CORAL EXPERTS

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Oceanscene

I have a soft coral, which I believe is an umbrella leather, that looks nothing like the other umbrella leathers I've seen online. Is this coral okay/normal? Please see picture below. All the pictures I see online, the coral is open sort of like a flower. I have never seen this coral open up like that. Thanks.

[attachment=0]Coral.jpg[/attachment]
 
It looks like a regular unhappy fiji leather or toadstool leather depending on what time of day you took the piture. If this pic was taken in the morning when the lights were just turned on, then you are ok. If not, from my experience with leathers, when they start sagging as you see in your picture say in mid day, then there is an issue. Its not unusual to see the polyp extension.
 
My coral is still the same today as it is in the picture. If not, it's sagging more. Anyone have any suggestions? I would like to get my coral to look like the coral in this link http://www.reefcentral.co.uk/showthread.php/19430-leather-coral

Below are my parameters:

SALINITY 1.024
pH 8.1
AMMONIA 0
NITRITE 0
NITRATE 10
CALCIUM 450
 
My alkalinity is at 2.5. As for lights, I am running four LED moonlights, four 96W power compacts and three 150W metal halides. My flow is a Hydor Koralia 4 (older version -1200GPH) and two JBJ Oceanstream (alternating current - 1600GPH a piece). The Hydor Koralia 4 is on the top back of the tank, centered and slightly facing down. The JBJ's are on the top back left and right side of the tank and slightly facing down aim towards the center of the tank. To check salinity, I use a hydrometer. Thanks for your help.
 
Is the 2.5 meq/l or dkh. You really want to read in dkh as that is what most hobbyist use on this side of the pond :). If it is 2.5 meq/l if my conversion of top of my head I think it is between 6-7 dkh so are alittle low me personally I like mine between 8-9 dkh

If it is 2.5 dkh then personally you need to raise it slowly. First question is what salt are you using is it a reef salt or a low alk type salt. Second raise you sg most reef tank are 1.026. Third if you are using a good reef salt do a water change and slowly buffer with baking soda or soda ash till dkh is within normal me I shoot for 9 but don't go over 10.



If meq/l is 2.5 just slowly buffer with soda ash or baking soda. ONLY BUFFER TO RAISE 1 DKH POINT A DAY.


Also check your phosphates. Do you run carbon. I notice my softie like it when I run carbon and water is sparkling clean

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Take your water to an LFS and have them check your salinity with their calibrated refractometer. I bet your salinity is off; 1.024 is okay, that's where I keep my two softie/LPS tanks, but hydrometers are rarely actually accurate. Alk is probably also a little low as stated above. Are there other corals or fish in the tank? If so how do they look? What size is the tank and how close are the lights to the water's surface? How long have you had the leather? +1 to using carbon. Do you ever dose anything other than calc/alk/mag? I use Seachem Reef Plus twice to make my softies happy and keep them growing.
 
Kuyatwo,

Sorry about the measurement. My alkalinity is at 2.5 meq/l . Also, I do not run carbon. I am in the process of finding a reactor. Will do this ASAP. Should I drop bags of carbon in my sump for the meantime? As far as salt, I've done my research and found mixed reviews about salt. So, I decided to go with price, but not the PETCO brand - my research shows that everyone was against that. Currently, I am using Instant Ocean Sea Salt.

Etannert,

I have a hammerhead and a bunch of button polyps - the button polyps have actually started to spread. They're doing great. As far as my tank, it's a 175 bowfront and the lights are about four inches above the water's surface. For dosing, other than calc/alk/mag, I dose Phytoplex weekly. I've had the leather for about two months.
 
Slowly raise your alk a bit and your coral will prob start to look better.

I would just run carbon in a bag. I do that with my tanks and getting same results when I ran carbon in a tlf reactor. I just replace it every two weeks.

Look into sybon reef salt sold by premium aquatics it is 10 bucks for 50 gallon bag.

Instant ocean will work but you will need to buffer it with baking soda or soda ash as it is more suited for fish only tanks. Reef crystals is their reef version of salt





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Used to have softies for years.. all the above info is correct IMO! but I would look at your flow as well soft corals especially leathers need to have strong intermittent flow to remove the top film so that the polyps may extend try moving it up higher in the tank, I think this should help you greatly also Kuyatwo is right just run the bag its fine just make sure water is passing through it and not around it :p
 
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