Caring for an LPS (flower pot)

I picked up an LPS about a month or so ago, and he has never been quite right. I have a metal halide (150w) with 100w of actinics. I made sure that all of my major params were good for an LPS (no nitrates, nitrites, phosphates, calcium between 400-450 ppm, stable pH (7.8-8), normal ALK. I dose regularly with iodide. My temperature fluctuates between 78 and 82 degrees depending on my ambiant temp, usually closer to the 78-80 range.

My LPS opens up about halfway, and never more than that, sometimes it is completely closed while the halide is on. I have never seen the polyps open, and I have tried placing him higher and higher starting at the bottom of the bed.

I have been told that the temperature is my big problem, but I dont know what to do to fix that (besides getting a $400-800 chiller that is way out of my budget at the moment).

Some side info:
I run a 10g refugium with caulerpa and chaeto, I dose daily with iodide, calcium and buffer. I dose weekly with coralvite. I have a few aiptasias, but none are in contact with other corals (I ordered the aiptasia removal kit already from a website) All of my other corals are open and happy, but not as exuberant as I'd like them to be. My tank is about 9mos old and was upgraded from a 40g to a 54 gal + 10 gal fuge about two months ago. I didn't add the hard coral (it's my only one) until a month of running the halide. My light cycle runs from 2pm to 12am (10 hrs) with the actinics running two hours before and two hours after the halide (6 hrs for the halide). I have three PHs that include a koralia 2, and 2 via aquas (one250GPH, one 500-650 GPH for surface flow).

If there is any other information that would be conclusive, please ask away.


Thanks in advance, go 3reef!

 

First thing I noticed is your PH is quite low. Aim for 8.3-8.4

 

Theres lots of different species of flower pots... goniopora, etc.. so post a pick unless you know which specific type. They're all somewhat hard to keep, and might not live longer than 6 months. Different species have different requirements for trace minerals or elements (iron, manganese), food types, etc. I'll try to find a link to help you ID it.

Here's one link to Reefkeeping, but not the one I was looking for. I'll keep looking.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php

 

How can I raise my pH though? I buffer dose the tank daily, but I still cant seem to get my pH and higher... Ill post a pic tomorrow, I just moved a lot of rocks around and the tank is a bit dusty. I made a cave with less light absorption for the flowerpot, maybe that will do something.

Pic coming tomorrow!

 

Definitely Green Goniopora norfolkensis (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/images/captivegrown.JPG)

Says he likes low flow, which is how i have it now. I dont know about lighting though. I just put mine in shade today.

After reading this guys website, I realize this coral is far past my limitation in my current tank, I think I'm going to give him to someone better equipped for this thing...

 

If I can inject my 2 cents here? I wouldnt waste my money on one. By far, one of the hardest corals to keep ALIVE. The issue with these corals is that they dont survive in prestine waters. They do better in "dirty" water, murky, lots of floating debris, which is the opposite of the rest of the corals. I've had a couple in my reefing life and none of them survived longer than 6-8 months. Your better off getting a hardier coral that will give you yrs of enjoyment and grandkids......;D Luna

 

Hmmm.... What buffer are you using? I'm currently using Kent Pro-Buffer dKH, its always held mine at 8.3. But the mix water is 7.8 also before buffering (very hard water here), so maybe yours is a lot softer? Try dosing once a day till you reach your target. Being that it jumps around by .2 kinda strikes me; seems unstable. You might also try taking water to your LFS and having them test it to verify that your test solutions havent gone bad, which is something I try to do once a month or so.

 

I have a $40 rock souvenir. Yup you guessed it , I bought one because it looked beautiful but it died in less than 8 months, So now all that's left of it is the skeleton/rock.

Really hard to keep alive, but mine was doing somewhat good when i spot fed it everyday.

 

I am having problems with my flower pot as well. It is going back to the LFS before I kill it. Sorry to hear you are having problems too.