Duncan coral hasn't opened for *takes breath* 6 months

[TonySpumoni95]

If you read the title, I am not paraphrasing. I've had this duncan colony for roughly 2 years, and for more than 6 months, this coral has not opened or even come close to fully opening during this time span. The coral has been through two different tanks (a jbj 28g LED nano cube and then transferred to a jbj 45 gallon).

 

I've tried changing light parameters, water parameters, positions, flow (all within large spans of time because quick changes can shock the coral) but I've had little results. The closest I've gotten to "open" was a slight protrusion from the skeleton, with a few tentacles showing up (Happened after a water change, so there is something in the water that is bothering it in my opinion.) I've also noticed a few aiptasia anemones appearing, so I'm wondering if one is wedged underneath the coral and is stinging it. 

 

The flesh of the coral still looks good, full neon green color. I'll post a photo of the colony a little later, and I'll list my current parameters (Currently high because I've been changing my dosing amounts in accordance with the duncan, only been doing this for roughly 3 weeks), as well as my tankmates, equipment, etc.

 

Any help would be appreciated, and thanks for stopping by.

 

Tankmates:

1 Bonded pair of Clownfish (Ocellaris & Black Photon)

1 Yellow tail damsel

Various crabs & snails

1 large green/red trachyphillia

1 large elegance coral

2 small acan colonies

1 large kenya tree

5 blue mushroom colony

1 green/purple tip bubble anemone

1 medium frogspawn colony

 

Equipment:

45 Gallon JBJ cube tank

Radion XR15 (set to 60% max light, fast growth standard setting, primarily a blue spectrum)

Aquamaxx HOB skimmer

Dosing 2 Part B-ionic & Magnesium (currently changing dosing, but most recent schedule is 2ml of both calcium & alkalinity parts 3 times a day every 3 days)

Basic ceramic rings, sponge, bio ball mechanical filtration.

2 - 264 gph pumps

 

Parameters:

Temperature: 78 Fahrenheit

Salinity: 1.026

pH: 8.3

Calcium: 490

Alkalinity: 8.9

Magnesium: 1290

Nitrates: <.25

Phosphates: ~0

Ammonia: 0

 

 

 

[mcarroll]

Phosphates and nitrates are both too low.

 

Eliminate any filtration associated with these loan numbers so that they can come up naturally. (Your live rock and a protein skimmer may be all that is left when you are done.)

 

If you have to, you can also does phosphates and nitrates. Brightwell and Seachem have popular products for this.

 

If you dose, it is somewhat crucial that phosphates be available first. If nitrates are dosed into a tank with no phosphates things can go from marginal to bad.