Sinularia Coral Getting Smaller

[johnstires]

I have had a sinularia coral for a few years. I got it as a small frag and it grew into a very large coral, I'd say about the size of a cabbage. For the past couple years it has been open 24/7, hasn't closed up, hasn't shed.

Over the past couple of months, after I got LED light (I used to have T5s) it started to slowly get smaller. It's become more compact and is now a little larger than a baseball size. It's become more stout and compact, where it used to have long branches.

I attached 2 shots to show the coral as well as the entire tank.

I have alot of softies and they all LOVE the new LEDs. That toadstool has doubled in size since the LED change.

My salinity is kept at 1.025-1.026

I haven't dosed my tank with alkalinity or calcium in a few months, but I do a 5 gallon water change every 4-6 weeks. Not sure what those levels are.

Wondering if anyone know why my coral is slowing getting smaller. Should I be dosing anything? Should I be doing more water changes?

 

[cloak]

Have you added any more power heads to the tank? If not, my guess would be that it's still adjusting to the LED's. It would be nice if this could happen over the course of a few days or so, but sometimes this isn't always the case. I wouldn't worry just yet.

 

[johnstires]

I haven't been following the trends over the past 3-4 years. Do softies require any supplements or are they usually fine with the occasional water change?

 

[cloak]

The occasional water change is always a plus IMO, but sometimes this isn't really needed as long as your parameters are within reason.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm

 

[Memeber007]

It's leds... 3 friends of mine lost theirs after they switched from t5 to leds. Dim your lights or move it away from the light. Hopefully its not too late. Best of luck!

 

[Memeber007]

By the way it looks like yours is a colt coral.

 

[johnstires]

By the way it looks like yours is a colt coral.

You are probably right. I am not good with the nuances of these softies.

The LEDs have been on my tank for 4 months now. I thought soft corals all like high lighting. I got the 46W Current USA Orbit Marine LED Saltwater Reef Lighting System.

It is running at 100% power with the white light on for 8 hours and the Actinic on for 10 hours.

How do I know how much light this is putting out. I know Watts/Gallon used to be the rule of thumb, but that has all changed since LEDs.

All my other soft corals, and mushrooms have thrived and grown since the LEDs went in. It's just this guy who seems to be bothered.

As a side note, my trumpet corals (over 100 heads which were indestructible and survived a complete tank meltdown) hate the LEDs.

 

[johnstires]

Correction. My day light lights are set to 50%. Actinics 100%.

 

[FortyFour]

I have the same lights, but 2 of them. My sinularia hasn't taken off like the rest of my corals either. It was given to me by a friend, who coincidentally had the same lights and had to frag the sinularia because it was growing too fast. This hobby, I tell you.

 

[johnstires]

Update, coral is still getting smaller. Still hasn't closed up or slimed. It's just growing in reverse. It is the oddest thing...

 

[michfish5]

Not to hijack your thread, but I have a colt doing the same thing. I have had it for over two years and it was about 9 inches tall and home to my clown. Then suddenly it started gradually shrinking. It is now about 1/3 it's original size. The only thing I can think that happened around the time it started shrinking was that I added a Devils Hand to the tank. I thought it might be chemical warfare but I run carbon and do weekly 10% water changes. The rest of my corals are fine.

I read somewhere else that it could be starving. I do periodically try to spot feed it with plankton, in addition to my regular fish feeding. Do they need to be fed more?