Help w Duncan and Hammer

[jisc]

Both aren doing ok after a month and a half but something is off. Tank is 1.5 yrs old. Hammer only expanding half for about 2 weeks. Duncan’s tips have become short and stubby.

S - 1.025
Alk - 9
Ca - 420
N - 25ish
Pho’s - .16
Mag - 1290
No gfo. I pulled carbon 3 days ago but no improvement yet.
Lights are Steve’s leds @ 55% blue 15% white. I turned the white up to try and get better pics

 

[ChiSox Rabbitfish]

bump

 

[jisc]

Did some retesting after a work trip.

Ca had dropped under 400 to 390
Alk still stable
Mag had risen to 1350

Hoping boosting Ca will help

 

[Blinkdo]

Sometimes LPS close up when they are growing or about to split.

 

[SynGraves]

Lower your phosphate. I had a similar issue with my hammers recently when my PO4 hit .2 ppm. I was able to get mine down to around .05 ppm and my hammers started opening completely.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Sometimes LPS close up when they are growing or about to split.

True. I had a Duncan close up for some time while it sprouted about a dozen new heads

 

[jisc]

Hammer has continued to slowly recede. Duncan was a goner months ago. I moved hammer to sand bed in less flow and less light. Torch and frogspawn are doing great and both are higher in tank. Hate to lose this one after almost a year in tank. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I had similar especially with the duncans.
I ended up finding out it was salinity. My 2 instruments said 1.026. Took a water sample to LFS and they came up with 1.031 (way high). I would suggest the same and have yours rechecked with a water sample to a trusted LFS and calibrate your gages.
CA is not low enough to cause stress. I would increase white to 20% and blue to 75%

 

[jisc]

I will double check salinity w refractometer. Last night it was reading 1.025 on hydrometer. My nitrate is around 1-5 ppm and phosphate .08/.016. I’ve tried to raise Nitrates but still hover around same numbers. Maybe I should feed more and/or does more nitrate. No skimmer or macro algae. Tank is over 2 years old. All coral (Montipora, psammacora, shrooms, other lps are doing well.

Current Steve’s Leds are at 67% blue and 20% white. Can I up the blue and leave the white as is? Steve’s instructions say to adjust both at same amounts.

 

[Phil D.]

Actually I run my LEDs at 65% blues and 5% white. Red Sea researcher stated coral use the 360-480nm spectrum the most and not much whites. My Duncans and Acans are growing nice, my parameters are Ca 460, Alk 9.4 and Mag at 1380