Need help with new corals!

[TheReefDiary]

Okay so I recently purchased corals a week and a half ago. They have been in the tank since then. They were all dipped and inspected for critters.

My current water parameters are:
Ph - 8.1
Alk - 8.4
Ca - 460
No3 - 20
Po4 - .25ppm (maybe a bit less hard to exactly guage)

So my issue is that one of my alveopora isn't opening up at all. The other 2 were opening and now are at maybe 40% poly extension. My one mushroom coral also seems to be browning slightly. They all had full color and extension when introduced to the tank.

My guess is that my flow and lighting aren't ideal, but not sure how to figure that out without a par meter (local lfs doesn't have one to rent).

I have an additional powwrhead coming to make some better random flow throughout the tank.

Any other tips/help would be appreciated!

 

[lucyretz]

i would get a hanna checker for phosphate, .24 is pretty high imo.

 

[Lavey29]

Numbers aren't to bad. Slightly elevated phosphate and nitrate. What are you using for light and flow? How old is the tank. Salinity?

 

[TheReefDiary]

i would get a hanna checker for phosphate, .24 is pretty high imo.

Yeah next thing I have to buy. Have to wait until next month. I have a chaeto reactor I just started running to hopefully help with that. My hammer is really happy. Birdnest is happy. My acro was gifted and was struggling before. Hadn't had any polyp Extension. My mushrooms open well one has just lost a bit of coloration.

 

[TheReefDiary]

Numbers are to bad. Slightly elevated phosphate and nitrate. What are you using for light and flow? How old is the tank. Salinity?

Salinity is 1.025. Trying to bring down my phosphate and nitrate with chaeto reactor. I have a 50w led light. Running at 35% max currently. Par app I using (not sure how accurate) says at top of water is 200 par directly under light. I'm afraid to cook the corals though. Flow I have a controllable hygger WaveMaker and a small boom controllable on the way to generate more random flow. My two return pumps are used to move surface.

 

[Lavey29]

Salinity is 1.025. Trying to bring down my phosphate and nitrate with chaeto reactor. I have a 50w led light. Running at 35% max currently. Par app I using (not sure how accurate) says at top of water is 200 par directly under light. I'm afraid to cook the corals though. Flow I have a controllable hygger WaveMaker and a small boom controllable on the way to generate more random flow. My two return pumps are used to move surface.

Well if you think you have 200 right under the light you probably have very low par in the tank depending on depth. I've got a bunch of shrooms in the bottom all getting low to moderate flow and 100 to 150 par. Corals browning is an indicator of not enough light.

 

[Dom]

Okay so I recently purchased corals a week and a half ago. They have been in the tank since then. They were all dipped and inspected for critters.

My current water parameters are:
Ph - 8.1
Alk - 8.4
Ca - 460
No3 - 20
Po4 - .25ppm (maybe a bit less hard to exactly guage)

So my issue is that one of my alveopora isn't opening up at all. The other 2 were opening and now are at maybe 40% poly extension. My one mushroom coral also seems to be browning slightly. They all had full color and extension when introduced to the tank.

My guess is that my flow and lighting aren't ideal, but not sure how to figure that out without a par meter (local lfs doesn't have one to rent).

I have an additional powwrhead coming to make some better random flow throughout the tank.

Any other tips/help would be appreciated!

I would post some pictures. And include full tank shots so we can see your system; lighting, flow and such.

 

[TheReefDiary]

Well if you think you have 200 right under the light you probably have very low par in the tank depending on depth. I've got a bunch of shrooms in the bottom all getting low to moderate flow and 100 to 150 par. Corals browning is an indicator of not enough light.

Yeah I'm guessing I have to turn them up just not sure what setting.

 

[TheReefDiary]

I would post some pictures. And include full tank shots so we can see your system; lighting, flow and such.

 

[Lavey29]

I see your rics. I have mine mid tank under 200 to 250 par and are doing quite well. They can tolerate moderate light fine.

 

[Lavey29]

Yeah I'm guessing I have to turn them up just not sure what setting.

Emphasize blues and uv. Whites, red and greens should be 25% of what blue is.

 

[TheReefDiary]

Emphasize blues and uv. Whites, red and greens should be 25% of what blue is.

Hoping it's just a flow issue. Not really sure why 2 would be open and 1 wouldn't. Really need to get the new phosphate checker next month.

 

[Lavey29]

Hoping it's just a flow issue. Not really sure why 2 would be open and 1 wouldn't. Really need to get the new phosphate checker next month.

Flow obviously depends on the types of corals but overall my tank flow is low to moderate. I keep my powerheads 3 inches below the surface for a lot of water ripple. This creates good flow for SPS up top but gentle flow for my bottom corals.

 

[Dom]

That's a nice tank. It looks nicely established. Some slight algae growth in the substrate, but I like that.

If this is my tank, I don't change anything and just monitor.

The fact that only one of your corals is having issues (and not all of them) suggests to me that the problem is not with lighting, water quality or flow. You just may have a fussy frag.

If you can't resist the urge to make changes, then I would suggest moving that one alveopora around in the tank.

By making changes to lighting or flow, you may negatively impact the rest of the tank.