SPS Coral Care - Urgent Help Needed

[22bfan]

About a month ago I introduced a few small sps frags to my reef.  All of them seem stable with the exception of the small branchy guy in the center of the attached side view picture.

 

I'm not sure what type of sps this is but it doesn't seem happy.

My parameters are stable as follows:

 

Cal:  440

DKH: 11.4

PH:  8.4

Salinity:  1.025

Temp:  80

 

I have LED lighting with control knobs for the white and purple spectrums.  I've never measured output with a PAR meter but I usually have the purple spectrum set at 1/3 and the white spectrum set at 1/4.  Purple are on for about 12 hours while the white lights are on for about 10. 

I have no fish, a large Reef Octopus BH1000 skimmer, InTank Filter Rack with a bag of Purigen and a bag of Chemipure, as well as the InTank Fuge rack with a ball of cheato that is lit with LED shop lights for 12 hours overnight.  

 

Any ideas??

Edited April 17, 2015 by 22bfan

[Origami]

The "branchy guy" looks like seriatopora - a birds nest coral. 

 

You're alk is pretty high. Is there a reason that you keep it that high? I also don't see anything in your tank that helps to give you decent flow; just the return from the filtration chambers. 

 

You say that it doesn't look like it's happy, but the white tips make it look like it's growing. Is it?

[22bfan]

The return pump has been upgraded to an MJ1200 and there is a Hydor Nano 425 attached to the rear wall blowing toward the coral in question.  I have it hidden in a rock cave.

 

My dkh and calcium levels were much lower and seemed to deplete noticeably within 2 weeks.  So I started doing 2 gallon water changes every week and a half and dosing with a buffer booster and trace mineral suppliment.  I got tired of messing with that so I added a Kalkwasser reactor from Two Little Fishies and it has remained high ever since.  I just added the Kalkwasser reactor so maybe i need to do a few water changes before all parameters moderate. 

 

The reason I'm thinking it isn't happy is because the blue polyps seem to have retracted a bit.  Im not sure but I'm afraid they might be dying off or being burned with too much light.

[Origami]

The reason I'm thinking it isn't happy is because the blue polyps seem to have retracted a bit.  Im not sure but I'm afraid they might be dying off or being burned with too much light.

Try putting it lower if you're afraid that it may be too bright for it where it is; Also, you can try moving it around in the tank. How long have you had it anyway? I see what looks like a toadstool leather in there also. It could be a bit of chemical warfare (allelopathy) going on, but the chemipure should help address that. 

[22bfan]

You are correct on the Toadstool Leather. 

I also have some Kenya Tree, Candy Cane, Zoa's, Paly's, Pulsing Xenia, and other smaller leathers.  

 

Maybe I'll try moving the Toadstool further away. 

[Origami]

Maybe I'll try moving the Toadstool further away. 

If it's allelopathy, then it won't help too much in such a small tank. The chemicals are released into the water and basically spreads in the water. It's not contact between the two corals. It's affect can be countered with activated carbon (which is found in your chemipure). 

[Jason Rhoads]

If you have a power head blowing directly at this coral, that could very well be the cause of the polyp retraction. I would try moving it out of the direct flow to see if that helps polyp extension.

 

Other than that, what Tom says is great guidance.

[scott711]

How old is the tank?

You said you are using LEDs. Did the birds nest come from a tank with LEDs too?  If not, it could be getting too much light.

You don't want the coral getting direct current from MJ1200.

How big is the tank?  It looks to be on the smaller side.  I would be careful dosing in smaller tank.  

[22bfan]

To answer some previous questions, my tank has been set up for about 2 yrs now.  Mainly soft corals and snails inhabiting.  I added the sps corals about a month ago.  All sps frags came from a much larger tank (400+ gallons) with high end LED's.    

 

The previous owner mentioned having his lights up too high before I picked them up.  That shock combined with moving to my tank may be the issue.  I'll keep an eye on the pollips over the next week and see if they start waking up. 

 

Is there a "recovery" protocol I could follow to sort of give this guy a 1 time boost to help it survive?  I did a 5 gallon water change yesterday and will continue to monitor.  I occassionaly spot feed my coral with "Coral Frenzy".  Would my sps benefit from spot feeding?