Euphylia coral never opening up. Please help!

[MorReefs]

Okay so I cannot for the life of me figure out why octospawn or hammers hate my tank. I have kept euphlyia for years in other tanks and they have thrived. I have this 6 month old 300gallon DD that I have started to place coral in. All of my sps is growing, my softies and growing, but the euphlyia hates it.

This is the second round of octospawn and a cheap hammer, really to test things before I put higher value euphylia in. Note that I have moved both of them to where they are currently. Where they are placed they are under PAR’d in an effort to try and not stress them more out.

Iodine dipped before went in tank
Drip acclimated for 30 min
Low flow
PAR is 75
Alk 8.3 dkh
Calc 520
Mag 1430
Nitrate: .01
Phosphate near zero (UL hanna checker)
I run a opposite cycle algae scrubber
Nightly ozone generator
The lights are orpheks iCON (three of them)

They came from a ill kept LFS so my only thought is my tank is just so different from the LFS it has stressed them out so much. I initially thought I didn't have high enough PAR so I replaced a T5/radion hybrid with the orpheks. Didnt help. I am running a orbit at 80% as a gyre and two mp40s at 40% on pulse. I thought maybe too much flow so I turned off the mp40s for now. It has been three days so far and they havent shown one polyp to me so far.

 

[jmoney7]

Your calcium seems kind of high but shouldn’t be too big of a problem everything seems fine. Maybe let your phosphates raise a bit they could be unhappy with such low nutrients. My euphyllia are very happy in my tank and it’s only 3 months old my euphyllia sit at around on average 100-150 par
My calcium ranges between 420-440
My alk is at 10
My phosphates stay at around .10
I haven’t tested magnesium but plan to soon
My nitrates are undetectable

Your params definitely do not seem like the problem very weird maybe it’s not a good store? I have a LFS that has some questionable pieces. Was it doing well in their tank before you got it?

How long has it been in your tank?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How long does it take for them wither away? Are you sure you have no fish eating the hammers and octospawn?

Nitrate and phosphate are extremely low, too low.

The par to me sounds very low to me, I've got mine under hallides and they grow! (But I doubt this is the main issue.)

I think I also see diatoms on the sand? How old is the tank?

 

[MorReefs]

How long has it been in your tank?

3 days for this batch, last batch was 2 weeks.

Was it doing well in their tank before you got it?

seem to be. They were open at the LFS. They had no flow and were lit by a single vivaspectra.

I think I also see diatoms on the sand? How old is the tank?

the tank is 6 months old. The diatoms are a recent addition after I cut flow and changed out the t5/led hybrid fixture for the orpheks

How long does it take for them wither away? Are you sure you have no fish eating the hammers and octospawn?

nearly immediately, I put them in the tank and then they slink back and never come out. It is plausible I have a fish nipping at them though it is unlikely. I have a 5 year old majestic angel in here but she has never nipped at anything before now. My previous tank had a euphylia garden and I never had any issues.

 

[MorReefs]

My euphyllia are very happy in my tank and it’s only 3 months old my euphyllia sit at around on average 100-150 par

so I have a designated rock scape that was planned for euphylia that has a par of 134-155 and receives low-moderate indirect flow. This is where I have placed both batches of test-euphylia first which should be like heaven for them. I moved them to a low par no flow area to see if maybe their environment was just too different.

 

[jmoney7]

so I have a designated rock scape that was planned for euphylia that has a par of 134-155 and receives low-moderate indirect flow. This is where I have placed both batches of test-euphylia first which should be like heaven for them. I moved them to a low par no flow area to see if maybe their environment was just too different.

Yeah I mean they should open up at least a bit if everything is ok. They look very unhappy I’ve had mine close up occasionally but never like that.

 

[MorReefs]

I have ordered a ICP test so maybe I will fine my answer there

 

[fish farmer]

Perhaps the LFS params are very different....they got used to those and didn't like yours. I would still think they would open up for a bit before going downhill.

I had a couple of hammers that I placed in my tank and both lost a head in about two weeks time, but the remaining head handled the change.