Help! Corals are closing up

[dirtrider29]

Hey guys,

The past few days i have been trying to figure out why my corals have closed up. Specifically i have a torch coral that is not opening and a few montis that the polyps will not come out on.The only corals that are doing good is the zoas which are still opened all the way with great color. Yesterday i did a 20 gallon water change on my red sea max 250 and checked all the levels again today. Here are the results

Cal-410
Alk-7
Mg-1350
Ph-8.1
Nitrate-0
Temp-79

I will be testing the Phosphates tomorrow to see what they are at as well and will update when i find out. Does anyone know what could be causing this?

Thanks in advance

 

[dirtrider29]

Also seems like the torch coral opens up a little once the lights go out

 

[salpet]

what kind of lights do you have.

 

[salpet]

the reason that i ask is some corals like less light i/e torch and montis i found that my montis grow a lot more were they have to reach for light try moving them to a more shaded area

 

[mandown123]

How are your corals?
Run fresh carbon. Water change was good move.
If you checked your phosphates, what were they?

+1 on the lights, did you change lighting recently? Corals can get light-shock. Even changing your bulbs on a T5 or Halide can really shock certain corals.

 

[dirtrider29]

I will be checking my phosphates today. I did change one bulb from a white a blue. I also have a feeling there is something wrong with my alk test kit because no matter how much I dose I have never read anything above 7.

 

[dirtrider29]

So I got a new salifert alk test kit and my alk is actually at 9.3. I also tested my phosphates and they are at 0.08. I am starting to think that from not changing my bulbs in over a year that that is what is causing my corals to not color up or open. I will be picking up new bulbs in the morning. Does anyonebreccomed what I should be going with? I was thinking about 4 blues, 1 white and a pink/purple.

 

[dirtrider29]

Put in new T5 bulbs today and also changed out my chemi pure elite since i realized its about 3 months old. Hopeful things start looking up in the next few days.

 

[salpet]

3 or4 water changes spaced 3 days apart will do wonders do 10 percent of the total water mass each time.

 

[Aquadicted]

I don't believe u have 0 nitrates with a redsea max unless u customized it and take really good care of it.

this doesn't sound like a light issue. Most likely water quality.

 

[dirtrider29]

Well that was after the 50% water change and right now I only have 5 chromis in the tank with some snails

 

[bscpaint]

I have a red Sea 250 and I have 0 nitrate?