Worried about first corals

[ngiovas]

I recently picked up my first coral frags 1 1/2 weeks ago and I am concerned that they are not doing well. I got a couple of zoas, a goniopora and one other coral from a local reefer, but the zoas are closed up and one of the other corals seems to be "wilting" and not as bright.

The corals are all in a 20 gallon quarantine tank that has been running for about 6 months with only snails, hermit crags and shrimp in it (no fish). It has a hang on back filter plus a foam filter. I have an AI Prime 16 light with the BRS settings. I ramped up the light daily over a one week period. There really wasn't any ship time since the person I got them from is only 10 minutes away. I floated the bags for 30 minutes and dipped the corals for 15 minutes before putting them in the tank. I did another water test yesterday and my alkalinity was extremely high at 20dKH, so I dd a 20% water change. I don't know how soon I can do another water change. All of my other parameters look normal/good. I was considering putting a bag of chemi-pure in the filter to see if that might help balance things out, but I don't know if that will help.

I am looking for advice on other things to try/check to hopefully recover these frags. I tried to take some pictures, but they came out awful. I will try again later today.

 

[GSPClown94]

20 dKH sounds like a testing error. What does normal/good mean for the other parameters you are testing?

 

[ngiovas]

20 dKH sounds like a testing error. What does normal/good mean for the other parameters you are testing?

I used a Hanna Marine Master for the testing. I can test it again.

Some of the other parameters I wrote down (I will look up the others):

Temp: 78 degrees
Salinity 1.026
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
Alkalinity: 20dKH
Calcium: 500ppm
Phosphate: 0.07ppm

 

[ou12004]

Your corals may be starving if you have them with no fish and you are not feeding them. Gonipora are one of the more challenging corals for me and I feed Gonipower and reefeoids and still have them shrink up on me

 

[ngiovas]

I used a Hanna Marine Master for the testing. I can test it again.

Some of the other parameters I wrote down (I will look up the others):

Temp: 78 degrees
Salinity 1.026
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
Alkalinity: 20dKH
Calcium: 500ppm
Phosphate: 0.07ppm

I just retested the Alkalinity and it tested at 6dKH

That sounds much more realistic.

 

[ngiovas]

Your corals may be starving if you have them with no fish and you are not feeding them. Gonipora are one of the more challenging corals for me and I feed Gonipower and reefeoids and still have them shrink up on me

I ordered some reefroids which will arrive today. How often do you recommend feed them and how much? I also ordered a long acrylic coral feeder syringe. Do you recommend squirting the reefroids right into the corals or just near them?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

I just retested the Alkalinity and it tested at 6dKH

That sounds much more realistic.

Correct. Are you sure your calcium test wasn't a test error too? For such low alk, you shouldnt have high calcium like you have now. What salt mix do you have?

Pictures will help, even if they are bad. They can rule out a few things so we can help you more.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

I ordered some reefroids which will arrive today. How often do you recommend feed them and how much? I also ordered a long acrylic coral feeder syringe. Do you recommend squirting the reefroids right into the corals or just near them?

Onto them, with flow off. Do it once or twice a week, and watch your nutrients because reef roids can raise po4 really quickly.

 

[ngiovas]

Not the greatest pictures. I tried to turn up the white lights for a better picture. I don't know what the best settings are. Sorry for the snail in the foreground of the first picture.

 

[OriginalUserName]

So you have a main tank and a quarantine tank or your tank is an old quarantine tank?

Are you sure your salinity is right?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Do you have any powerheads in the tank, or is the hob filter providing the only water movement?

 

[ngiovas]

So you have a main tank and a quarantine tank or your tank is an old quarantine tank?

Are you sure your salinity is right?

I have both a display tank and a quarantine tank. The coral are currently in the 20 gallon quarantine tank which has never had fish in it. I use it only for quarantining CUC and now coral.

My salinity is 1.026 measured with a calibrated spectrometer. It has been very constant since originally setup.

 

[ngiovas]

Do you have any powerheads in the tank, or is the hob filter providing the only water movement?

The quarantine tank only has the HOB filter for movement. I do have an AI Nero 3 that I recently purchased for the display tank. I could move it to the quarantine tank and get a replacement for the display tank since I currently only have fish in the display.

Can you recommend a flow % for a 20 gallon tank? I currently have it on a random flow setting at 45%.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The quarantine tank only has the HOB filter for movement. I do have an AI Nero 3 that I recently purchased for the display tank. I could move it to the quarantine tank and get a replacement for the display tank since I currently only have fish in the display.

Can you recommend a flow % for a 20 gallon tank? I currently have it on a random flow setting at 45%.

I think the lack of water movement might have contributed to the coral unhappiness, a hob doesn't really provide the right kind of flow for corals. I'm not familiar with nero 3 or how strong it is, but you don't need very strong flow, just enough to make the polyps wave gently.

 

[OriginalUserName]

The quarantine tank only has the HOB filter for movement. I do have an AI Nero 3 that I recently purchased for the display tank. I could move it to the quarantine tank and get a replacement for the display tank since I currently only have fish in the display.

Can you recommend a flow % for a 20 gallon tank? I currently have it on a random flow setting at 45%.

Honestly I'd just throw a cheapo powerhead on the main for now, if anything. Assuming you wanted to save a few bucks. I've never used a Nero 3, just a 5, but try it at maybe 50% and see how the corals are moving. Think gentle waves vs chaos.

 

[Shirak]

Quarantining the coral for?

6dkh alk is low and the prime is kind of a weak light, so unless the corals are pretty much right under the light they are probably not getting enough par.

What are you using to calibrate the refractometer and how often do you check it?

 

[ou12004]

Onto them, with flow off. Do it once or twice a week, and watch your nutrients because reef roids can raise po4 really quickly.

Yep once or twice a week, shut off the powerhead and put directly on to them. You definitely need a small powerhead.

 

[ngiovas]

I apologize for my lack of knowledge, but I really do appreciate all of the help. To clarify on the type of corals. I reached out to the person I got them from to help me with the identification. They are not Goniopora, they are cloves. Also, the green and orange coral is a Mummy Eyed Chalice.

I moved the power head to the quarantine tank and currently have it set to 35% power and pulsing every second.

The reefroids also arrived and I turned off the pumps and fed them and waited 10 minutes before turning everything back on. I will wait to see if there is any change over the next 24 hours.

Again, I really appreciate all of the help.

 

[ngiovas]

Quarantining the coral for?

6dkh alk is low and the prime is kind of a weak light, so unless the corals are pretty much right under the light they are probably not getting enough par.

What are you using to calibrate the refractometer and how often do you check it?

BRS had a video where they tested the Prime 16 par levels on several tank sizes. For an 18x18 tank with the light 10 inches from the surface, they recommended the following settings which are 80% of the largest tank they said it would work for. My tank is 20x20, but I left the setting the same for now.

UV - 116
Violet - 116
Royal - 88
Blue - 88
Green - 0
Red - 0
Moonlight - 0
White - 10

I am using a calibration fluid I purchased from BRS. I have calibrated it twice in the last 6 months.

 

[ngiovas]

Honestly I'd just throw a cheapo powerhead on the main for now, if anything. Assuming you wanted to save a few bucks. I've never used a Nero 3, just a 5, but try it at maybe 50% and see how the corals are moving. Think gentle waves vs chaos.

I tried 50%, but the cloves were moving/bending a lot, so I lowered it to 35% for now. I have it set to pulse every second (1 second on, 1 second off).