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grafgever
10/15/2012, 11:44 AM
Hi there, first post on the forum so hi to you all. I've been reading around here quite alot already. I figured the easiest way to find my answers would be to just ask the question to you pro's out there :).

I maintain the RSM 250 for my dad, it got setup by the aquarium shop about 7 months ago and they also maintained it for a while. Now I am doing the maintenance, first just water changes and testing KH / Salt, but recently did a nitrate test because stony coral was dying off. Nitrate was 100PPM+! I quickly did a water change and went to the store to get myself some NO3-PX Algue control from Red Sea, which together with water changes is bringing it down quite a bit. Levels are now around 25ppm, so still high but getting lower.

I change water weekly about 10%, and mix with Coral Pro Salt which I read was good. Calcium level was fine, don't have a magnesium test, phosphate was very low, ammonia non detectable.

My question is: I recently bought the white(pink) coral in the picture below, but it's just been hanging there for the 5 days that i got it, I tried moving it today and kept it in my hand about 4 inches away from the right pump, and a piece of coral got blown off! Does this mean the coral is dead?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=6905&pictureid=47554

In my photo album there are a few more pictures of the tank, some soft coral which was quite dying and just hanging there, I found out there was a piece of fish wire stuck in it's base which I removed, so I hope it recovers. My anemone also stopped eating for the past 1.5 week, can this be because he ate the red plankton that I fed for invertibrates / corals?

Lots of questions sorry for that! Thanks in advance for any help, it's really appreciated!

grafgever
10/15/2012, 11:51 AM
Little extra info about the tank:
Lights have been changed to a LED light system, I ordered an extra pump the Vortech MP10 which I read was good, to add a little more flow as I think that could be one of the reasons for the bad state of some coral. A cooler is also installed, first kept the tank at about 77-79f, but changed it now to run between 79 - 81 as I read this is better for corals, and closer to natural coral reef temperatures.

grafgever
10/16/2012, 05:27 AM
Hi there, just took a more details picture of the coral, i moved it to a new spot with better flow, however a dead looking piece broke off when I touched it. Is there any chance this corral will jump back to life or is it dead? Other corals are doing better and the anemone also ate his mussel.
Picture:
http://db.tt/EjHiYASN

bnumair
10/16/2012, 08:29 AM
looks like a stressed leather coral of some sort. they usually dont require a lot of flow nor strong lights. so i would keep it in a lower part of the tank with just moderate light. also they can break/cut and tear but usually they recover.
what are ur water parameters like?