Is my Duncan done for

[BrightReefer]

The current state





It has grown about 6 heads in total. So it has been good for almost a year. Last water change day it hasn’t opened really since( last Thursday). This morning a few of its fingers showed .. but now it looked white on one of the original heads.
this is a photo of just white light so you can see.

Water parameters

1.025sg
0.15 phos Hanna
0 nitrate salifert , I think the algae is why
7.2 dkh salifert

Light on 11 hours a day

my light schedule

Honestly question my salinity some days because the Fritz calculator for 1.026sg according chart my dkh should be higher

And a side note I had a hairy mushroom as you can see below but it shrinked and eventually died. Which I think I moved it to much and changed light. The acan is doing great, same with the zoa

Here’s a current view

 

[StartingATank]

A picture would really help.

 

[steveschuerger]

Missing da pics.

 

[BrightReefer]

Sorry guys, I had them but they didn’t upload.

 

[steveschuerger]

You might be right about the nitrates. And that’s an extremely unhappy Duncan.
As far as the algae goes I’d go and purchase a clean up crew from ReefCleaners or somebody else
In the meantime you’ll need to increase your nutrient levels manually. Do you fee the corals as well as the fish? Or you can get products thar boost nitrate levels for a quick temporary fix. If you get the nitrates at least to 5 or better yet 10 eventually Duncan may start opening up. Right now even with the symbiotic photosynthetic micro algae that live in it, it still needs nitrate in the water’
The white Duncan is bleached. It’ll be hard to back from that but on thing is that it’s going to need direct feeding with mysis or similar.

 

[BrightReefer]

I honestly never fed my coral but if it won’t open up will it if I dose some reef roids?

I have 4 trocus snails and 2 Nassarius

 

[steveschuerger]

I honestly never fed my coral but if it won’t open up will it if I dose some reef roids?

I have 4 trocus snails and 2 Nassarius

Gonna bed more snails than that and consider a small urchin a few pitho crabs which are perfectly reef safe but are excellent algae eater as well.

 

[BrightReefer]

I honestly never fed my coral but if it won’t open up will it if I dose some reef roids?

I have 4 trocus snails and 2 Nassarius

Gonna bed more snails than that and consider a small urchin a few pitho crabs which are perfectly reef safe but are excellent algae eater as well.

I tried a pitho crab he died in 2 months according to my log. Every shrimp I tried died. A turbo snail in the first week died
But the four trochus and 2 Nassarius snails have been at least 8 months in.


I just used a turkey baster on the Duncan it shed more flesh I’m sure at this point I should remove it?

 

[ScottJ]

I tried a pitho crab he died in 2 months according to my log. Every shrimp I tried died. A turbo snail in the first week died
But the four trochus and 2 Nassarius snails have been at least 8 months in.


I just used a turkey baster on the Duncan it shed more flesh I’m sure at this point I should remove it?

That center head has some life left in it. I wouldn't remove it.

 

[Tikki]

Are you doing regular water changes or dosing anything like all for reef, etc to keep up with alkalinity and trace consumption etc?

 

[BrightReefer]

Are you doing regular water changes or dosing anything like all for reef, etc to keep up with alkalinity and trace consumption etc?

Just weekly water changes

 

[The Ugly Phase]

you listed alk BUT . . . is it stable?

for example my alk over the past few days#

7.98
8.12
8.13
7.73
7.82

it gets dosed up to 8.1 when it drops down but you can see the swings atm its only getting tested once every 24h but when i add coral i will get the machine to test 4 times a day

my tank is 1 year old

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What kind of light do you have on what size tank? That looks like a fluval app picture? How many watts is the light? This sounds like low lighting to me. If you had your duncan for one fill year you should easily have at least a dozen new polyps. Part of it even looks like its in the shade. It also likes to have good flow and it looks like you only have the return, you might want to consider adding a powerhead.

