LPS all closing up around the same time every day...lighting?

[ReefSafeSolutions]

Hello team,

 

I started my tank over and things are looking really good.  Except the last few days, my corals all seem to close up at the same time every day.  I don't know if that's due to lighting, crabs, or water parameters, so I thought I'd see if anyone has a similar experience.  My light is the AI Prime.  My blues and whites are at about 60%, 12" above the tank.

 

Parameters are as follows:

 

Mag: 1360

Alk: 10

Calc: 440

Ammonia: 0

Nitrites: 0

Nitrates: 5-10

Phosphates: <.03

 

As far as numbers are concerned, these look perfect.  My dad is starting his tank over so we dumped all his snails and crabs into my tank, so I suspect they might be irritating the corals a little bit.

 

But usually by early afternoon, the corals get tweaked and close up to maybe half their normal size, maybe even smaller.  It's driving me nuts, I can't figure it out!  Could it be lighting is too strong?  Should I try cutting my lighting in half, or focusing on blues for a little while?

[biofool12]

My corals tend to close up when my lights start to ramp down. Not sure if they know its bed time or not haha. 

[ReefSafeSolutions]

Mine were doing that...I start to ramp down at 5pm or so.  But now they're closing up around lunchtime!  Has me baffled.

[Lynaea]

Hard to say without knowing how long it’s been set up or stocking, etc but possibly pH swing from new set-up/sudden increase in stocking from CUC additions ???  Maybe test pH 2-3 times one day to see?

[ReefSafeSolutions]

That's an interesting idea, I hadn't consider pH since my alk has been fairly consistent.  Tank has been up for close to 2 months, cycle finished up 2-3 weeks ago.  I added 1 clownfish about a week and a half ago.  The two turbo snails and 5-6 crabs were added maybe 3-4 days ago, around the same time as this weirdness started.

 

I'll give the pH a few tests tomorrow and see what shows up.  In the meantime, I'm hoping this is something that will sort itself out.  I also thought it could be maybe not enough food in the water for the corals so I've been feeding the fish once a day and letting the excess food float around and get caught in my sponges.  Probably time to change my filter floss!

[Clown79]

Do you use wave makers? If you have it on random flow it might be happening during different settings?

[ReefSafeSolutions]

I do use wavemakers...I have an MP10 that pulses in wave mode, and a Jebao on the opposite kitty corner of the tank that is set to random.  But, the flow on the corals is all indirect.  I've been actually meaning to adjust my flow because I'm finding dead spots and detritus build up.

 

But, I've watched the corals, and even when the flow gets a little heavy, they don't shrink up from it.

 

Last night I did a 5 gallon water change (17 gallons of water total) and moved some corals around.  The lights are just now starting to ramp on so we'll see how it looks today.  I'm mostly frustrated because all my parameters are spot on!  My pH was 8.2 yesterday, so I'm not worried about pH.  The only thing I can think of is lighting, because the corals were under different light while being babysat, but they all looked great for the first week or so back in my tank.  Odd.

[teenyreef]

My acans and hammers close up tight about once a day, usually at night, but sometimes during the day. If they're opening back up and seem healthy otherwise, I'd just wait it out. But if they're not getting enough food, they will close up more and more. You can spot feed them with the pumps off when they're open and see if that helps. 

[ReefSafeSolutions]

I'll give feeding a try...I've tried feeding them in my previous system but they don't seem to eat anything.  But maybe they only need a little bit.

[teenyreef]

42 minutes ago, ReefSafeSolutions said:

I'll give feeding a try...I've tried feeding them in my previous system but they don't seem to eat anything.  But maybe they only need a little bit.

What kinds of corals are the ones that are closing up?

[ramsey]

3 hours ago, teenyreef said:

What kinds of corals are the ones that are closing up?

+1 hard to say without knowing what’s type of coral 

[ReefSafeSolutions]

Right, my bad.  The main culprits are my frogspawn (8 heads) and duncan (25+ heads).  The old torch seems to do alright, and the new torches I bought off a guy last week...eh, I think I got played a little bit.  Not worth the story, but they weren't quite as advertised.  I have a 4 headed hammer but I'm not too worried about it because low Alk screwed up that guy from my last system.

 

I've had my lights a little lower the last few days, with more emphasis on the blues.  Not sure it is making any kind of difference, other than I don't think the corals have enough light because they all seem to reach upward towards the light.

[Clown79]

8 hours ago, ReefSafeSolutions said:

Right, my bad.  The main culprits are my frogspawn (8 heads) and duncan (25+ heads).  The old torch seems to do alright, and the new torches I bought off a guy last week...eh, I think I got played a little bit.  Not worth the story, but they weren't quite as advertised.  I have a 4 headed hammer but I'm not too worried about it because low Alk screwed up that guy from my last system.

 

I've had my lights a little lower the last few days, with more emphasis on the blues.  Not sure it is making any kind of difference, other than I don't think the corals have enough light because they all seem to reach upward towards the light.

Lighting too high can cause bleaching, going see through for fleshy corals, being burnt, and some close up.

 

Lighting can be tricky. Too much is an issue, too little is an issue.

 

I have an Ai Prime - it's a very strong light that some ppl under rate.

 

I upgraded my tank a few mnths ago but I recently had to up the height of the light and lower the percentages because some of my euphyllia(Not all of them) were not opening up fully, loss in colour of my monti and stylo. My Params are fine, flow is great, so the one thing I didn't think was an issue, appears to be it.

 

They are already repairing themselves.

 

When I started my 15g after a slow acclimation my blues at peak hrs was 70-75%. Then it went up to 80's. I had it at 100% but slowly dropped it back down.

 

What Is your schedule and percentages?

[ReefSafeSolutions]

I've uploaded a screenshot of my schedule and percentages.  I ramp from 8am-12pm and then from 4pm-8pm.  My percentages right now are mostly just a guess and check type of thing.  I brought the levels down quite a bit a few days ago just to see what happens.  I don't really know what to even set my percentages at right now to see what will help!  

[Clown79]

Usually you see violet, uv, and blue in equal parts or uv and v on slightly lower value to blues.

 

There is no rule really on it just most of the schedules online like radio's schedules have those 4 colours in equal levels or slightly less.

 

But I wouldn't advise jumping them to 80%. Proper acclimation of 3-5% weekly.

[ReefSafeSolutions]

To be completely honest, I just set these settings all based on look.  I'll have to mess around with the settings again tomorrow.

 

What are your settings?  I'll go through the AI Prime thread as well and see what I can find in there.

[Clown79]

My settings and schedule is:

 

11am-1pm ramp up

1- 8pm 

Rb, b 85%

V, uv 80%

W 15%

G, r 10%

8-10pm ramp down

10pm to 2am lunar

Dark after 

 

[ReefSafeSolutions]

Sorry for my late replies all the time, been busy. 

 

I applied your settings to my system (about 60-70% of your percentages) and my corals are looking pretty good.  I don't know if it was just a weird funk for a week or if you have the magic touch on your settings, but things are looking much better.

 

If anything weird happens in the next day or two I'll update here, but I am hoping we are in the clear!   Thanks!

[Clown79]

Just be careful of increasing light percentages too much all at once.

Max is 5% increase/week 

[ReefSafeSolutions]

I think the corals were under much higher light at the fish store so I wonder if that had an impact on my corals when I put them in my tank.  Time will tell with this new setup!