Coral Help and Advice

[stuhope123]

Hey all,

Many apologies in advance, i am new to the hobby and just after some friendly advice :)

So i have a small Reef tank capacity about 70 litres, I started off after a month or so and added a few clowns and damsels and cleaner, i then realised that one of them had developed ich and i didn't have a qt tank and subsequently lost all 3 fish, The cleaner is still happy as larry 2 months later,

So to cut the story down, Whilst i am waiting for the ich cycle to go through 8 weeks i believe so i can add more (i have a qt tank now so will be going in there first) i have bought some corals in the meantime.

However i have some questions and worries.

1. Devils Hand Coral (3 images attached0
I'm really not sure what this coral should look like when open and happy, However during the night when the lights are off it goes really small and devlops green type stuff over it, When the lights come on it then begins to perk up and looks a bit better after a hour or so.

Am i doing anything wrong and is this correct and what should be happening?

2. Polyp coral (Image Attached)
Very similar to the devils hand when lights are off all closed up, lights on opens a bit,

Im a little more worried as some sections of this look like they have like died and haven't opened for a while, Again is this normal or am i missing something?

3. Zenia (I Think) image attached.

This coral looks happy as and just waiting for it to spread a little more.

Can someone just confirm from the image that it is happy to put my mind at rest :)

Sorry for the probably daft questions but I'm just a little new and really value your opinions as you are all experienced :)

Stuart

[mcgyvr]

First most corals close up at night and come out when the light comes back on..
Thats 100% normal..

Second.. Leather/softie corals (devils hand) often close up for a few days to a week or more as they shed layers of skin to remove any algae that grows on them and just as part of their growing..

Third.. Those zoas "should" be opening fully during the day.. IF they aren't look for something thats irritating them or they just aren't happy where they are placed..

Forth.. Xenia looks fine..

Corals need stable water parameters to be happy and you should maintain low nitrate/phosphate levels too.. Those corals can "tolerate" higher levels but strive to keep those levels low..
But stable alk/salinity is very important with corals along with providing sufficient water flow and sufficient lighting..