First Coral Hasn't Opened Up Since Added to Tank

[modendahl]

Hey Guys,

 

First post but have been reading for a while. I added my first coral to my tank about 3 weeks ago, a green trumpet/candy cane coral. My tank has been up and running for 3 months, has a pair of clowns and a royal gramma. Light is a SB Reef Lights 16 inch. I added the coral in the bottom of the tank, and after a few days of not opening up I lowered the lights, and then a week after raised my light up a few inches. The coral still has color and opens up very slightly (but not fully) during the day, and closes up tightly at night which makes me think its still alive? I don't have a test for Calcium, Magnesium, or Alk yet but will be getting one soon. I weekly water change 10%. These pictures show my tank, the coral when hes more closed up (he closes up tighter at night) and then more open. I guess my question is should I be concerned or is it normal for it to take this long to open? Let me know if I forgot any info and thanks for any advice.

 

* Edit - It looks like the coral isnt colored up in the pics but it still is green around the top and edges

[MortalWombat]

IME candy canes only extend polyps during feeding and at night, during the day they are tucked away 

[MrP]

I suggest testing for nitrate and phosphate to see where you stand with those. It might be hungry.

[Clown79]

The candy cane should be more puffed up. Its possibly getting too much light or too much flow.

 

Its flesh is tightly closed. It should look like the attached photo.

 

What percentages are you running on the light

[modendahl]

4 hours ago, MrP said:

I suggest testing for nitrate and phosphate to see where you stand with those. It might be hungry.

My Nitrates are at ~15 ppm when I checked on Monday. Don't have a phosphate test kit yet but will get one soon.

[blasterman]

I got a free candy in a coral order back at the start of summer. Not my favorite coral, but they are pretty hardy for starter LPS.

 

When I let my pH slide it compressed to 1/3 its size. When I fixed said pH a month or so later it puffed back up immediately . Young tanks are prone to low day pH and I have yet to figure out why. 

 

Super low phosphate will compress LPS, but checking pH should be in the mix. The salifert pH kit is kinda crude, but its cheap, readily available and will tell you if pH is too low.

 

 

[modendahl]

3 hours ago, Clown79 said:

The candy cane should be more puffed up. Its possibly getting too much light or too much flow.

 

Its flesh is tightly closed. It should look like the attached photo.

 

What percentages are you running on the light

Yeah, I know it should be much more open. I had my Blues at 50% and Whites at 30% at peak with Moon light at like 15% I think (about 6 inches off water). Gradually got it down to peaking at 24% B 1% W and 8% ML at 9" over water. 

[modendahl]

7 minutes ago, blasterman said:

I got a free candy in a coral order back at the start of summer. Not my favorite coral, but they are pretty hardy for starter LPS.

 

When I let my pH slide it compressed to 1/3 its size. When I fixed said pH a month or so later it puffed back up immediately . Young tanks are prone to low day pH and I have yet to figure out why. 

 

Super low phosphate will compress LPS, but checking pH should be in the mix. The salifert pH kit is kinda crude, but its cheap, readily available and will tell you if pH is too low.

 

 

I havent checked pH in a while, not totally sure why tbh. Ill check it right now and get back. Ill check it mid morning too to see what it is during the day.

[modendahl]

23 minutes ago, blasterman said:

I got a free candy in a coral order back at the start of summer. Not my favorite coral, but they are pretty hardy for starter LPS.

 

When I let my pH slide it compressed to 1/3 its size. When I fixed said pH a month or so later it puffed back up immediately . Young tanks are prone to low day pH and I have yet to figure out why. 

 

Super low phosphate will compress LPS, but checking pH should be in the mix. The salifert pH kit is kinda crude, but its cheap, readily available and will tell you if pH is too low.

 

 

Just tested at 7.9 so a little low than ideal I guess. Might have been 7.8 kinda hard to read accurately with API. Need to upgrade kits but thats a topic for another time. Any suggestions for raising tank pH?

[Clown79]

44 minutes ago, modendahl said:

Just tested at 7.9 so a little low than ideal I guess. Might have been 7.8 kinda hard to read accurately with API. Need to upgrade kits but thats a topic for another time. Any suggestions for raising tank pH?

Don't do anything. Ph fluctuates all day long. Its not a parameter most suggest chasing.

 

Your ph isn't really low

[modendahl]

14 hours ago, blasterman said:

I got a free candy in a coral order back at the start of summer. Not my favorite coral, but they are pretty hardy for starter LPS.

