Corals not opening up and coloring up

[AlexR]

My corals are only opening up 3/4 way. Mainly a frogspawn and hammer coral.
Zoas aren't fully opening either.
I'm thinking about what I can do...

I have tried moving them around.
The frogspawn and hammer are now both on the sand bed and in very low current areas.

The hammer is new, just a day now but was open more in the tank it came from.

The frogpawn has been in tank for a couple weeks now and was worse when higher up and medium current.

The zoas have been in the tank for about a week now and aren't fully opening.

It's hard for me to say what's wrong except my magnesium is high.

Phosphates- 0
Nitrates - 2.5
Calcium - 400
Kh - 9
Magnesium- 1800
Ph - 8.2
Salinity 1.026
Temp- 79-80

I'm afraid my lighting is either too strong or too weak and can't find the middle ground.
They are Chinese knockoffs of the kessil 380 (same chip). I have 4 over a 60" 125g tank. 20" deep.


Here is a pic with lights at about 1/4 strength.

 

[AlexR]

Some more pictures

 

[travisstewart]

How old is your tank? By the looks of the algae, def some nutrient issues. Using RO water?


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[AlexR]

How old is your tank? By the looks of the algae, def some nutrient issues. Using RO water?


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Yea. Tank is 5 years old. Just started stocking.
Using rodi water only.

I have been doing weekly 15g water changes for 2 months now. Before that the tank was sitting for years without water changes.

About 2 weeks ago I just cleaned all LR and did a new aquascaping. I removed all rock and scrubbed them down and put them back in.

I have an ATS that's been running for 3 weeks now. Phosban reactor with GFO. And a ceramic bio-filter block.

Looks like a bad case of diatom algae. I may just start dosing some h2o2. But I don't want to kill anything.
Strange because all my readings are good. Except for high magnesium levels.

 

[travisstewart]

In my experience high mag always helped any algae issues I had. Did you have fish in there this whole time or do you currently?


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[AlexR]

I am however doing water changes using NSW.
I live near St Augustine, there is a place called Whitney Laboratory for marine bioscience where I get my water from.
Many locals around here use it.

All top off water is 5 stage rodi.

 

[AlexR]

In my experience high mag always helped any algae issues I had. Did you have fish in there this whole time or do you currently?


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I did have fish the entire time. Just a couple. A cardinal and a watchman goby. They are both still alive and well 5 years and counting.

Just recently (month ago) I've added a large clean up crew, some emerald crabs and a cleaner shrimp.
The fish also were added a month ago.
Powder brown tang
2 fire fish
Flame hawkfish
Coral beauty angel
Another cardinal fish
2x clowns
Bartlett's anthias
Mccosker flasher wrasse

All fish are doing very well.

 

[travisstewart]

I did have fish the entire time. Just a couple. A cardinal and a watchman goby. They are both still alive and well 5 years and counting.

Just recently (month ago) I've added a large clean up crew, some emerald crabs and a cleaner shrimp.
The fish also were added a month ago.
Powder brown tang
2 fire fish
Flame hawkfish
Coral beauty angel
Another cardinal fish
2x clowns
Bartlett's anthias
Mccosker flasher wrasse

All fish are doing very well.

Thanks for the info. Did you add all those fish at the same time? With a small bioload for that long, you really have to space out fish additions. Your tank needs to slowly learn how to adjust/handle the new wastes from each fish.


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[AlexR]

I did have a blonde naso tang that died a week after placing it. That was my only death so far...


Here is a pic of my ATS after 3 weeks of use

 

[AlexR]

Thanks for the info. Did you add all those fish at the same time? With a small bioload for that long, you really have to space out fish additions. Your tank needs to slowly learn how to adjust/handle the new wastes from each fish.


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They were mostly at the same time. Only a couple were about a week apart. This was a bit over a month ago now.

 

[travisstewart]

I did have a blonde naso tang that died a week after placing it. That was my only death so far...


Here is a pic of my ATS after 3 weeks of use

Obv removed the dead fish, right?


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[AlexR]

I am afraid my rock and sand is spewing nutrients. Or maybe silica from the sand.
I am not sure how to battle it.

 

[travisstewart]

They were mostly at the same time. Only a couple were about a week apart. This was a bit over a month ago now.

Yea there's your issue. It takes a month and even longer sometimes for all that to catch up. I would think others will agree you can't add that many fish at once.


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[AlexR]

Obv removed the dead fish, right?


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Absolutely. Right when I found it.
But some worms and copepods were having a feast.

 

[AlexR]

Yea there's your issue. It takes a month and even longer sometimes for all that to catch up. I would think others will agree you can't add that many fish at once.


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So you think the corals and zoas aren't opening fully due to excess nutrients which in turn is causing the diatoms?

And just giving it time to adjust? While keeping up with the weekly 10% water changes?

 

[travisstewart]

So you think the corals and zoas aren't opening fully due to excess nutrients which in turn is causing the diatoms?

And just giving it time to adjust? While keeping up with the weekly 10% water changes?

Yes that my opinion. I would even kick it to 20% for a short time.


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[AlexR]

Yes that my opinion. I would even kick it to 20% for a short time.


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Just as info.

I only feed once a day. I feed only frozen cubes. I mix it up. Sometimes brine, sometimes mysis, sometimes the mutipack, sometimes the marine cuisine.
I always melt it in a cup of tank water first then spread it out when feeding.

I also always have a half sheet of nori for the tang. And change it daily.

 

[AlexR]

Thank you for all your advice Travis.

I'll see if I can up the water change from 15g to 20g. Just need another 5g jug.

 

[travisstewart]

Thank you for all your advice Travis.

I'll see if I can up the water change from 15g to 20g. Just need another 5g jug.

Anytime. Interested in other thoughts also. Always learning in this hobby.


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[AlexR]

So I really think my lights suck and are a big reason my corals aren't very happy.

I just ordered a new radion xr30w g4 pro. I know I need at least 2 and preferably 3 of them but want to take my time. As they are expensive.

Plus like this I can compare. I will leave one of my current lights on and see the difference.