# Marine Aquariums > Saltwater Beginner's >  Duncans closed up...

## Liam-A

Hello, 

my Duncans have almost closed up. 

I did all of my water checks... all seemed good. No ammonia, Ph 8.0, no nitrite and no nitrate.... so all good there... 

I have also checked my salinity... not sure whats gone on but it was massively high. 1.034... Ive just taken out a bit and put RO in and its now at 1.024... 

Ive added AB+ into the water 1ml for the 50litre tank. 

The light is on from 16:30 until 22:30.... is that enough?

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*Gary R* (12-03-2020)

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## Gary R

Hi Liam

What are your dKH, Cal and Mag levels ? as i think this may be your problem

Have you got any flow going past them as they like low to moderate flow ... your salinity could of made them close up being at 1.034 should be 1.025 but if you have got it back down then leave them for 24 hours and see if they start to open again.

Always keep a eye on your water as this is were most people will slip up if not tested on a regular bases.

Have you any other corals in there besizes duncans ?

Every think else looks ok to me that you have posted but would run your lights for a couple more hours a day... please let me know how you get on ....Thanks

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## Liam-A

I put the lights on this morning to see if that helps..

I've got a few Zoa (Granny Apple, Cherry Bomb (I think), and one little frag in there). Moon coral, Euphyllia, Red Blasto & green Blasto (again, I think) I'll photo them later on and try to add them. Don't this this site likes Apple iOS very much! Moon coral and red thing.jpgduncan and euphyllia1.jpgzoa1.jpg

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## Gary R

Hi Liam 

Did you check your dKH, Cal and Mag levels ... every think else looks ok in your tank ....i think you will start to see the duncan's come back out soon looking at them.

What i can see of your tank it looks nice  :Smile:  What fish have you got in there, I can see a fire fish. 



When you say Apple iOS do you mean posting on here using iOS ? as it works for me

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## Liam-A

Hi Gary,
I don't have the test kits yet for the dKH, Calcium and Magnesium yet. I will be getting that shortly. (probably the weekend)

I've got 2x Common Clowns, 2x Fire Darts, 1x Royal Gramma, 1x Mandarin, 1x Fire Shrimp, 1x Red Leg Hermit, 6x Hermits. I'm done on the fish front now until I upgrade to a bigger tank. Not fair on the fish to get more. 

Clowns are funny little things aren't they. They are much more active than I thought they would be. 
Darts keep themselves to themselves... they sleep together, it's cute. 
Gramma is the boss. 100%
Mandarin is an odd thing but its feeding which apparently is the hard part of getting one in the tank. 

I'll add a photo of the tank later on when I get home. It's a very small tank. 

Sometimes iOS just says unable to open page and sometimes it works. might be my internet at home blocking the page to be fair.

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*Gary R* (12-03-2020)

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## Gary R

It sounds like a nice setup you have going there and the fish choice is just right... just make sure you keep adding the live copepods in there for the mandarin until you see it eating frozen Mysis shrimp and then i would still add live copepods now and then. Would be nice to see the full tank when you get time to post it.

You will need the above test kits with you having corals as you will find that all the Alkalinity, calcium and magnesium levels which are important for skeletal growth will start to be used up faster as the corals grow.

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*Liam-A* (12-03-2020)

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## Gary R

Hi Liam 

How is the tank running have the Duncan's started to open up again ?

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## Liam-A

7C97CBEE-1732-428B-85A8-7CE86A1620D2.jpg looks worse by the day  :moan:  :moan:

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## Gary R

Hi Liam

They are not dead by a long way ...they are just closed up, looking at it to me this could be that they just need moving to another place in the tank...is the fire shrimp messing around with it ?

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## Liam-A

Shrimpy doesn’t touch it. He like to go over the Zoas. I’ll move it. Low flow area or fast flow?

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## Gary R

try a low to medium flow and see how that goes for 24 hours.... if that does not work i can put it in my tank for a couple of days to see if it will open back up for you.

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*Liam-A* (22-03-2020)

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## Liam-A

I’ve moved it to slow/medium flow. See how it gets on. My water is fine. Not sure why it’s being a recluse! Weird. I’ll keep you posted. Thank you for the kind offer!!!

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## Gary R

no problem ...just hope it starts to open up again soon for you.

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*Liam-A* (22-03-2020)

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## Gary R

Liam your dkh is 5.6 which is very low ..this needs to go up ...your salt is 0.126 which is smack on... calcium is 430 which is fine... Magnesium is 1600 which is high ...this will be the salt you are using but should go down over time a long time ...but dkh is more important to sort out at the moment that should be at least 8.0 to keep your corals happy.

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## Liam-A

Cheers Gary. If I was change the salt, what is the best one to get?  
I’ll look at getting an additive to stick in. 
Would I be best off getting a load of stuff from RedSea?

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## Gary R

you need a salt with low magnesium in it when doing water changes and the lowest i know of is Kent Marine marine salt which is 1200ppm ...i would get a small box of it to try out and as you do the water changes over the next few months it will drop, as it is at the moment every think in there should be ok with the magnesium as it is, but you do not what to keep using what ever salt you are using at the moment as it will never drop.

I think this could of been when you did the last water change as i belive you did a big one ?

Anyway i think once you get the dkh back up every think will be in place and back to normal... if you can't get any Reeflowers KH Blend soon give me a call and i will sort you some out to get you over.    

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reeflower...53.m2749.l2649

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## Liam-A

Thank you! 

I did a 20% water change last week. May have upset the apple cart.  

I’ve ordered the reef flower stuff to help with my dKh. That’ll arrive on the 1st apparently. Going to order a 1kg if the Kent stuff to see if that helps with the magnesium issue.

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*Gary R* (26-03-2020), *lost* (26-03-2020)

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