Help with Coral

[Scubaguy10]

Hey everyone so I recently got my 55 gallon going and I have a few frags in it and after about a couple weeks they aren’t looking so well. I have 2 zoa frags and one finally just opened today and the other has not opened since I put him in there. I also have another frag that is starting to lose it’s color. I have used seed twice this week and plan on doing it twice a week to hopefully save them but any suggestions on what I may be doing wrong or how to help maintain healthy coral would really be appreciated. I adjusted the white light down today so hopefully that will help as well. Pictures of the frags I have to follow. On is on the sand because my crabs knocked it off the rock in the picture but has since been placed back on the rock. Thanks everyone!

 

[Flippers4pups]

How old is the tank?

Using RO/DI water?

What lights are you using? Length of light schedule?

 

[Uncle99]

Your pics suggest a very new tank.

I don’t think your doing anything wrong, just maybe too early.

The Environment:
Most corals required rock solid water stability that reflect ranges found in NSW.
They also require random flows and reef type lighting. That does not mean that you cannot keep corals now, just be cautious of SPS types, any change in SG, Temp or Alk can either make them slowly die or just die.

The Chemistry:
Bring each parameter, SG, Temp, Nitrate, Phosphate, Alk, CA, Mg, Iodide into NSW ranges and keep there with as little of flux as possible, in the early maturity days, water changes are easiest/safest way to achieve this.

My Chemistry is a follows if that helps you.
Sg 1.025-1.026 (ATO is a very helpful tool to maintain this)
Temp 77-79..........mine is 77.4
Nitrate 2-10ppm......mine is 6ppm
Phosphate 0.03 -.15......mine is 0.15ppm
Alk 8-12dkh.......mine is 8.5dkh
MG.....1300-1360........mine is 1360ppm
CA.......400-460......mine is 450ppm
Iodide......0.03-0.06.......mine is 0.06ppm

The Stability:
Once your can hold all of these stable for 2-3 months, and/or, you see any coralline, any of the LPS/SPS group will thrive in this stability.

The Learning:
I struggled with this for the first year, many of those first corals I got are gone now.
Once stability was employed, everything I toss in opens immediately and is thriving, before stability they looked bland. Take the time to “know” your water.

Softies are less demanding, but if provided the same water, show fantastic growth and colour.