Help with Pagoda Coral!

[ERIKATHORNBURG]

I purchased a bunch of corals at our LFS last Friday and they threw this one in for free. It was solid green in the store, but it wasn't open. It already had some tissue loss that was scabbed over...if that's what you want to call it. It's been in my tank for 5 1/2 days. It has never opened and it is looking really funky color wise. The LFS guy said I could put it anywhere in my tank....just to be sure that I had enough flow so that nothing sat in it for any period of time.

I didn't take any pictures of it when we first got it.

Here is a picture of it today:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/ERIKATHORNBURG/120g%20Reef%20Tank/IMG_4131.jpg

This is a picture of the entire tank so you can see placement:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/ERIKATHORNBURG/120g%20Reef%20Tank/IMG_4149.jpg

I haven't tested in a couple days. But, last time I tested...

PH was 8.2 - 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5
Salinity 1.026
Temperature has been ranging from 78.5 - 81...still trying to get it fine tuned in. It dropped to a low of 76.5 a couple days ago at night.
Phosphates 0
Calcium 480

Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

[ERIKATHORNBURG]

I've had other on my reef club forum say that I have the orientation wrong....that it needs to face more upwards. We are going to try to change that now.

[ERIKATHORNBURG]

Here is what the tank looks like now:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/ERIKATHORNBURG/120g%20Reef%20Tank/IMG_4165.jpg

Here is the pagoda now:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n16/ERIKATHORNBURG/120g%20Reef%20Tank/IMG_4166.jpg

[xxtriggermanxx]

That will be a sweet piece if you can save it. mine is almost direcly under a 400 Mh maybe 6 inches below the water line. the advise about it's placement (as far as I know) is correct. one of my returns shoots directly down into it ,to keep it clean. if you can't do that .I recomend using a turkey baster every day to keep it clean . good luck! Ray

[xxtriggermanxx]

here is mine when I first got it about 6 years ago.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e71/xxtriggermanxx/fishstuff009.jpg
and just a peek of it now .(on the left)
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e71/xxtriggermanxx/tankpictures281.jpg

[ERIKATHORNBURG]

Wow. 6 inches below the water line with a 400 MH? Mine is down pretty far in the tank and I only have 2 - 175W Iwasaki MH bulbs! Will I have enough light for it?

[xxtriggermanxx]

that's plenty. you don't want to shock it anyway. from the looks of it ,it didn't get much light so you should be fine.

[sutec13]

I have several different ones and I have them all over from high light - 1 inch below the water line to mounted on frag magnets low bottom. I find the only prerequisite is heavy water flow. If it's pulsing flow then all the better.

[ERIKATHORNBURG]

I'm thinking it should have pretty good water flow where it is. I have 2 Koralia 4's on each side of the tank in the front. So, should be good there. I even adjusted the one to target it more. I'm sure hoping it perks up.

[ERIKATHORNBURG]

Someone on another forum asking about my dKH level...so, I thought I'd add this info here:

MH is running for 6 hours a day and the actinic is running for 12 hours.

I just finished testing. Here are the water parameters currently:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate - I couldn't tell if it was 5 or 10 based on the API color strip...ahgr! Looked closer to 5.
dkH - 8 which is a ppm KH of 143.2
Calcium 480
Phosphates 0
Temp is 80.1
Salinity 1.026

[sutec13]

your dkH could be a couple points higher and your calcium is a little on the high side but turbineria (pagoda) just aren't that picky. Give it time to adjust.

[ERIKATHORNBURG]

I'm actually thinking about using baking soda to raise my dkH level. I found a dosing calculator on here and was using it to figure out how much I needed to use. I just wasn't sure how much was safe to do at one time.

[sutec13]

I've never used baking soda - I know some people use it in pools to control pH. Let me know how that works for you.