Hiding coral

Carl C

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Lol my alkalinity is 10.5
My calcium is 385
Mg is 1301
Phosphorus .08
Nitrate 2.1

Question is why is this guy hiding his tentacles. I got him probably three weeks ago. Placed to midway in the tank. He was doing fine for a week. And then he closed up. My nitrate at that time was zero and my phosphate was high. I believe it was.15. And it had shot up. My nutrients were very low when I first put this guy in. So I did a little extra feeding. Spread a small amount of reef Roids around daily. And let my sock overflow for a couple of days. That’s when , the phosphate went to .15! I lowered the coral to the bottom of the tank, just thinking maybe it was the light. My other guys are doing OK although they are established. I got another softy. Don’t ask me what the kind is I never know. But I got him the same day. He’s doing good . So now I’m monitoring nitrate and phosphate daily. I actually started dosing nitrate … that’s how I got it up to its current level. From zero. I’ve got GFO which brought the. Phosphate to zero. But over the past couple of days it’s been creeping up first it was .04 yesterday and now it’s .08 as of this morning. Obviously I’m chasing numbers here! I don’t know. I’m so sick of dying. The only thing I seem to be able to keep is an anenomies lol

I had a massive coral, hammer coral that is. I had it for probably three years. And I hadn’t checked my parameters in a long time. I’ve realized phosphate was really high. I brought it down very very quickly with Gfo and the coral hammer died. Based on what I’m seeing in my LFS the size of this hammer coral was probably worth $800 to replace.

IMG_2547.jpeg
 

taytay_1119

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Lol my alkalinity is 10.5
My calcium is 385
Mg is 1301
Phosphorus .08
Nitrate 2.1
IMG_2547.jpeg

Could be because you hadn’t checked levels in a while corals adjusted to the higher po4 and by changing it quickly it shocked it. The calcium to me is a bit lower IME I’ve had better luck with euphyllia with higher calcium. Alk is also on higher end of “ok” range. Idk though I’m no expert *facepalm* lol.
 

Kasrift

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Lol my alkalinity is 10.5
My calcium is 385
Mg is 1301
Phosphorus .08
Nitrate 2.1

Question is why is this guy hiding his tentacles. I got him probably three weeks ago. Placed to midway in the tank. He was doing fine for a week. And then he closed up. My nitrate at that time was zero and my phosphate was high. I believe it was.15. And it had shot up. My nutrients were very low when I first put this guy in. So I did a little extra feeding. Spread a small amount of reef Roids around daily. And let my sock overflow for a couple of days. That’s when , the phosphate went to .15! I lowered the coral to the bottom of the tank, just thinking maybe it was the light. My other guys are doing OK although they are established. I got another softy. Don’t ask me what the kind is I never know. But I got him the same day. He’s doing good . So now I’m monitoring nitrate and phosphate daily. I actually started dosing nitrate … that’s how I got it up to its current level. From zero. I’ve got GFO which brought the. Phosphate to zero. But over the past couple of days it’s been creeping up first it was .04 yesterday and now it’s .08 as of this morning. Obviously I’m chasing numbers here! I don’t know. I’m so sick of dying. The only thing I seem to be able to keep is an anenomies lol

I had a massive coral, hammer coral that is. I had it for probably three years. And I hadn’t checked my parameters in a long time. I’ve realized phosphate was really high. I brought it down very very quickly with Gfo and the coral hammer died. Based on what I’m seeing in my LFS the size of this hammer coral was probably worth $800 to replace.

IMG_2547.jpeg
You probably shouldn't make massive changes like that. Slow changes are better, which is probably why your hammer coral perished.

Also what is "this guy"? Is it a torch? If it had tentacles I'm assuming that, but need more details. Also as mentioned calcium is low.
 

DED65

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You are bouncing the nutrients around too much. You don’t want to bottom out the nitrates and phosphates. Take it slow, use a lot less gfo and add more only if necessary. No need to chase numbers to get results, watch the tank and adjust from there. Just try to slow down
 

Figuring out the why: Has your primary reason(s) for keeping a saltwater aquarium changed over time?

  • My reasons for reef keeping have changed dramatically.

    Votes: 2 7.1%
  • My reasons for reef keeping have somewhat evolved.

    Votes: 11 39.3%
  • My reasons for reef keeping have no changed.

    Votes: 14 50.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 3.6%
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