short tentacle plate coral

[kcfehring]

I am new to reefing and bought a short tentacle plate coral about 2 months ago. Being new I took the LFS word as truth and had very poor lighting. ( I have a 44 gallon corner tank) I have since upgraded to PC lighting (65 watt 50/50 coral life 24") When I brought the plate home he was doing fine, but after about two weeks I noticed that the tentacles were not coming out as often then they weren't coming out at all. I changed the lighting and with in hours there was a great change. All tentacles were out for most of the day. About 4 days later it started not having the tentacles out much and now for the last three days no tentacles out at all.

My water parameters are as follows (checked yesterday)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate -0
sg - 1.023
temp. 79
pH 8.4
phopate 0.5
calcium is very high. I think it must be coming from my water (I was using treated tap water for water changes and for top off. Yesterday I did a 10 percent water change and used RO water)
alkalinity - 14 dKH or 250 ppm. I know that this is high as well, but I am hoping that the continued water change with RO water will help bring it down (It was 17 before the 10% water change)

My water is clear and my other corals and fish are doing well. I have a blue bubble coral, large cabbage leather, two feather dusters, finger leather, kenya tree, assorted mushrooms, yellow sunburst polyps, green button polyps, and zoanthid frag. I have a mated oscallaris pair and a pseudochromis, peppermint shrimp, coral banded shrimp, nassarius snails, 3 hermit crabs, and 4 turbo snails.

I hope someone has suggestions for this plate. I hate to see it doing so poorly after it was doing so well. All suggestions are appreciated.

Kim

 

[syrinx]

Obviously you need to get a handle on the alk- sooner rather than later! If all things were perfect with the water chem, then I would imagine the next thing would be the feeding of the coral. Usually it would be common to jump right on the fact the lighting is inadequate, but since the cow is out of the barn and we need to help this coral- feed it! Is this one of the perfecto 44 pent tanks? If so it is a very deep tank and the plate is really not getting much light. Depending on the color of the plate it may need medium to strong lighting. I would continue to upgrade lighting as you can afford to, start feeding the coral, and get your alk/Ca and phos in order.

 

[sambo123]

I would get a handle on the alk and calcium then work from there. That light is also not strong enough for such a deep tank, I would go with a 250wt MH or a really strong t-5 fixture. I would also feed some phyto or cyclopeeze to the plate. What is your flow like, I would also make sure it has fairly decent flow.

 

[jjmcat]

Ill agree with sambo on the lighting but if your not doing sps then you wont need but a 150 pendant.I always fed my plate meaty foods.Do you have a pic of your tank?How high is your rockwork stacked in your tank?Also on your alk. are you dosing anything by chance and if you are I would stop. When i first started my reef i was dosing all kinds of chemicals in my tank and ended up killing some nice creatures.Have you posted in the COMAS or OMAS fourm yet?

 

[sambo123]

A 150wt would work fine, but might as well spend a little more and go with a 250wt because youll probably want it later if you plan to keep high light corals