 

[BrightReefer]

What kind of light do you have on what size tank? That looks like a fluval app picture? How many watts is the light? This sounds like low lighting to me. If you had your duncan for one fill year you should easily have at least a dozen new polyps. Part of it even looks like its in the shade. It also likes to have good flow and it looks like you only have the return, you might want to consider adding a powerhead.

I have the AI blade grow, and the hygger mini on random flow pattern.
At peak it’s about 12 watts. 12%royal blue 50%blue 20% white. I would like to change the spectrum. I just didn’t want to shock anything.

To add, when I think back to last water change I had the whites on 100% for almost 2 hours cleaning algae out. Makes me wonder if that was enough for the Duncan to bleach out.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have the AI blade grow, and the hygger mini on random flow pattern.
At peak it’s about 12 watts. 12%royal blue 50%blue 20% white. I would like to change the spectrum. I just didn’t want to shock anything.

To add, when I think back to last water change I had the whites on 100% for almost 2 hours cleaning algae out. Makes me wonder if that was enough for the Duncan to bleach out.

Personally I feel you should rent a par meter, something about your lighting doesn't seem right to me.

2 hours of white light didn't kill the duncan, I'm sure of that.

Your parameters are also not ideal, but I doubt thats it. In my experience, everything about growing corals comes down to lighting.

I had my duncan under strong metal halides for 2 years and had to sell it because it grew too big. Duncan is one of the fastest growing corals there is.

 

[PPBlimpy]

i don't think that is enough light. is it 12W total or 12W at your setting? Your setting look to be running under 50% intensity.

I ran the stock light that came with my evo and it did fine w/ lps. That light I believe was 12 or 15 watt.

 

[BrightReefer]

i don't think that is enough light. is it 12W total or 12W at your setting? Your setting look to be running under 50% intensity.

I ran the stock light that came with my evo and it did fine w/ lps. That light I believe was 12 or 15 watt.

I think it’s 12w total at peak. AI say the light it’s a 20watt light. I was pretty much using treasure corals Ai blade template reduced the intensity down to a video to match the par that reef dork had measured on upgraded a tmc wave 48 with the Ai blade, which is essentially a Fluval 13.5 knock off.

 

[PPBlimpy]

So in theory you are running less then 1 watt per gallon.

I would crank up the lights first. Even running it at 100% wont be to much. without a par meter you running blind but if what your doing isn't working then change it up.

2 hours of 100% white wont do anything to hurt them corals.

My duncans see 350+ par for 6 hours a day peak under my metal halides.

parameters arent great but not something that would cause these to die.

nitrates is probably from algea, manual removal would be good at first. Phosphates are fine in my opinion.
My big tank runs at .7 phos.

i don't understand how it has been fine for the past year and then all of a sudden having issues.

added anything new to the tank?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I think it’s 12w total at peak. AI say the light it’s a 20watt light. I was pretty much using treasure corals Ai blade template reduced the intensity down to a video to match the par that reef dork had measured on upgraded a tmc wave 48 with the Ai blade, which is essentially a Fluval 13.5 knock off.

I use AI Prime on my 15 gallon 10" deep softie tank, set at 85%. Its mostly mushrooms and zoa's. AI Prime is 55 watts in comparison. I think this is a low light issue, I would start turning up the lights slowly, the corals will need to acclimate.

 

[BrightReefer]

I think it’s 12w total at peak. AI say the light it’s a 20watt light. I was pretty much using treasure corals Ai blade template reduced the intensity down to a video to match the par that reef dork had measured on upgraded a tmc wave 48 with the Ai blade, which is essentially a Fluval 13.5 knock off.

I use AI Prime on my 15 gallon 10" deep softie tank, set at 85%. Its mostly mushrooms and zoa's. AI Prime is 55 watts in comparison. I think this is a low light issue, I would start turning up the lights slowly, the corals will need to acclimate.

Ok ,I will try it out. my light is in the stock lid though. So maybe 2-3 inch from water surface.