Any ideas ?

My tank has been running since early January. All fish have done great from day one. No fish deaths at all. All swim great and eat healthy. A couple of months ago I tried some frags. After about three weeks in the tank none of the corals opened up. Four head hammer or ZOAs didnt open at all. GSP melted almost overnight. Xenia shriveled up in a day or so. Kenya tree looked like crap. Ammonia was at 0. Nitrite was at 0. Nitrate was about 5 ppm. I didn't have test kits for Calcium, Mag or Alk. Was told since there wasn't anything in the tank using those up I didn't need to worry about it at the time. I gave the corals to a friend to see if he could save them and now the hammer is fully opened. Not sure about the ZOAs. This past Saturday I was giving a small rock with two Xenia plugs on it just to see if my tank was more mature now for corals. It hasn't shriveled up like last time but it still doesn't look good. Any ideas why corals won't thrive and open in my tank. I'm also battling red slime at the moment but doubt that has much to do with it. Thanks !!

 

Most would say you should probably get all your parameters tested. Sg, calcium, alk, and mag should be tested. What lights do you have? Even though nothing is in the tank that would use the three elements you mentioned, you should still test to ensure the proper levels are there. What salt do you use?

 

I have a 4 bulb T5. Instant Ocean salt.

 

Really?! A hammer doesn't use calcium to build its skeletal structure? But that's not the point since your salt would give you whatever your corals would of needed. You didn't have anything in the tank prior that would absorb your elements. I would tend to think it could be high phosphates or maybe another element like possibly copper. Did you use established live rock from another tank or was it base rock? Where & what water do you use? If you wanna keep lps & such then it's a good idea to have a full range test kit. It's hard for people to diagnose a problem without all the info.

 

I think he was saying that before he tried corals, there was nothing to use up the minerals.

Anyways, I basically agree with what others have posted. Before we can help, you need to test for and post up the results for the following:


How much flow is in the tank?
What filtration?
Salinity
pH
Temp (include low and high)
Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium

 

+1 The only way to tell is to see where your tank currently is with parameters. If you are going with corals, you may want to just invest in a reef test kit, if you don't already have one

 

Also, what type of water are you using? Tap water could be causing this - especially with top offs. If the bulbs are old enough or not meant for corals, they might need to be replaced too.

 

RO/DI water from day one. SG is about 1.024. Temp ranges from 78 to 80. Had a canister filter and a Aquatop skimmer at the time. Now have a reef octopus bh100ss skimmer and a HOB filter with Cheato in and have some Phosguard on the way to also put in there. Bulbs are a couple months old but are the bulbs that came with the Coralife fixture. Will get the proper test kits soon. I'm thinking its phosphates also. Gonna try the Phosguard in a media bag then probably get a phosban reactor. I bought the rock from a lady that was getting out of the hobby. But I'm starting to think this rock may be leaches phosphates into the water. Also have a phosphate test kit ordered.

 

Was her tank up & running with corals or just fish or what when you bought the rock? Anything can be possible when buying used rock. I got my rock from a tank with fish from someone off Cl. That's why I bought a cheap zoa first just so I could see how it would react with my new setup.

 

I know in my tank my Euphyllia ( Hammers, torches, frogspawns) are sensitive to alk changes, so you really need to be testing the big 3 when it comes to corals. Alk, Calc, and Mag.