Corals not opening up, but water conditions are good. Help Please..

Mester320 · 12/14/2011, 04:43 PM

My 65 gallon tank has been set up for a month and a half now the cycle was about two weeks. I am running a ecosystems 2410 refugium/sump with a built in protein skimmer and 10 lbs. of miracle mud. I am currently running 2 11 oz. bags of chemipure elite. I have 2 koralia evo 1050 and a 550. My refugium light runs at night to control pH swings.

I added a domino damsel right after the cycle to test the waters and I just added a yellow tang last week. I started to add a few corals from my nano cube hqi and from a buddies tank. The fish are doing great but my corals just dont seem to want to open up. Here are my water parameters:

SG: 1.025
Temp: 78

API Saltwater Master Test Kit
pH: 8.3
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

Red Sea Titration Kit
Alkalinity:7.8
Calcium: 430
Magnesium: 1500 ???

I am running the Aquaticlife 6 bulb T5 just on the stock timers cycle.

The corals that I added were a hammer, 25 head duncan colony, some mushrooms, zoas, leather, and some cloves. They are all acting the same slightly open but shriveled at the same time. I acclimated all of the corals over and hour period of time taking 25% of water out and replacing 25% with tank water every 15 minutes for 1 hour. It has now been three days and still no sign of anyone opening. I am very worried about losing the duncan colony cause it was not cheap and is very impressive when opened. My 28G Nano Cube is doing great and has been running for 6 months now with all corals thriving (softies, LPS, and SPS) . It is running a 14k Phoenix HQI bulb, two power compacts, and leds at night. All corals can be moved to this tank if needed but I don't want to move them again and stress them more.

I am feeding marine snow by two little fishes and microvert by kent marine. Also I dont know if this would affect anything but all the rock in the tank is base rock from reefcleaners.org and all the sand is tropic eden reef flakes seeded with a cup of live sand. I have added a few small pieces of live rock to seed Coraline also.

I would appreciate any help or ideas of what is going on with the corals. Thanks in advance.

Drae · 12/14/2011, 06:27 PM

So many reasons why corals act funny sometimes. Flow, lighting, chemical warfare, too clean/dirty of water, etc...even trace elements got mine to open up before (I think) I'm by no means an expert at this but I am a little seasoned when it comes to corals so I suggest you make a checklist of possibilities and go down the list. Good luck *Drae

Drae · 12/14/2011, 06:33 PM

Undetectable levels of ?... Mini cycle from the rock, phosphates on less then excellent kits are worthless, ime, also. Temp preference and ph preference is also a factor I believe ( all aquatic animals have a preference) so... Find yours if u can. Happy reefing! *Drae*

sporto0 · 12/14/2011, 07:37 PM

I would venture a guess that they are acclimating to a new light, you took them from a Halide & put them under T-5's. I can't say without seeing if your light intensity has increased or decreased, but again I would guess decreased. Feeding corals that are closed or partially closed is a waste of time in my opinion.

Mester320 · 12/14/2011, 09:15 PM

thanks for the replies. I forgot a few things that might help answer my question. I am using RO/DI with Seachem reef salt. Also not all the corals came from under metal halide. The duncans for example were under t5 lights. Also I had the LFS check the phosphates and they were 0. Keep the comments coming this is very helpful

tony11387 · 12/14/2011, 11:25 PM

Check for stray voltage. I had closed up corals (mostly zoos) for about a month that were irritated by stray voltage from a faulty uv sterilizer. A couple of days after I removed it, everything started to open up.

Mester320 · 12/14/2011, 11:53 PM

That is actually a really good idea seeing that the water conditions are perfect. I do have a UV sterilizer, and a submersible titanium heater. Is there any way that I can test the water to see if there is any sort of electrical current running through it? I will unplug the UV and see what happens. Thanks so much for the great idea. I have also seen grounding devices that you put in the water to reduce this do you think that would help?

dsalomone · 12/15/2011, 12:03 AM

Get yourself a grounding probe and get your hands on a voltage meter. Found my uv was giving off tons of stray voltage. I took it offline but put a grounding probe on just in case something else starts to go faulty on me.

Mester320 · 12/15/2011, 12:20 AM

Now I just did some research and read that if i use a grounding probe without it being plugged into a GFCI i could be in for some major issues like losing all the fish and corals in my tank because it would complete the circuit but not switch the breaker. I turned my sump off for the night and just left the koralias run for the night i think it should be fine. the uv, heater, and all mag pumps are down there which could be the possible issue. then i will turn them back on one by one to determine the culprit. do you think that this is the best approach. also where can i find the voltage meter. lowes?

Cloudburst2000 · 12/15/2011, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mester320

Now I just did some research and read that if i use a grounding probe without it being plugged into a GFCI i could be in for some major issues like losing all the fish and corals in my tank because it would complete the circuit but not switch the breaker. I turned my sump off for the night and just left the koralias run for the night i think it should be fine. the uv, heater, and all mag pumps are down there which could be the possible issue. then i will turn them back on one by one to determine the culprit. do you think that this is the best approach. also where can i find the voltage meter. lowes?

So I'm assuming that the system is not on a GFCI? It's pretty easy to switch an outlet to GFCI. Even if you don't want to do that, there are converters that can convert it to GFCI. It's not as good as a replacing the actual outlet, but it's better tha nothing.

r-balljunkie · 12/15/2011, 12:56 PM

Stop direct feeding corals, take out half the chemi pure.

