Leather Corals Not Happy

[MilwaukeeReef]

Hi everyone! I have had a saltwater setup for about 1.5 years. I recently changed my rock work back in January of this year and started to do a leather only tank (with one plating coral).

For some reason my leathers will only come out 2 days of the week full bloom and the other days be dormant with their polyps not extended. I also have a big toadstool (on the right) that has a section of it's polyps that haven't come out in a month and a half. Could this section be dead or is it possible to wait and find out if the polyps in this region ever come back out?

Alkilinity is at a 6.5 dKH stable
Temp- 78 degrees
Undetectable Nitrates

 

[griss]

I haven’t kept leathers/toadstools in years.

Alk seems a bit low.

And, if memory serves, leathers like some nitrates. If so, that might be the issue.

 

[griss]

@Paul B @wvned @OldReefGuy

Any thoughts here.

 

[OldReefGuy]

IMO...Leathers like a little dirty water...also what the waterflow like to them? They tend not to like heavy direct flows....

 

[OldReefGuy]

Re: Toadstool....leave it alone....it will recover....

 

[kharmaguru]

Could this section be dead or is it possible to wait

Not dead.

IMO...Leathers like a little dirty water...also what the waterflow like to them? They tend not to like heavy direct flows....

I was actually thinking he had too little flow in the bottom half of the tank...

 

[MilwaukeeReef]

Thanks for the feedback so far. Water flow is relatively mild. I have really never had dirty water. Maybe I should cut off my protein skimmer and see if that works?

 

[OldReefGuy]

are you dosing iodine?

 

[griss]

are you dosing iodine?

Ah, good thought. Didn’t think of that.

 

[MilwaukeeReef]

are you dosing iodine?

I am not

 

[OldReefGuy]

I would look at increasing your alk to start.......and since it looks like a mostly softie tank, I would look at starting to dose iodine on a weekly basis....
Just my .02 cents

 

[OldReefGuy]

and leave the skimmer on....looks like a heavy bioload

 

[MilwaukeeReef]

and leave the skimmer on....looks like a heavy bioload

Perfect. I will try that. Thanks OldReefGuy.

Should I mess with the flow? Do you think I need more flow towards the bottom half of the tank?

 

[OldReefGuy]

I would only mess with one thing at a time lol......

 

[MilwaukeeReef]

Alright, so I got my alkilinity slowly up to a 7.4 dKH. Should I continue going up and stabalize or try to maintain it at 7.4 and see how things react?

 

[MilwaukeeReef]

I have also been dosing Lugol's iodine drops (3x) daily since I was last online .

 

[OldReefGuy]

I have also been dosing Lugol's iodine drops (3x) daily since I was last online .

Are you testing for Iodine? 3x daily is alot of iodine IMO........maybe should be 3x weekly......
whats your temp? leather prefer the 78's....

 

[OldReefGuy]

Heres some good reading (basic care) Toadstool Leather Coral

 

[MilwaukeeReef]

I am not testing for iodine. Was just going off of a recommendation I found online. I will test for iodine before I dose again to see where I am at. I keep my tank temperature at 78 degrees.

 

[OldReefGuy]

I only dose 2 cap fulls (I know, I know....) weekly, for a 120G.....but I also have quite a few softies......