 

When I let my pH slide it compressed to 1/3 its size. When I fixed said pH a month or so later it puffed back up immediately . Young tanks are prone to low day pH and I have yet to figure out why. 

 

Super low phosphate will compress LPS, but checking pH should be in the mix. The salifert pH kit is kinda crude, but its cheap, readily available and will tell you if pH is too low.

 

 

12 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Don't do anything. Ph fluctuates all day long. Its not a parameter most suggest chasing.

 

Your ph isn't really low

Just tested again, still 7.9. Have Alk, Calc, Mag tests coming in the mail. Just moved him to a less flow area.

 

[rough eye]

try squirting a little reef roids or benepets or something on him? might get it to open up and put out feelers.

[modendahl]

Just ran all the tests. Nitrate a little high but tomorrow is water change day. Is magnesium being slightly low something that could cause him to still be closed?

[W1ll]

do you notice any feeding tentacles extended about an hour after lights go out? If you do try giving him a little mysis shrimp, mine seem to perk up a little more when fed every week or so. 

 

[modendahl]

4 hours ago, W1ll said:

do you notice any feeding tentacles extended about an hour after lights go out? If you do try giving him a little mysis shrimp, mine seem to perk up a little more when fed every week or so. 

 

No I haven’t, he’s starting to brown though so I’m thinking too low on the light now? Just moved him up a bit in the tank.

[mcarroll]

On 10/22/2021 at 12:12 AM, modendahl said:

My Nitrates are at ~15 ppm when I checked on Monday. Don't have a phosphate test kit yet but will get one soon.

That's a fairly high nitrate number, which given the bare look of the tank would suggest to me that your phosphates have been at/near zero.  NOT GOOD if that's the case – get those phosphates tested ASAP.  

 

In the mean time stop doing anything you're doing that could remove nutrients from the water, such as any filtering or water changes and even some additives.  Also make sure you're feeding the fish adequately...plenty!  (Just not so much that food is wasted in the tank.)

 

On 10/22/2021 at 12:55 AM, modendahl said:

Yeah, I know it should be much more open. I had my Blues at 50% and Whites at 30% at peak with Moon light at like 15% I think (about 6 inches off water). Gradually got it down to peaking at 24% B 1% W and 8% ML at 9" over water. 

Be careful messing with light settings....corals are very adaptable, which means they'll adjust to just about anything.....but also means that when you tweak the lights it can make a really big difference to them....very stressful, sometimes to the point of bleaching and even mortality.

 

Do you have a light meter to help you properly set those lights?  Even a lux meter app (free) is better than nothing....but I highly suggest getting a cheap, physical lux meter from (e.g.) Ebay as a minimum...they're $7+....I think I spent $12 on mine that has the sensor on a cord.  The light in your tank should look about "20,000K" in color....which you can generally get by turning blues up as high as they need to be (100% on a correctly sized light fixture) and with whites only turned up enough to make things in the tank look good to you.  Moonlights should be VERY dim, and ideally they should be more white than blue....and they are completely optional.  BTW, if you have weird viewing hours for work or whatever and that's what the moonlights are for, then it's better to adjust the main light schedule so the tank is "ON" while you're there to see it...and leave it dark during dark hours.  In other words, there's no need to match actual sunlight hours.

[mcarroll]

On 10/25/2021 at 11:18 AM, modendahl said:

No I haven’t, he’s starting to brown though so I’m thinking too low on the light now? Just moved him up a bit in the tank.

Browning is from nutrient levels being out of whack.  Definitely don't move your corals unless there's a good reason....that can be even more stressful that just changing their lighting since it also changes their local flow character.

[modendahl]

On 10/31/2021 at 1:18 AM, mcarroll said:

That's a fairly high nitrate number, which given the bare look of the tank would suggest to me that your phosphates have been at/near zero.  NOT GOOD if that's the case – get those phosphates tested ASAP.  

 

In the mean time stop doing anything you're doing that could remove nutrients from the water, such as any filtering or water changes and even some additives.  Also make sure you're feeding the fish adequately...plenty!  (Just not so much that food is wasted in the tank.)

 

Be careful messing with light settings....corals are very adaptable, which means they'll adjust to just about anything.....but also means that when you tweak the lights it can make a really big difference to them....very stressful, sometimes to the point of bleaching and even mortality.