Your tank is still newish, you need to let it settle in.

Sometimes less is better, just feed fish and give it a few weeks.

12/14/2011, 04:43 PM	#1
Mester320 Registered Member. Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Fort Myers, FL Posts: 67	Corals not opening up, but water conditions are good. Help Please.. My 65 gallon tank has been set up for a month and a half now the cycle was about two weeks. I am running a ecosystems 2410 refugium/sump with a built in protein skimmer and 10 lbs. of miracle mud. I am currently running 2 11 oz. bags of chemipure elite. I have 2 koralia evo 1050 and a 550. My refugium light runs at night to control pH swings. I added a domino damsel right after the cycle to test the waters and I just added a yellow tang last week. I started to add a few corals from my nano cube hqi and from a buddies tank. The fish are doing great but my corals just dont seem to want to open up. Here are my water parameters: SG: 1.025 Temp: 78 API Saltwater Master Test Kit pH: 8.3 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0 Red Sea Titration Kit Alkalinity:7.8 Calcium: 430 Magnesium: 1500 ??? I am running the Aquaticlife 6 bulb T5 just on the stock timers cycle. The corals that I added were a hammer, 25 head duncan colony, some mushrooms, zoas, leather, and some cloves. They are all acting the same slightly open but shriveled at the same time. I acclimated all of the corals over and hour period of time taking 25% of water out and replacing 25% with tank water every 15 minutes for 1 hour. It has now been three days and still no sign of anyone opening. I am very worried about losing the duncan colony cause it was not cheap and is very impressive when opened. My 28G Nano Cube is doing great and has been running for 6 months now with all corals thriving (softies, LPS, and SPS) . It is running a 14k Phoenix HQI bulb, two power compacts, and leds at night. All corals can be moved to this tank if needed but I don't want to move them again and stress them more. I am feeding marine snow by two little fishes and microvert by kent marine. Also I dont know if this would affect anything but all the rock in the tank is base rock from reefcleaners.org and all the sand is tropic eden reef flakes seeded with a cup of live sand. I have added a few small pieces of live rock to seed Coraline also. I would appreciate any help or ideas of what is going on with the corals. Thanks in advance.

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12/14/2011, 06:27 PM	#2
Drae RAIDER NATION! Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: City of sin... Posts: 3,476	So many reasons why corals act funny sometimes. Flow, lighting, chemical warfare, too clean/dirty of water, etc...even trace elements got mine to open up before (I think) I'm by no means an expert at this but I am a little seasoned when it comes to corals so I suggest you make a checklist of possibilities and go down the list. Good luck *Drae

12/14/2011, 06:33 PM	#3
Drae RAIDER NATION! Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: City of sin... Posts: 3,476	Undetectable levels of ?... Mini cycle from the rock, phosphates on less then excellent kits are worthless, ime, also. Temp preference and ph preference is also a factor I believe ( all aquatic animals have a preference) so... Find yours if u can. Happy reefing! Drae

12/14/2011, 07:37 PM	#4
sporto0 Moved On Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, Pa. Posts: 2,924	I would venture a guess that they are acclimating to a new light, you took them from a Halide & put them under T-5's. I can't say without seeing if your light intensity has increased or decreased, but again I would guess decreased. Feeding corals that are closed or partially closed is a waste of time in my opinion.

12/14/2011, 09:15 PM	#5
Mester320 Registered Member. Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Fort Myers, FL Posts: 67	thanks for the replies. I forgot a few things that might help answer my question. I am using RO/DI with Seachem reef salt. Also not all the corals came from under metal halide. The duncans for example were under t5 lights. Also I had the LFS check the phosphates and they were 0. Keep the comments coming this is very helpful

12/14/2011, 11:25 PM	#6
tony11387 Reefer Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 205	Check for stray voltage. I had closed up corals (mostly zoos) for about a month that were irritated by stray voltage from a faulty uv sterilizer. A couple of days after I removed it, everything started to open up.

12/14/2011, 11:53 PM	#7
Mester320 Registered Member. Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Fort Myers, FL Posts: 67	That is actually a really good idea seeing that the water conditions are perfect. I do have a UV sterilizer, and a submersible titanium heater. Is there any way that I can test the water to see if there is any sort of electrical current running through it? I will unplug the UV and see what happens. Thanks so much for the great idea. I have also seen grounding devices that you put in the water to reduce this do you think that would help?

12/15/2011, 12:03 AM	#8
dsalomone Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 45	Get yourself a grounding probe and get your hands on a voltage meter. Found my uv was giving off tons of stray voltage. I took it offline but put a grounding probe on just in case something else starts to go faulty on me.

12/15/2011, 12:20 AM	#9
Mester320 Registered Member. Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Fort Myers, FL Posts: 67	Now I just did some research and read that if i use a grounding probe without it being plugged into a GFCI i could be in for some major issues like losing all the fish and corals in my tank because it would complete the circuit but not switch the breaker. I turned my sump off for the night and just left the koralias run for the night i think it should be fine. the uv, heater, and all mag pumps are down there which could be the possible issue. then i will turn them back on one by one to determine the culprit. do you think that this is the best approach. also where can i find the voltage meter. lowes?

12/15/2011, 12:56 PM	#11
r-balljunkie Registered Reefer Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Doha, Qatar Posts: 2,059	Stop direct feeding corals, take out half the chemi pure. Your tank is still newish, you need to let it settle in. Sometimes less is better, just feed fish and give it a few weeks.