# Leather Question



## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

I have a few Leathers but the tank is mostly SPS' & LPS' About 3 days ago I moved a big finger leather from one side of the tank to the other and none of my leathers have opened since. On the 2nd day I changed the carbon in my phosban reactor and did about a 13gal water change did water test no ammonia no nitrites and nitrates are about 10ppm phosphates are about .1 I do dose 17ml of B-Ionic and 2ml of Vodka everyday. I had no problems before I moved the big leather. Any ideas on what could be wrong?


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## GetITCdot (Aug 4, 2009)

trouble93 said:


> I have a few Leathers but the tank is mostly SPS' & LPS' About 3 days ago I moved a big finger leather from one side of the tank to the other and none of my leathers have opened since. On the 2nd day I changed the carbon in my phosban reactor and did about a 13gal water change did water test no ammonia no nitrites and nitrates are about 10ppm phosphates are about .1 I do dose 17ml of B-Ionic and 2ml of Vodka everyday. I had no problems before I moved the big leather. Any ideas on what could be wrong?


IMO give him a few days my devils hand does that all the time. Anytime rock work is moved he doesent come out for 2-3 days.


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

I'll wait a day or two, and see what happen.


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## MediaHound (Jul 19, 2006)

They get temperamental. 
Could be it released some chemical or enzyme etc to alert the colony of danger, that the others might have detected as well. Give it time to wear off, they should be back to normal soon.


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

MediaHound said:


> They get temperamental.
> Could be it released some chemical or enzyme etc to alert the colony of danger, that the others might have detected as well. Give it time to wear off, they should be back to normal soon.


That makes since.


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## drhank (Aug 3, 2009)

You need to get your nitrates and phosphates down to zero. Corals do not like either. I'm surprised that your SPS haven't shown signs of stress. They are usually the most susceptible. Water changes are the first order of business. A fuge with macroalgae should help a lot if it's running properly. Also make sure that you are rinsing frozen foods and be careful with flakes (some contain phosphates from what I've been told).


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## trouble93 (Nov 8, 2008)

drhank said:


> You need to get your nitrates and phosphates down to zero. Corals do not like either. I'm surprised that your SPS haven't shown signs of stress. They are usually the most susceptible. Water changes are the first order of business. A fuge with macroalgae should help a lot if it's running properly. Also make sure that you are rinsing frozen foods and be careful with flakes (some contain phosphates from what I've been told).


I have to disagree here I have had Nitrates above 20ppm. for more then a year in my reef tank sometimes they even hit 40ppm.(large fish load) I have a sump with not only micro algae but mangroves aswell. And for the most part the tank is LPS' & SPS' and a few large leathers. Only problem I have had is color. Nitrates in small amounts are not a bad thing always. You have to have something for bacteria, pods and so on to feed off of. Some will say "My nitrates are 0" not the case they are just undetectable. As long as we are running these closed systems we have nutrients just from organic waste alone until it get to your skimmer and it doen't get it all. You are right in that we should try to get NO3's & PO4's down as low as possible and I have tried everything to do just that and after alot of time and money I still have them. This is my reef tank with 20+ Nitrates and Phosphates at 1ppm.


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