Dunkin Coral Refuses to Open

[dkline]

I am a relative new reefer. 3 years in the hobby. Simple 55 gallon tank with HOB filter and canister filter. Lighting is two Current Marine IC Pro lights with Blue at 100% and whites at 10%. Jaebo wave pump at lowest setting that cycles periodically to increase flow a bit.

Have an Apex Controller and Trident for day to day visibility. Do weekly 5 gallon water changes and test Alk, nitrate and phosphate with Hanna and CA and Mg with salifert.

Dose NoPox 4ml every other day just to aid with nitrate and phosphate management. Run carbon in my HOB.

I have had all the typical new reefer issues but have been focusing on stability for about 7 months and things are on the right track.

Light fish load with 7 fish (Sailfin, fox face, two clowns, single chromis, bicolor blenny, bengai cardinal
Cleanup crew are a few blue leg hermits, some snails and a tiger conch.

Any ideas on why my Duncan’s just never open? They are alive. They start to peak out each day but just never ever open. This is for over three months. Open when I got them and then closed up. Never to open again.

Salinity 1.024
Alk. Currently 11 since starting Kalk a month ago. But normally is in the high 8 or low 9 range. I’ll back down on Kalk strength to lower it.
PH is 7.9 to 8. Was 7.6 range before using Kalk
CA is always around 440
Mg around 1450
Nitrates below 20
Phosphates below .1

Currently the Duncan’s are mounted on a rock on the sand bed which is around 100 par.

I feed them benereef once a week and they eat it. But will not open for 3 months. Also dose Red Sea AB+ once a week. Just can’t figure out why they are unhappy when everything else seems fine.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Can you take pictures?

Your lighting should be okay, it's just a little low, but I would say that's not causing the issue. Do you have any other corals in the tank or just fish?

 

[dkline]

Can you take pictures?

Your lighting should be okay, it's just a little low, but I would say that's not causing the issue. Do you have any other corals in the tank or just fish?

I’ll take a picture when the lights come up. But I also have some acans, Kenya tree, leather, toadstool, cloves, Zoas, mushrooms and pipe organ. All doing well. The only angry coral are the two Duncan heads. Just refuse to open.

 

[dkline]

My tank. Sorry about the blue color. I don’t have special camera lens. But you can see the Dunkin closed up as always.

 

[Tommy B]

Do you run any carbon in your system? Soft corals can irritate stony corals with a type of toxin they release into the water column. I am no expert on the subject, but maybe try and research that.

 

[dkline]

Do you run any carbon in your system? Soft corals can irritate stony corals with a type of toxin they release into the water column. I am no expert on the subject, but maybe try and research that.

Thanks Tommy. I do run carbon in my HOB filter. I’ll research a bit more on that.