phos and 1 ppm nitrate then yes I'd be concerned about that, dually so if your not using carbon dosing or some other ULN system tools. Corals need it, just in the right quantity.

 

[Espawna]

It all depends on what test your getting these results from. If the test has a low enough range to show .01 phos and 1 ppm nitrate then yes I'd be concerned about that, dually so if your not using carbon dosing or some other ULN system tools. Corals need it, just in the right quantity.

I suppose the best thing to do then is just wait for my nitrates and phosphates to go up and hold off on water changes? I've only been dosing with coral nutrition plus from red sea to hopefully keep them alive. At what point can I tell if there's no coming back for them? I figured them and the zoas were relatively resilient.

 

[Uncle99]

If your tests are correct, no coral will thrive in zero nutrients water.
If your certain your levels are zero, (that’s a bit hard to believe in nitrate) you can put them in the range by using Brightwell NeoNitro and Neophos.
As an example, my corals are removing 7ppb phosphorus every day so I dose daily up to 24ppb which is about 0.06ppm.

 

[Espawna]

If your tests are correct, no coral will thrive in zero nutrients water.
If your certain your levels are zero, (that’s a bit hard to believe in nitrate) you can put them in the range by using Brightwell NeoNitro and Neophos.
As an example, my corals are removing 7ppb phosphorus every day so I dose daily up to 24ppb which is about 0.06ppm.

I retested my nitrates with salifert test kit last night and there are nitrates in it (it was a very pale pink color, not completely white) but it was still pretty low. I'm running a canister filter which I've heard are 'nitrate factories' but I clean it weekly. I think I'll just continue feeding fish etc and monitor nutrient levels. I'm just worried they are going to die out since they haven't opened.

 

[Uncle99]

That sounds right on nitrate.
I tried the more food thing, nitrate went up, phosphate stayed at 0.02-0.03ppm.
After dosing phosphorus to 0.06-.1ppm everything opened and extended.

 

[MaxTremors]

One thing I have found with GSP is that after being moved they sometimes won’t open back up until you thoroughly clean them off. Take a turkey baster and give a good cleaning. You’ll be surprised how much detritus will come off it. Everytime I’ve gotten a new frag of gsp and it wouldn’t open (and all of my parameters were within an acceptable range), giving it a good cleaning has usually made them start opening in a day or two (it will slowly open over a week or so, more and more polyps will open each day until it’s fully open). There’s nothing about your parameters (except the salinity, which you’ve fixed) that would suggest to me that GSP wouldn’t do well, they sometimes just need time and a good cleaning.

Also, the stock Nanocube lighting is fine for GSP and Zoas (though if its the old PC hood, and its been sitting for a long time, you might want to change the bulbs).

 

[Espawna]

So my first two GSPs didn't make it. After 3 weeks of not opening I tried to clean them and the leathery part basically just fell apart. I've since gone to my LFS store, had my water tested which they've indicated is all good except for my calcium which is 500+ I've added another GSP frag about a week ago to see how it would do. Still not opening. I've used a baster to blow off detritus and it's still closed. My fish and inverts are all doing well, I'm at my wits end. Any advice? LFS said wait until my calcium lowers with water changes. I'm using reef crystals and think maybe it has to do with that?

 

[Fernthereefer]

In my experience, gsp are the best indicators of low PO4 and nitrates. I would either feed more or directly dose. Personnaly, I dose

 

[Espawna]

In my experience, gsp are the best indicators of low PO4 and nitrates. I would either feed more or directly dose. Personnaly, I dose

What range should I look for for po4 and nitrates?

 

[Fernthereefer]

What range should I look for for po4 and nitrates?

Anything above 0, it may sound trivial, but as soon as I got detectable levels, my gsp came out again.

 

[MaxTremors]

If you’re doing a soft coral only tank, I’d shoot for 10-20ppm for nitrates and 0.08-0.1ppm, for a mixed reef, 5-10ppm for nitrates and 0.05-0.08 for phosphates, and for an SPS dominant reef, 1-3ppm for nitrates and 0.01-0.03 for phosphates. Obviously, these are all ideal ranges, but IMO, as long as it’s in an acceptable range (below 30ppm for nitrates and 0.15 for phosphates, but above zero for both), so long as everything looks healthy I would go too crazy trying to chase numbers, stability is far more important.

 

[Espawna]

If you’re doing a soft coral only tank, I’d shoot for 10-20ppm for nitrates and 0.08-0.1ppm, for a mixed reef, 5-10ppm for nitrates and 0.05-0.08 for phosphates, and for an SPS dominant reef, 1-3ppm for nitrates and 0.01-0.03 for phosphates. Obviously, these are all ideal ranges, but IMO, as long as it’s in an acceptable range (below 30ppm for nitrates and 0.15 for phosphates, but above zero for both), so long as everything looks healthy I would go too crazy trying to chase numbers, stability is far more important.

I think I'll try dosing nitrate in small doses and testing to see if I can get the gsp to open up. The LFS did mention my water looked clean, I'm guessing they meant low nitrate and phosphate. When I've tested it both have been low. I've upped my feeding too but they still haven't opened. Last time I tested nitrate was at 3ppm.

 

[Dark_Knightt]

You're nutrients and pH are low.