GSP not opening and very little growth from corals! HELP!

[Fishgirl2393]

OK, so as the title says. I have two colonies of GSP that won't open, but the mats have grown a lot since I got them. However, one colony grew a TON and then a lot of that mat died off for unknown reasons (the rock started "showing through" the mat). I like the way GSP looks and can't figure out why it won't open up and do right. My parameters and equipment are listed at the bottom of this post.
Also, I am not getting good growth from my corals at all (kenya trees, blue star polyps, candycane, xenia, mushrooms of assorted types) and can't figure out why. The tank has been set up since June and most of these corals came from the tank before I restarted it because of cyano.

Equipment (20-gallon tank): Lights are Odyssea T5HO 4x24watt lights with Wavepoint bulbs (one actinic, two 12,000K, one "reef wave" purple). Filters are 2 Aqua-Tech 5-15 HOB filters with PhosGuard running (I've run carbon recently and this made no difference in the corals opening) in one. Powerheads consist of a 45gph unknown brand powerhead and a Koralia 425. Tank has a small Tetra brand heater and is also running a Lee's Counter Current protein skimmer.

Parameters:

SG: 1.025

Temp: 78-80 (maximum it has gotten to)

dKH: 8

pH: 8.0

Nitrates: >5ppm

Phosphates: >0.03

Calcium: 490-495

HELP please. I would like to figure this out and get my corals looking better.

 

[Mstefa1]

Nitrates: >5ppm

Phosphates: >0.03

 

Do you mean ?

 

Nitrates: <5ppm

Phosphates: <0.03

[Fishgirl2393]

Yeah, sorry. I was tired last night from lots of college classes.

[Formula462]

Lol I find much humor in that statement.

[Fishgirl2393]

Sorry, but I'm taking a lot of hard stuff right now (being a biology major) so I wasn't being careful with the typing last night. If you have suggestions about what may be going on, please post them because I'd like this figured out. I don't see anything wrong with the water (and I've confirmed it with other tests to be sure something is not wrong that my tests are missing) and I don't see how it could be the lights (they've bleached a mushroom in the past so they're not too weak for sure). What could it be causing the issues? I still don't have cyano in the tank (after I got the phosphate down and dosed ChemiClean, it went away) so that can't be causing other issues. Tank too clean? Stray voltage/current (how would I check for that?)? Too much/too little water flow? I need some suggestions.

[brandon429]

stop stripping phosphates on a soft mainly tank

 

we talked previously about large weekly water changes forever solving all probs, and feeding only high quality frozen reef feed each week or each interval how is that coming

 

there are some corals you never base anything off their opening, gsp is #1. if they open fine, if not move on to another favorite they are never guaranteed and usually are weeds.

 

since we never factor briareum into anything, its onto your other corals. since these posts tend to get really long and not very nice, simply opening with a fts can cure most of that and get right to the details. plus, we'd have a history of pics to watch for the nonstandard details to go off of

 

always post full tank shots on each of these threads, 1st post

 

you maximize feed and water changes and all your other corals will be fine. phosphate stripping is suspect anytime corals misbehave, its easy to overdo and underfeed in efforts to fight algae and this usually stresses corals.

 

each time we talked about full tank shots it was to see unspoken variables that affect corals. evidence of feeding, waste management etc. areas of calcification to prove balance, all kinds of things. full tank shots are the key to any of these posts not any tank measurement.

 

 

battle algae another way, its not always about phosphate stripping. youll never see me w algae

since phosphate stripping is optional, cease

[jservedio]

stop stripping phosphates on a soft mainly tank

 

we talked previously about large weekly water changes forever solving all probs, and feeding only high quality frozen reef feed each week or each interval how is that coming

 

there are some corals you never base anything off their opening, gsp is #1. if they open fine, if not move on to another favorite they are never guaranteed and usually are weeds.

 

since we never factor briareum into anything, its onto your other corals.

 

always post full tank shots on each of these threads, 1st post

 

you maximize feed and water changes and all your other corals will be fine. phosphate stripping is suspect anytime corals misbehave, its easy to overdo and underfeed in efforts to fight algae and this usually stresses corals.

 

each time we talked about full tank shots it was to see unspoken variables that affect corals. evidence of feeding, waste management etc. areas of calcification to prove balance, all kinds of things. full tank shots are the key to any of these posts not any tank measurement.

 

 

battle algae another way, its not always about phosphate stripping. youll never see me w algae

since phosphate stripping is optional, cease

 

Exactly - while lots of people stress keeping Alkalinity extremely stable (I do this too), keeping your nutrient levels stable is just as important. The more nutrients in the water, the more light the corals can utilize. The less nutrients in the water, the less light they can handle. While corals will adapt to any level of light and nutrients (to a point), if they are constantly adapting to new levels of nutrients they will never thrive.

 

If you are running GFO to keep your phosphates down, you have to find the exact amount that keeps your phosphates below the threshold for nuisance algae while simultaneously not stripping all of your nutrients from the water. If you are stripping phosphates from the water constantly, you have to also be feeding your tank at least enough to maintain appreciable levels of nutrients for the corals to utilize.

 

Too little nutrients is just as bad as too many. I would definitely cut back on stripping out phosphates - especially in a tank not full of SPS.

[brandon429]

my other thought was that we dont have to give up on gsp, but dont base anything on it either. I wont keep it anymore, but distinctly over the years in my established reefs it would close up for no reason for a month. I learned you just set up the tank to run all other corals and go off them.

 

not every reef keeps every coral either due to these unspoken details, could be chemical warring etc, who knows. my own reefbowl will not keep capnella and everyone else considers that a weed too. I just gave up and go with the 99% of corals it will keep. some people are lucky and dont need big water changes w feeding. but for continually problem tanks, its the actual cure. you do bulk labor to make up for tedious unspoken details and everyone wins and you get a stronger back in the end from constantly lifting water lol.

