that red dragon has a little polyp extension. thats good.
but your corals look pale and starved for nutrients.
it looks to me like the turf algae is now removing all the nutrients and this is why you are getting such low p readings and 0 n readings.
i noticed you added some tiny hermits.. what about adding 40 astrea snails? and/or some algae grazing fish like a jewelled blenny or bristle toothed tang?
I think you need more physical algae control, Imo...
I have been in your exact situation and dropping nutrients or trying to, killed my corals. you need to get some aggressive grazers in there to remove that turf, physically and turn that turf into n and p for the corals..
Also, this may sound crazy to you but have you considered adding nitrate? adding nitrate will change the nutrient balance/dynamic and may change things in the tank..
i use Seachem's Flourish Nitrogen. It is a fresh water planted tank additive. It is Pure potassium nitrate. Gives you some potassium and lots of nitrate.
if i where in your shoes, i would go get a LOT of snails- not just enough for your tank but twice as many as you need, let them graze a bit and then raise your nitrate to maybe around 2 ppm. getting your n up may even control the p a little..
Also, i think you should be waiting for results 2 or 3 weeks down the road, not two or 3 days..
the thing about sps that have been through a lot of instability is that some of them go into a long hibernation of sorts. They can stay like that for months and then either bloom or die.
Like i said, i am coming out of the other end of a long battle with impatience and imbalance in my system.. some corals have died along the way and some have begun to come back. New ones that have been added more recently, since the tank is stable, are growing right off the bat.
i think that at this point it may be misleading to you to be gauging your tank's health by your old frags.. i'm not saying add new ones yet but once you have a consistent reading for n and a constant low p reading, you should try a couple new frags- but only after a few months after consistent n and p..
i used to use the Hanna checkers and i discovered them to be soooo inconsistent that i wanted to cry from the results i got day to day..
i LOVE the Elos professional po4 kit. nice and consistent and accurate.
sorry for the ramble..
in short:
add an army - a real army of algae control
add some nitrate
watch p
goes without saying- keep calc alk mag temp as stable as possible
give the tank some time..
leave the skimmer alone- don't set it to wet skim- it gets too unstable..
leave the gfo out of your system- its not necessary in your case..
take a step back and let things happen more slowly..
I hope I'm not sounding like a mr know it all.. maybe i am.. sorry but you are so close!
grazers..... get some grazers.
good luck!!
i feel for you! i'm rooting for you!
