Zoo's not opening

[joebo1717]

I have been having trouble getting some of my zoo's to open. I took them out about a week ago and dipped them and shook out more crap that I would have liked to. Two days later the entire colonies were opening. Now it's a few days later and they don't want to open again. My calcium levels are a little high and my ph is about 8.2 what do you think could be causing this? I do have an over abundence of amphipods in the tank that i have been looking for a mandrin to help out but this seems a little rediculous. Should i do another dip?

 

[coralfarm123]

Check you alkalinity levels. I bet they are low if you calcium is too high. If you find them on the low side, be sure to raise it very very slowly and monitor PH. Also sounds like you have a lot of detritus buildup between polyps which usually is from not enough water movement. I would not do another dip as this will only stress them more. Do you see any physical signs of damage or are they just normal looking closed polyps. A picture might be helpful too. Good luck.

 

[joebo1717]

They seem to be normal. My dKH is really high, above 12 and my calcium is high as well. I have taken on a 25% water change today and will do another one in 4-5 days. I am going to closely monitor the dKH and calcium levels untill they return back to normal. I don't know anything else to do to bring these down except water changes. Let me know if there is anything else. I have a 30" spray bar from my overflow running that shoots water not only across the top of the tank but also on an angle across the reef and 2 powerheads that keep things flowing lenght wise down the tank. Maybe i will garb a power head and do a quick blow off of the zoo's tonight.

 

[joebo1717]

In my last post i sated the dKH was high but it's the meq/l that is above 12, i just did a calcium test and it came in at about 320 to 340. I am assuming that due to chemistry this imbalance will correct itself with Calcium Supplementation. I think i am going to also do one more water change in then next few days to help speed this up and give my aquarium some fresh habbitat. Hopefully by next week i can get things to stabalize and then stop worrying.