 

Do you have a light meter to help you properly set those lights?  Even a lux meter app (free) is better than nothing....but I highly suggest getting a cheap, physical lux meter from (e.g.) Ebay as a minimum...they're $7+....I think I spent $12 on mine that has the sensor on a cord.  The light in your tank should look about "20,000K" in color....which you can generally get by turning blues up as high as they need to be (100% on a correctly sized light fixture) and with whites only turned up enough to make things in the tank look good to you.  Moonlights should be VERY dim, and ideally they should be more white than blue....and they are completely optional.  BTW, if you have weird viewing hours for work or whatever and that's what the moonlights are for, then it's better to adjust the main light schedule so the tank is "ON" while you're there to see it...and leave it dark during dark hours.  In other words, there's no need to match actual sunlight hours.

I appreciate all the help and advice. Would you be able to quickly explain the relationship between nitrates and phosphates to me?

 

I do weekly 10% (used to do 20% until a month or so ago) water changes, and replace the filter floss weekly. I feed once per day. In the filter compartments I just have floss and then a lot of biomedia. I had carbon for a little while but took it out a week or two before I got the coral. Wouldn't stopping water changes and increasing feeding cause there to be a buildup of nitrates?

 

Thank you for the advice about lighting, I will be keeping that in mind. I've heard that using a LUX meter is unhelpful if you don't have a PAR meter to figure out the relationship between LUX and PAR for your specific lights, is this not true? How would you suggest using the LUX meter?

[banasophia]

Just want to say my first candy cane was a kryptonite with the small heads, looked kinda like yours, didn’t do well, my tank was also new at that time. Since then, I’ve always gotten the larger polyp candy canes and they’ve grown really well. Not sure if it could be related to the age of the tank or the type of candy cane, but just thought I’d mention it since candy canes are one of my favorite corals so don’t give up on them if this particular one doesn’t do well for you. 
 

[mcarroll]

3 hours ago, modendahl said:

I appreciate all the help and advice. Would you be able to quickly explain the relationship between nitrates and phosphates to me?

I like to use the analogy of the coral symbiosis being like the engine of a car.  

 

Nitrates are like gasoline.  

 

Phosphates are like oil.  

 

The engine needs both.

 

But the outcome when either one runs out can range from merely inconvenient to catastrophic or deadly.  Running out of gas just means you need more gas....nothing worse.  Running out of oil often means the engine will melt or even explode.  When you lose the simplistic metaphor and talk about photosynthetic corals, that can easily be the difference between life and death. 

 

Corals have LOTS of mechanisms to moderate things and prevent that meltdown from happening – corals are, generally speaking, really tough....but, naturally enough, all of those mechanisms have limits.  (Converting excess light energy to heat is one of the primary ones....and the reason water that's too warm can cause bleaching....water being "too warm" eliminates the necessary temperature differential to transfer heat out of the animal.  This is just one of their mechanisms though.)

 

If you can get through it, pictures and all, this article really tells the story of the coral's precarious situation with photosynthesis really well – and obviously goes into it more technically than my analogy: 😉

 

"Is the coral-algae symbiosis really ‘mutually beneficial’ for the partners?"

 

Some more good articles in this search that I'd strongly suggest looking at right along with the previous one:

https://reefsuccess.com/?s=nitrogen+status

[modendahl]

1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

I like to use the analogy of the coral symbiosis being like the engine of a car.  

 

Nitrates are like gasoline.  

 

Phosphates are like oil.  

 

The engine needs both.

 

But the outcome when either one runs out can range from merely inconvenient to catastrophic or deadly.  Running out of gas just means you need more gas....nothing worse.  Running out of oil often means the engine will melt or even explode.  When you lose the simplistic metaphor and talk about photosynthetic corals, that can easily be the difference between life and death. 

 

Corals have LOTS of mechanisms to moderate things and prevent that meltdown from happening – corals are, generally speaking, really tough....but, naturally enough, all of those mechanisms have limits.  (Converting excess light energy to heat is one of the primary ones....and the reason water that's too warm can cause bleaching....water being "too warm" eliminates the necessary temperature differential to transfer heat out of the animal.  This is just one of their mechanisms though.)

 

If you can get through it, pictures and all, this article really tells the story of the coral's precarious situation with photosynthesis really well – and obviously goes into it more technically than my analogy: 😉

 

"Is the coral-algae symbiosis really ‘mutually beneficial’ for the partners?"

 

Some more good articles in this search that I'd strongly suggest looking at right along with the previous one:

https://reefsuccess.com/?s=nitrogen+status

That makes a lot of sense, thank you! I will definitely check these articles out.