A novel adsorbent, nano crystalline Hydroxyapatite (nano HAp), was synthesized from Persian Gulf coral by a hydrothermal method in order to remove nickel ions from aqueous solutions. Primary powder was characterized using XRD, FTIR and SEM. Also the powder surface area was determined by BET. The influence of different adsorption parameters, such as initial concentration of metal ion, contact time, adsorbent dosage and the temperature on the adsorption amounts of Ni 2+ ions were studied. Nickel uptake was quantitatively evaluated using the Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Kaganer-Radushkevich (DKR) models. In addition, the equilibrium removal process of nickel ions by the nano HAp was described well with the Langmuir isotherm model, resulting in the maximum adsorption capacity of 2.278 mg/g of Ni 2+ ions on nano HAp. The results of the thermodynamic and kinetic investigations indicated that the adsorption reactions were spontaneous (ΔG• < 0), endothermic (ΔH• > 0) and the pseudo second order model fitted better the adsorption kinetics of Ni 2+ on HAp.