On my last nerve with my acan and duncan.

[wartooth1]

I have 2 corals (a duncan and an acan) that for the life of me just won't open no matter how how perfectly balanced the water parameters may are and tank placement doesn't seem to help them either. Its been over 3 weeks now and despite my chemical testing and weekly water changes, everything else in the tank seems very happy except these 2 corals. I did just buy a new filter pad and carbon and that seemed to perk them up for a day or two, but then they went right back to closing up.
The duncan was always fussy since the day I got it and the acan seemed to be doing well for its 1st couple of weeks in the tank, but seemingly overnight the acan closed right up and never came back.
FYI my tank's water looks like this last time I checked:
SG 1.025
PH 8.4
Ammo: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 5-10 (hard to tell with API test kits)
Calcium: 430
Alk (I forgot the exact number but according to my test kit it is a little on the hard side... 6-12 drops before the blue liquid is ideal and for me it took 14 drops for this to happen).
So... unless its the hardness (which I'm trying to fix via water changes) what else could it be? My acan is up on one of the higher rocks. Should it be moved down to the sand or a shady spot?
Any advise is appreciated

 

[rynosreef]

i have 8 or so different acans on the sand bed, and they seem to do good, but at first they didnt like the flow and i am still trying to find the right flow. half are happy and maybe one or so are not. as for my ducan i run 2x400 watt 14ks and they as high as my sps about 3/4 to the top of the tank. he loves it there but the flow is not so fast there. i hope this helps u out a little but i can only give u what i have experienced