Help, corals closing up

[Todd31]

how big is the tank and how many fish? Do you have much algae growth?

 

[Natashamarie]

how big is the tank and how many fish? Do you have much algae growth?

29 gallon, 2 clownfish, firefish, randall goby, fireshrimp, serpent sea star, and a few snails. I struggled with red slime, it's gotten better over time.

 

[Todd31]

hmm. OK... well flow, light, water quality, and pests/nippers. thats a starting checklist.

sounds like you are good with flow since you said they arent getting blasted and were just waving when they looked good. they like low flow.

with the lights.. im not familiar with the SB lights so im not sure with those settings if you are throwing a lot or a little light. If you're throwing a lot of light, the 13 1/2 photo period might be a bit long. hopefully someone with your lights can chime in on that. they'll need to know how high above the waterline the lights are.

water quality... well with 0 nitrates some people might wonder if your tank is actually too clean and corals may be starving. But if you're feeding 4 fish in a 29 gallon i wouldnt guess that the low nitrate is the issue. It would be a good idea to know what your Calcium/Alkalinity/Magnesium levels are to make sure they are good. Is the water you are using RODI? Sometimes tap water can throw contaminants into the water that corals wouldnt like.

Those fish shouldnt be an issue with irritating the corals. I think youre fine on that front.

I think what i would do is try to find out if youre throwing lots of light. Those corals should be good with low to medium light. If the corals are getting a lot of light than maybe reduce the light period a little. Then test Alk/Mg .... Curious on the source water too... RODI/tap?

 

[Natashamarie]

I

hmm. OK... well flow, light, water quality, and pests/nippers. thats a starting checklist.

sounds like you are good with flow since you said they arent getting blasted and were just waving when they looked good. they like low flow.

with the lights.. im not familiar with the SB lights so im not sure with those settings if you are throwing a lot or a little light. If you're throwing a lot of light, the 13 1/2 photo period might be a bit long. hopefully someone with your lights can chime in on that. they'll need to know how high above the waterline the lights are.

water quality... well with 0 nitrates some people might wonder if your tank is actually too clean and corals may be starving. But if you're feeding 4 fish in a 29 gallon i wouldnt guess that the low nitrate is the issue. It would be a good idea to know what your Calcium/Alkalinity/Magnesium levels are to make sure they are good. Is the water you are using RODI? Sometimes tap water can throw contaminants into the water that corals wouldnt like.

Those fish shouldnt be an issue with irritating the corals. I think youre fine on that front.

I think what i would do is try to find out if youre throwing lots of light. Those corals should be good with low to medium light. If the corals are getting a lot of light than maybe reduce the light period a little. Then test Alk/Mg .... Curious on the source water too... RODI/tap?

I get RODI from my local fs.

 

[5altkreep]

I didnt see salinity mentioned. It seems basic, but are you measuring salinity with a properly calibrated refractometer?

 

[Grey Guy]

The best success that I have had with Euphyllia is giving them a light alternating flow, so that they slowly drift back and forth. It really brings them out, and can be done with very small power heads.

 

[Andrewalex11]

First off definitely invest in the necessary test kits/equipment asap, and I'm not saying this like you're doing anything wrong but you will run in circles every time theres an issue with your tank if you're not monitoring whats going on properly.

Second thing is the fact that these two specific corals could be subjected to bacterial pathogens like something called Brown Slime/Jelly so definitely keep an eye out for this.

Third thing to take note of is how corals could sometimes be issue indicators, heightened levels of ammonia or other undesirable nutrients/lighting/flow and could lead to some pieces to close up.

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

First off definitely invest in the necessary test kits/equipment asap, and I'm not saying this like you're doing anything wrong but you will run in circles every time theres an issue with your tank if you're not monitoring whats going on properly.

Second thing is the fact that these two specific corals could be subjected to bacterial pathogens like something called Brown Slime/Jelly so definitely keep an eye out for this.

Third thing to take note of is how corals could sometimes be issue indicators, heightened levels of ammonia or other undesirable nutrients/lighting/flow and could lead to some pieces to close up.

OP noted her water parameters, unless you are recommending another variable to test...

 

[Natashamarie]

I'd get and alk kit before one for PO4 (unless you're ok with getting both). If I could only test one parameter for the rest of my life, it would honestly probably be alkalinity. If you haven't already, BRS has a great series on YouTube that really teaches most of what you'd ever need to know to start and maintain a reef tank. It's the BRS 160 52 weeks of reefing series. I highly suggest watching :)

Tested alk came out at 2.96

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Tested alk came out at 2.96

Did you test your salinity?

Did you switch to a new salt mix?

It seems the water change was the last thing that changed before you had a problem.

My thought would be, an alk swing.
If your alkalinity was low 6.5dkh for exacmple ) and you used a salt of alk 13. It could cause problems. Not always. But could.

 

[Ghxst]

What's the salinity? My brother who has been reefing for years called me up with the same issue. He swore his refractometer was off because he was reading 1.030. Ends up he was adding an extra cup of salt, his refract was right. Check that asap

 

[Natashamarie]

I always get my water from the same fish store and they always double check it's at 1.025 before I leave and I top off with fresh water. So I doubt my refractometer is that much off or my salinity is that off. But how can I calibrate my refractometer at home if I don't have RO water on hand? Can I use distilled?

 

[Natashamarie]

What's the salinity? My brother who has been reefing for years called me up with the same issue. He swore his refractometer was off because he was reading 1.030. Ends up he was adding an extra cup of salt, his refract was right. Check that asap

1.026

 

[Natashamarie]

Okay so I just did a 5 gallon water change and the frogspawn opened much more than it has in days... but I don't understand lol. All of my parameters were fine before the water change. I did it to clear out slime algae... so can this slime algae really be the culprit of my very upset corals?

 

[Natashamarie]

How they look after water change... don't mind my clown.. always wants to be center of attention.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I always get my water from the same fish store and they always double check it's at 1.025 before I leave and I top off with fresh water. So I doubt my refractometer is that much off or my salinity is that off. But how can I calibrate my refractometer at home if I don't have RO water on hand? Can I use distilled?

HOoray!!!


How are you doing your top off?

You'll want to find some of this.
https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/a...MI9cfrpfCW1gIVSFgNCh3l_APgEAkYBSABEgKthfD_BwE

 

[Natashamarie]

HOoray!!!


How are you doing your top off?

You'll want to find some of this.
https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/a...MI9cfrpfCW1gIVSFgNCh3l_APgEAkYBSABEgKthfD_BwE

I usually just use purified water with prime. Is that bad?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I usually just use purified water with prime. Is that bad?

It's not great not. Rodi is best. Mainly because it's hard to say what's in your tap water. Mine is awful , some folks run their whole tank on it.

 

[Ghxst]

Since you get rodi from lfs you can't be certain it wasn't tainted. Maybe something on the workers hand got in the water, bad filters, a compound or element you didn't test for.

As Salty said filtered tap plus prime isn't great. Ro or rodi top off is best. Touring water facility's it's come to my attention that lots of crap gets in our tap from the pipe System on its way and from our own house pipes, copper, zinc, lead to name a few.
Glad to see it's getting better

 

[FugeTown]

I didnt see salinity mentioned. It seems basic, but are you measuring salinity with a properly calibrated refractometer?

You beat me to it , salinity seems so basic but can really mess with corals if the level is too low or high
Actually I just got my new refractometer in the mail today, the swing arm hydrometers are bad news