dead waving hand coral

[EricB]

I got my first coral about 2-3 weeks ago so I could see if I was doing everything correctly for them to survive. Well they didn't. They lasted about 10 days. In fact they looked like they were doing fine right up until I did a water change.

Very soon after adding in the water, they started curling up and that was the end of it.

So I figure it is something wrong with the way I changed my water.

Heres a couple things I wonder about:
Do I need a [acronym:56ec2d08d3="Powerhead"]PH[/acronym:56ec2d08d3] running while there is diminished water in the tank?
How slow do I need to add the new water to the tank?
I got a ton of micro bubbles in the tank while changing the water, are those dangerous? What I was hoping to do was siphon water slowly into the sump, and then the pump would push it up into the tank, but the sump was pumping very little water so it was creating a lot of the microbubbles.

[BBReef]

when doing a water change you dont need the pump on. if it was the water change that cause your coral to perish, im betting it was the new water. prepairing the new water can be important. you always want to make sure the water you are adding in is the same as your tank's, this includes salinity, [acronym:cc60f1089a="Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions"]ph[/acronym:cc60f1089a], temp etc. mix it well before adding it too, use a power head to mix it for at least a few hours. most people on here will say at least 8, but you should mix it for 24. hth

All of the above is very good advice.. But It would also be helpful if you described the tank equiptment as well as your water parameters.. such as ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, salinity, [acronym:ef987c0ba4="Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions"]ph[/acronym:ef987c0ba4], [acronym:ef987c0ba4="Calcium"]Ca[/acronym:ef987c0ba4], temp all of which could play a major effect on why the coral died... Placing in too low of light ot too little-too much water flow could also...


Hth,
James

[fishtender]

Fist of all, what kind of coral did you start with. Some can be very forgiving while others are quite difficult. My Colt coral is like a weed and will grow anywhere anytime while my Sun Polyps require more stable parameters and a rather complicated feeding reutine.

I believe that your water quality is never stable. Just evaporation alone changes the salinity, your [acronym:b02165a6af="Powerhead"]PH[/acronym:b02165a6af] can fluxaute half a point from morning till night. This is just two of many factors affecting your tank on a daily basis. Taking all that into account, I do not think that my corals are adjusted to my tank and "doing well" for about a month.

Unfortunately, I too have lost a couple of corals since starting my tank and I blame it on my ignorance in not researching the needs for a particular species. Now I spend time on the internet, my head in books and on this forum.

[acronym:b02165a6af="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:b02165a6af].

Howard

All good advice but I would suggest mixing up a new batch of water exactly the same as the previous one and test the levels. Chances are good the reason is there and I would be most interested in the [acronym:a451a65d62="Alkinity"]alk[/acronym:a451a65d62] reading... please post all results to be sure

Cheers
Steve

[astride13]

I started dripping water changes into my fuge. I use an air hose with a loose knot and let 2 gallons at a time slowly drip in. Each gallon takes about 1 hour and I have noticed that the fish and inverts don't even notice anymore. Before they would all hide during top ups. I assume because the fresh water changed all the parameters while it was mixing.