Water levels/temp fine, water changed, corals constricted

[Capslock]

Off of my recently posted thread but a slightly different question.

My tanks temp has returned to normal,
all the while my levels all have been very good except for calcium (at 350+-)
0 ammonia/nitrite/nitrate
ph of 8
alk at 3 (cant remember what the 3 refers to however, but I know this to be good)
salinity at 1.025
temp at 81
phos at < 1

I just bought a 'toadstool mushroom' lether coral from my LPS:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+600+753&pcatid=753 and it looked great there.

however, along with my candy coral, my bullseye mushrooms and my bullseye musshroms,
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+598+654&pcatid=654 and my colony polyps http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+599+675&pcatid=675 (who by the way are spreading like wild flowers), my corals are very constricted and do not look the way they should.

I am not sure why this is, I just did a water change and again, my levels are all fine. I mentioned in my last post that I had to lift and angle the lights so only 2/3 of the light gets into the tank, its a nano tank with -quote "36-watt 50/50 compact fluorescent lamps offering 72 total watts or 3 watts of lighting per gallon"

What could be the issue and how can I resolve it?

 

[NextReef]

You've stressed those corals and 'shrooms. Keep the pH up, temp down and maybe add a little iodide (the mushrooms and polyps love it!) - give them a few days and they should relax...

 

[robinhood]

what test are you using for alk,

dKH should be bwtween 7 and 10 a reading of 3 would be bad and could also be why your ph is a little on the low side depending on what the 3 really means. This would freak the corals out a little/lot. but it al depnds on the test your using.

if the test is acurate and things are good then i would agree their stressed and give them a little time.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, you do realize leathers practice chemical warfare? Are you running activated carbon on the tank? It could be a factor if things in the tank looked more stressed after you added it.

 

[jandree22]

Wondering why your pH is on the lowish side. If you were running a calc reactor, I'd understand it, but with your calc reading of ~350 that doesn't seem to be the case.

My first suspect would be high levels of CO2 causing distress, as this would at least explain the lowish pH in the absence of a calc reactor... that and your other organic params are zero'd out. Try to get more gas exchange in your tank, and especially if your skimmer (or tank, for that matter) is in the basement, run the skimmer's air intake to an outside window to pull more O2.

Just something to try, good luck.

PS - Lawdawg has a good theory too. Running carbon for a day or two should be enough to notice a difference.

 

[Capslock]

the 3 requires a multiplication of 2.5 to get the dKh reading, so in this case it would be 7.5. I tested again the other day and it read 3.5, so 8.75.

I was not aware of anything about the leather, however it is also a new habitant.

Actually, it seems that the corals constriting almost all the time also occued when I removed my active carbon, a couple of the mesh filers, and the bio balls.

i removed them because i wanted the heater in the 'sump' and i didnt like having it on the side where the water level fluctuates.

This nano tank makes things pretty tough

About the c02, interesting idea, I have my main pump that is causing its agitataion and another pump in the back to pull water from the bottom of the tank behind all of the rocks back up to the surface, so that is causing a bit of aggitation as well.

I do not have a protein skimmer on this tank - on my last tank i had an aquaC urchin and i now realize it was a bit of a mistake since I cant use it without it being directly in the water. do you have a suggestion to help get additional gas exchange into the system?

 

[Capslock]

Actually,

now i beg to question,

In this nano tank of mine,

Could I set up a protein skimmer in the stand below the tank, concealed, but not in a sump? So I mean it would be in a dry space?

If so, what would you recommend for a 24 gallon system?

 

[Capslock]

another question too:

if i were to look at metal halide for lighting:
http://www.jbjnanocubes.com/index1.html

what about actinic lights? what do folks with metal halide lamps do in that situation?


on my other tank I had it set up to go in the morning moon light, actinic, then white and actinic, and then reverse for the evening.

now with my nano tank its all on, or all off then moon light.

 

[Ben1]

Actually, it seems that the corals constriting almost all the time also occued when I removed my active carbon, a couple of the mesh filers, and the bio balls.

If you removed these all at once, in a small tank you may have had an ammonia spike/recycle.

There are external protein skimmers that would work if you could have them drain back to your sump. But generally most of the available external skimmers are for larger tanks.

 

[Capslock]

Yeah i have noticed that those skimmers are for larger tanks. Its too bad too because ideally, everything would be hidden from the display tank. Guess this is the cost of having a smaller tank.

 

[jandree22]

Is it possible to baffle up your sump to get the water level near the surface in a section, so you could setup a HOB AquaC Remora down below?

 

[Capslock]

i thought the same as you. The sump is baffled, I had a aquac urchin on my other tank and that worked well. As i understand it the urchin is a glorified remora, so I will pick up one of those.

before i do that however, I need to get a different top as it covers the entire thing, including the sump. This is why i asked about the metal halide.

Do you have any thoughts on that?