Feeling hopeless.

[NJS7x7]

hey all,

I recently bought my first coals, a Button colony, mushroom, starburst, and orange tube. They seem to be doing ok (2nd day), but the orange tube will not come out yet.

My tank the Red Sea 130D is about a year old with 5 fish and 3 shrimp. Got some phyto feast for them as well as the frozen food, and regular fish/invert food i give. Reason im feeling hopeless is because I spent over $100 on these and there just seems so much to learn and I feel like I know nothing.

Anyways my water prams are 0 amo, 8.2 PH, 0 nitrite, and 1 nitrate. Alk i raised today to 3.4 from 2.8 and mag and cal is fine from my guide's recommended levels.

Looking for good articles, but not finding any. Any tips on how high I should place the corals for light, water flow, how often to feed, just basic coral keeping tips. Can't really afford anything to die, but beyond the fish I have anything I've tried adding (anomime and other fish) just die without me being able to figure out why.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mitchgams]

I've had this problem before but a couple days later they began to open up. There isn't too much to learn really, as long as your water is good condition (which it is), and your temp is between 78-82 degrees F. give them a couple days they will come out especially if the other ones are out.

Also I have had many hard corals die on me before while my polyps and softies thrived! they're very easy to tend to.

 

[Grant W]

need more info first but button polyps will grow under power compacts, mushrooms pretty much same, starburst not sure what that is and orange tube if you mean sun polyp then its not photosynthetic so put it low . btw lighting info and tank type helps like do you have live rock etc lol and hang in there. remember stability is everything and do your testing and water changes habitually and take your time, also read everything . hope this helps

 

[Grant W]

one more thing put where you are in your avatar area and hook up with a local club. you will be amazed how generous clubmembers are with info and free stuff. Grant

 

[Smerdikov]

are you using ro/di water?

 

[NJS7x7]

The lighting that came with the Red Sea 130D that I can recall from memory is 55W 10k white/actinitic combo bulb. It is 32 gal and I have 50 LB of live rock that is now a year old with a 3 in sand bed.

Everything seems ok, but the bright orange coral stil will not come fully out (I think it is called Sun something...) It has come out a little, but not all the way from what I can tell.

I wish there were clubes but up in Port Angeles WA there seems to be nothing. Apperently people do not like fish up here besides eating them lol. The closest reef shop is over an hour away.

I do use RO water with the Red Sea Coral Pro salt. The muchrooms seem fine as does the button, but the starburts (small purple tube colony with green tenticles) are out but could do better.

What are some other easy, hardy coals that are good for beginings. After a month or so if these do well I was thinking about a plate, or maybe even brain coral.

 

[Peale]

Your alk is way low...needs to be upwards of 8-9...you say mag and calc are 'fine' but what are the actual numbers?

They may still be acclimating to your system. Keep an eye on them for the next few days and let us know.

 

[travis32]

alk, is o.k. depending how it's measured. My test defaults to meq/l. Don't know why, which means that 3.0 to 4.00 is the good range. I think your alk may have been low, but it's good now, just test once a week or so, to get a feel of your tanks chemistry.

As to the Sun [Polyps]. They are non photosynthetic and probably don't like a lot of light. I would make sure to hand feed them shrimp once to twice a day and see if they start coming out at all. Try mysis, brine, and some of the other meaty foods. You have to feed each polyp separately for it to thrive. Unfortunately, I believe them to be in the moderate to difficult to care for category because you have to hand feed them almost daily...

 

[noahm]

The sun corals do tend to be more nocturnal until they have been lured from the dark side by daytime feedings. Try a little mysis set on the partially open polyps. See if the rest open up.

 

[NJS7x7]

Wow awsome information, thanks guys would have never guessed about had feeding the Sun Polyps, but that it fine because feeding is fun after all. Can they handel chopped or whole pieces of krill shrimp?

For food I have Protofeast, dried mysis, forzen Krill and Silversides, along with my fish and invert processed dried food.

Roughly how often should I feed the others? I feed my fish and inverts roughly every other day alternating between the processed and forzen food.

My alk meq/l which is now still at 3.4.

My Sun is rather high in the tank to keep him away from my Coral Banded Shrimp, he was pinching it when I first put it in, but I will try to find a lower spot. The Starburts Polyps are currently at the bottem (small purple tubes with bright green arms) in med current. Again thanks for the great info, reading articles as I write this, but even after a year still haven't figured out a good feeding rutine, so many people tell me so many differnet things lol.