Duncans closed up.....need help

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Tmyboy

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
258
Hello all,

I have a nice Duncan piece that has 8 adult heads and about 12 baby heads. This coral is always expanded and has been growing like a weed ever since I've got my water dialed in. The adult heads are about 1.5" in diameter not counting the tentacles so I noticed right away when they all were closed up. The adults are about 85% closed and the babies are about 95% closed. They been closed up for about 2 days and now I'm getting a bit concerned. I noticed a little bit of that slime stuff today that corals give off when they're really pissed.

I've tested the water:

80 temp
8.4 ph
440 cal
0 trates
0 trites
0 phosphates
Sal 1.025
Alk 7 ( I know thats a bit low but that's where my alk always is and it's been fine along with evrything else.

The only thing that I did change that I'm thinking could have cause this is I changed out both units of my chemi-pure elite a couple days ago. Looking back, I guess I should have changed 1, waited 2 weeks and then changed the other, but I didnt.

Questions are: do you think it's the chemi pure? If so, u think the Duncan will pull thru?

I'm going to do a water change tomorrow and hopefully that will help him.

Thanks in advance.

T
 
I doubt it's the chemipure. Your trates and phosphates are still at 0. Did you happen to test before changing out the chemipure?
 
AquaRick said:
I doubt it's the chemipure. Your trates and phosphates are still at 0. Did you happen to test before changing out the chemipure?

No, I did not.

What are ya thinking?
 
My duncans closed up and looked ugly when I got to 0 trates and phosphates. It turned out that i overdid the chemipure elite and removed all trates and phosphates in my system. Corals need very low trace amounts of this to survive\look healthy. I'm just curious if before swapping the chemipure your parameters weren't 0.
 
That's very possible I guess. Think I should take the chemi-pure pure out of the loop for a day P
or two? ...to see of there's improvement.
 
It may take a couple days to notice the effects, yeah. Did your water change help anything?
 
How much water are you changing out each time? Most salt mixes contain enough elements to keep your alkalinity high enough. How often are you doing water changes?
 
carey said:
How much water are you changing out each time? Most salt mixes contain enough elements to keep your alkalinity high enough. How often are you doing water changes?

I change out 10gallons every Sunday. My alkalinity is always around 7, so I really don't think it's that. You think it is Carey?

Rick: im doing the water change this very second. I'm sick as a [moderator edit] dog so it's taking me a bit longer than usual.
 
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carey said:
How much water are you changing out each time? Most salt mixes contain enough elements to keep your alkalinity high enough. How often are you doing water changes?

carey said:
How much water are you changing out each time? Most salt mixes contain enough elements to keep your alkalinity high enough. How often are you doing water changes?

I change out 10gallons every Sunday. My alkalinity is always around 7, so I really don't think it's that. You think it is Carey?

Rick: im doing the water change this very second. I'm sick as a [moderator edit] dog so it's taking me a bit longer than usual.
 
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Have you checked the alkalinity right after a water change? Mine shoots up to normal levels right after a change. The alkalinity CAN be a factor in your coral not looking so good.
 
carey said:
Have you checked the alkalinity right after a water change? Mine shoots up to normal levels right after a change. The alkalinity CAN be a factor in your coral not looking so good.

Well hopefully know shortly since I'm about to swap the 10 gallons now. Maybe they'll perk up by late tonight or tomorrow morning.

I'll be sure to let you know what happens.
 
Let's just say that the duncans perk back up and it's because of too much chemi-pure.....can I remove the 1 unit and let it dry out? Will it still be good?

Even though I'm using the dosage they recommend?? 75g with 30g sump= 2 units.
 
It's 1 unit per 50g of water. With rock and sand displacement you're looking at about maybe 60-70g of water depending on how much rock/sand you have. Just a thought.
 
AquaRick said:
It's 1 unit per 50g of water. With rock and sand displacement you're looking at about maybe 60-70g of water depending on how much rock/sand you have. Just a thought.

Got Bout 100lbs of live rock and 150lbs of crushed coral/sand.

So am I hearing you think 1 is sufficient?
 
Btw...thank u to rick and Carey.

I'm not sure if it's too much chemi pure or a tad low kh.....but looks who's opened up to say hello already! Only been about 30 min since new water went in.

They're of course just barely open, but both the Adults and the babies are open! That's more then I could say for the last 3 days.

So will that chemipure still be good?
 

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Sniperhank said:
That is a nice looking duncan :) I'll have to post some pics of mine here soon now.

Thank you very much sniper. I really like that piece. Definitely one of my favorites that I watch closely! This is my 1st Duncan and I thought that it was forming some type of weird/bad growth when I seen all the babies budding. Ha!!! Amateur i know.
Took me a little while to realize what they were.
 
I'm gonna check my kh now Rick.....give me 1 min

KH is now at 9 after the change.
 
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