[brandon429]

by this amount of time, caulastrea (a very reliable indicator coral as contrasted to gsp briareum) in my tank, which is a comparatively slower growing environment, would have added little greyish bands of growth under each polyp and these areas haven't been calcified yet but are new skeleton laid down as the base gets longer. about half an inch of gray, you can see this as an unspoken detail in any tank where caulastrea resides for longer than six months. its also an age verification trick for online posts among others.

 

if your today shots of caulastrea look like what we see from october, then we can move on from there, thats a long term care issue because they should be banding and laying down new skeleton, candy cane are the easiest/hardiest lps in my opinion. if you have the typical areas of lps growth, we know a lot about your weekly water change and feeding habits as the constant advise to you has been to feed and change heavy even with posting no params.

 

if we can spot areas of coralline that weren't there historically, we have a basic assessment of systemic calcium and alk balance. this method works well

 

 

sandbed

 

we'll spot detritus deposits or none, based on feeding input details we can see how well your tank care has progressed in 6 mos. we should see some coralilne spotting down low, where you can't get to it in the bed right about now. if not, again we might think about calcium and alk balances lent by strong water change habits vs detail param chasing. with the increased water changes, you get to do increased feedings, takes care of most all coral probs.

[Fishgirl2393]

 

There is a FTS.

Here is a pic of the candycane in December.

 

[brandon429]

very good do you have an april 10th shot of candy cane up close

 

things dont look bad, corals dont look bad. I recommend increase spot feeding of corals and continue water change work. they haven't grown exceptionally in these months, so up the feed and reduce the po4 stripping is my recommend. tank doesnt look bad, id rather see it ultra clean like this than neglected. I dont think you are off to a bad start at all. xenia appears to look good

[Fishgirl2393]

 

From april (same day as FTS)

[brandon429]

thats very good detail

you do not have a poisoning

 

look at the septa on that caulastrea specimen.

 

not white ridges, they are all grey/live rock full calcified colored. that means your polyps didnt retract quickly, leaving white septal ridges where there recently was polyps

 

having time to color up like live rock fishgirl means it was a long slow retreat

 

hungry

 

 

this is the rx.

 

all can be saved the tank is nice at least you didnt let detritus pile up. I wish that tank was in my living room Id do alot with it you did well so far.

 

stop phosphate anything forget about it if we get algae we'll reconsider

 

as of now you put weight back on the coral polyps, through time and dedication

[brandon429]

you get frozen mysis and blenderize them up then refreeze into cubes with frozen cyclopeeze added when it was being mixed

 

spot inject in mouth each time you see feeder tentacles in the caulastrea

 

get a Sprung's

 

The Thing

injector for feeding its perfect. your other corals dont need spot fed they'll take in what we stop stripping out.

[Fishgirl2393]

Thanks!!! That's very helpful!

[dpoltsdsu]

I agree with Brandon. Don't strip the phosphates too much in a softie/lps tank. Increased water changes and less phosphate removing media should have the tank looking better.

[Fishgirl2393]

In terms of types of frozen food available to me, I can get Omega One products from my LFS (I think they carry some Ocean Nutrition too but not positive on that). Would Omega One "Reef Formula" be a good choice? I can also get the Marine carnivore/herbivore foods or the combo pack with both. What would be good to get? I'm sure I could also get just plain mysis but I was wondering if one of these might be better for the corals and the fish.

http://www.omegasea.net/products/nutrition/marine-reef-formula

http://www.omegasea.net/products/nutrition/marine-combo-pack

[markalot]

Can you mail order some Reef Roids? It's on the expensive side but just a pinch a day will do wonders and it lasts a while. Simple solution, dry so not messy and no special storage requirements, and one of the few foods actually shown to increase growth in certain corals.

[brandon429]

Im down for both those options as long as some target feeding is going on

 

I have a friend using reef roids I had never read much about them thats good to know they have been shown to work well. Im sure lots of hq feeds w work, I just like to recommend blenderized mysis and rods food or cyclopeeze just becuase they work. nowadays there are lots of good feeds out there

[Fishgirl2393]

So, I just fed the candycane some mysis/brine shrimp mix and it gobbled it up! Will it get more accepting of food though at "normal" times (it barely had its feeders out but ate anyway)?

I had always been told "don't feed the tank except for the fish!" when, after some research, these corals (LPS/softies) often do need food and, even though reefs are low nutrient, they still have tons of food available for the corals (phytoplankton, zooplankton, etc).

[Fishgirl2393]

Fed the candy again today. It seems to like being fed. The other corals are getting their fair share too. I'm watching water quality closely and will be doing a water change sometime really soon. Thinking about adding a Starry blenny soon.

[Fishgirl2393]

Fed the candycane again today.

[Mstefa1]

Fed the candy again today. It seems to like being fed. The other corals are getting their fair share too. I'm watching water quality closely and will be doing a water change sometime really soon. Thinking about adding a Starry blenny soon.

 

How often do you water change?

[Fishgirl2393]

Usually every 1-2 weeks. I'm in college so sometimes, I don't get to do it when I want to. I'm doing one ASAP. Candy looks to be opening slightly more than before and grabbed the food better today so maybe it's getting better.

[Fishgirl2393]

Well, it's down somewhat (never was very high at all but shouldn't have been there in the first place!) but my nitrite became detectable yesterday. I suspect the increased feedings (suddenly increased from very little to more food for the corals) is responsible. The corals and fish never reacted to it though and it wasn't really high (less than 0.25ppm).