Softies

[couragefirst]

Morning

I am trying to introduce soft coral to a 120 litre tank. As been informed these are hardy but without success they keep collapsing and dying fairly quickly.
My levels are stable and i have coral food.

I use blue light but wondering if they aren't getting enough i have white light as well but dont use this

The tank is about 8 months old

Any ideas ?

 

[littlefoxx]

Morning

I am trying to introduce soft coral to a 120 litre tank. As been informed these are hardy but without success they keep collapsing and dying fairly quickly.
My levels are stable and i have coral food.

I use blue light but wondering if they aren't getting enough i have white light as well but dont use this

The tank is about 8 months old

Any ideas ?

Posting your parameters might help

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

even hardy soft corals still need stable reef-like parameters, flow, and lighting.

What are the parameters, what type of lighting, and what do you have for flow in the tank? Just a blue and a white tells me the lighting is likely not sufficient, what kind of lights do you have? Tank pics will help

 

[Gumbies R Us]

We don’t have enough information to really know why your coral keep dying
Full tank shot?
Parameters?
Light and light settings?
What about flow?
Any recent changes/additions to your tank?

 

[couragefirst]

Posting your parameters might help

Yes of course:

Ammonia 0.2 ppm
Calcium 420
KH 12
Nitrate 3.0
Nitrite 0
PH 7.8
Phos 0
Salinity 1.028

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The nitrate and phosphate level is very low for soft corals, they normally like more measurable nutrients, nitrate should be 10-20 and phosphate .06 to .1 ish.

Soft corals also need flow, especially leather corals, so the tank should have a powerhead to move the water.

Lighting is the most important thing of all (followed by flow, followed by nutrients), corals get 90% of their energy from the light. What kind of lights do you have, at what intensity?

 

[littlefoxx]

Yes of course:

Ammonia 0.2 ppm
Calcium 420
KH 12
Nitrate 3.0
Nitrite 0
PH 7.8
Phos 0
Salinity 1.028

Your ammonia should always read 0. That might be some of the issue and the salt is also quite high. Normal range is between 1.023 and 1.026, and nitrate is too low, no nutrients. Also pH could be higher