Alvepora not opening for 3 days now?

[reeferRob]

I've had an Alvepora for about 4 weeks now and it has been beautiful until about 3 days ago when it stopped opening. My 180 has an eheim 1262 rtn pump and 2 Seio 820s and an emporer 400 for flow.

PH 8.3
Amonia 0
trites 0
trates 20
Ca 410 (before dripping 4 capfuls of Seachem Reef Complete)
dkh 9.0 (before dripping 4 capfuls of Seachem Reef Complete)
Mg 1350
Temp 81 (max - during day)
I run a ASM G-3 24/7

I feed Phyto or zooplankton or Cyclopeze at least every other day

nothing is close enough to touch it

I see no bugs or nothing on it (day or night)

I run 4 - 96w dual Actinics from 8am - 8pm and
3 - 150w HQI MHs from noon til 5pm

Any ideas? It started a couple days after I stuck it to the rock with Aquastick? Also My GSM clown has dug a deep hole in the sandright behind it and hides behind it. Those are the only 2 things I can think it may possibly be.


Thanks

Rob

[caferacermike]

Hopefully it wasn't the aquastick. Not sure about that brand but I know that most 2 part epoxies like that tend to burn corals. I'm not sure it is a chemical burn or heat burn but I have heard that from some seriously advanced reefers here at MAAST.

[urban79]

I think people should not to buy alevapora or gonipora. Because they just die out of the middle of nowhere. I think it has to do a lot with food. But no one really knows.

[reeferRob]

I think people should not to buy alevapora or gonipora. Because they just die out of the middle of nowhere. I think it has to do a lot with food. But no one really knows.

Yeah i read that about them after I had already bought them, I'd never buy either again, however I'd like to do my best to keep them if I can.

The aquastick is from twofishies and is supposed to be completely reef safe according to the manufacturer and not harm corals or inverts but I know it will cause the skimmer to freak out for a while.

Thanks for the responses

[Texreefer]

nitrates are pretty high for the more sensitive corals

[hammondegge]

my guess, either the nitrates or irritated by sand that the clown is kicking up, or both. i hope it pulls through for you.

[reeferRob]

nitrates are pretty high for the more sensitive corals

On the subject of nitrates too high, I can't seem to get them down any further (although they were at about 40 for a couple weeks). I run an Emporer 400 (with no filter media) for flow and to add chemical filtration such as phosphate remover or carbon. I've removed the sponge from my eheim return pump, I done away with the filter sock on my overflow hose, I've gone to feeding once/day either mysis or pellets except for the daily algae sheets for the tangs (about 2"x2" for 3 tangs) I do a 35 gallon partial every week or every other week if I get lazy. All this and my trates are still 20. My LR is only about 2 months old (150lbs Figi premium) so there isn't a lot of corraline on them although a couple rock are pretty encrusted and the back wall is finally getting spots on it. Can this be my nitrate problem or should I keep looking?

[Texreefer]

Depends on how clean the rock was when you put it in..two months should be plenty of time,,, does your rock have a lot of flow around and under it? detritus build up can be a big issue.. i have a lot of open area and flow behind my rock.. my tank is two months old with about 80lbs live rock and i have been reading undetectible nitrates since the second week.. i do however run a 40 gal refugium with lots of macro and 6-8" sand bed along with my skimmer but i have no mechanical filtration. IMO you must get nitrates down to have any long term success.

[reeferRob]

Rock has plenty of open areas however I feel the flow in my tank is somewhat inadequate. I have an eheim return pump that is rated at about 700gph with headloss and 2 Seio 820s - 1 in each rear corner, and the Emp 400 which does very little for flow. That equate to about 2300gph or 11 times the volume. I hope to upgrade to 2 Tunze's with a switching device one day SOON! I get a lot of build up on the sand especially behind the rocks so I know I need more flow! hmmm maybe I'll have to upgrade sooner than I thought. So that must be it - not enough flow, FLow, FLOW!!


Thanks again

[publicshortage]

If your clown is "loving" your coral this probally be the problem. nitrates need to come down too. 8)

[safeuerwehr]

if your looking for a cheap alternative to the tunze or before buying the tunze check out the MJ mod thread in the DYI....i did two and they are very effective in moving water......

[Richard]

If your clown is "loving" your coral this probally be the problem


I've had to remove an alveopora from a tank because a clown decided to host in it so eventually it would never open.



does your rock have a lot of flow around and under it? detritus build up can be a big issue


Premium fiji tends to crank out alot of detritus for 2-3 months so that may well be the problem. I would use the filter sock occasionally and then blow off the rock with a powerhead. I do this every 1 to 2 months on my 215 to keep detritus from building up too much in the pores of my liverock. In between I don't use any type of mechanical filtration.