Toadstool Leather leaning over?

[smooth_rivers]

Hehe...might be a silly question but I couldn't find an answer after searching. So here goes. Got my first leather...and it goes to bed at night? Stands up and extends fine during the light cycle, then when the lights go off it lies down? And I mean it literaly rests it's head on the rock it's attached to.

Is this, ahem...normal?

I have also noticed that it looks like it's splitting in two. There is a 1-1.5 inch split on the head that wasn't there yesterday, and if I look I can see where the stalk is creviced along the same line.

Amonia/Nitrate/Nitrate are all 0
silicates are 5.5
phosphate is 0.5
salt is Reef Crystals
temp 82
Ph 8.1
SG 1.023
tank is 9 months old


leather is in a low flow area of the tank near the middle (vertically and horizontally) of a standard 55 gal.
Lighting is on 36" dual with 2 10k corallife 50/50s over the middle and one 48" strip with 2 24" 100% atinics toward the front of the tank. (CustomSealife 48" moonlight PC is on the way from Big Als)
36" burn about 10 hrs a day, the atinics 12 hrs.

Am also starting to see some bleaching on my coraline that is growing on the powerheads. Indicator of anything? The only thing I dose with is Seachem's Marinepack Fundamentals per instructions.

Many thanks

Also, if any one reads this and knows..what if anything, should I do about the phospates and silicates? I have been using just tap water for changes and top off.

[echo7]

for the coralline- they pretty much just need calcium and light. i think you have enough light, check your calcium, atlhough if you used fresh unfiltered well water you should have enough calcium from that. if its tap- maybe not. i would get an RO and deionizer, although if you don't want to get that try phos-guard. it is by kent marineand works well, although it needs replacing very frequently- i think twice a week. another product that works a bit slower is called phosphate and silicate magnet, and needs replacing about once every 6 months. i'm sorry i can't help with the leather coral, but i do know that they like light, and if you suspect a disease try an iodine dip in lugols solution. Leathers also appreciate good water flow.

[astride13]

Most leathers I have seen do "sleep" at night, so I would say this is normal.

What is your calcium and alkalinity levels at?

Your levels are normal for tap water. I would recommend using RO/DI water instead of tap water.

[smooth_rivers]

Originally Posted by astride13

What is your calcium and alkalinity levels at?

Well, shamefully I have to admit I have no idea (yet).

[astride13]

That is probably why your coralline is receeding. Most fish stores will test them for you. You will probably need to start dosing, so you should get those test kits sometime soon.

[HoopsGuru]

Are the powerheads at the top of the tank? Do they get exposed to air when you are doing water changes? Have you removed them to clean them?

Reason being, without having hard corals or other calcium dependent inverts in the tank, I don't believe just coralline algae would be lowering your calcium that much that it would start bleaching. Since you are doing water changes, these levels should be fairly stable. I'm not suggesting it can't be this, but with the questions above I have a different idea for you to evaluate in addition to them depending on the answers.

[smooth_rivers]

No, they are only about 6 inches from the bottom, and don't get exposed during a water change. Never removed them either. I do have 3 or 4 peppermint shrimp that I didn't mention. But don't think that makes a difference.

[astride13]

I was surprised to see how quickly my calcium was getting depleted as soon as I started to put a bunch of softies in the tank.

Also, it is recommended to change PC bulbs about every year. If you bulbs are over 1 year old, that could be the problem too.

[smooth_rivers]

nope, all the bulbs are less than 3 months old

[Salt4Us]

Our toadstool seems to like being gently swayed in the current, just a guess could try a litte more flow? Ours moves all the time shape wise, we also add some phytoplankton that it seems to enjoy too. Not sure if this helps but ours seems to like it and has gotten rather huge from it. Good luck