Advice needed, acro base bleaching

[Bello]

Hi guys,

This is my first ever thread on Reef Central. :lol2:

Have been going through the site for over a year now, and have setup a 45gal mixed reef cube. Still a noob. I've been doing pretty ok, but have faced problems with SPS.

Tank has been setup since July'09. The params are as follows,

NO3 -> 0
NO2 -> 0
pH -> 7.9 - 8
Alk -> 8 dkh

Have 3 sps right now, 1 Acropora Formosa, 1 undentified Acropora, and 1 poccillopora. All 3 have been bleaching from the base up, especially in the areas that are shadowed.

Have fragged the pocci, and it's frags now seem to be growing well. Also fragged the formosa, but frags haven't shown much growth or bleaching either. Have been trying to find out what's causing the bleaching, but I'm stumped????


Lighting was with a single 150W 14000k MH, have now changed to 160W Maxspect G1 LED lights (waaayyy brighter!!)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[x2uranium]

Welcome to Coral Addicts Anonymous. Salinity ? Is everything stable? Any predators? (although you say the pocci is bleaching too) Most likely is a parameter issue.

 

[Bello]

Coral Addicts Anonymous... is an understatement :worried: !!! Wondering if I'll ever be cured???

Upon further reading last night and your reply, I'm pretty sure that the this problem is due to unstable alkalinity. It was around 6.5 dkh over 3 weeks ago, and have raised it to 8 dkh now. I'm guessing this is the problem. Seems that you are right about the params part. Will need to keep an eye out for further bleaching and tissue loss.

The formosa after fragging is showing some growth on the fragged area. PE is still very low. Need to give it some time with stable params. Any ideas on jogging PE and growth? (I've been adding a small amount of amino acids for almost a week, not making much of a difference)


I'm curious, and perhaps you could answer this for me,

Its mentioned on a few websites, that all areas of Acropora should be lit. This seem pretty impossible with direct lighting. How important is this? As there is bound to be some amount of shade. Moving the Acropora up and down to receive maximum light only seems to only stress the coral more and nothing else. It seems as though the areas that didn't receive max light suffered this tissue loss.

Thanks!!!

 

[graveyardworm]

Alkalinity problems usually start at the tips. Not to say it cant start at the base or that it doesnt. I would suspect a light issue but unless they're decent sized colonies thats probably not it. From there I would look at flow. Is there plenty of flow around them? Do the polyps swish around a bit throughout the corals?

 

[Bello]

Hello,

As mentioned earlier, lighting was changed from a 150w MH to a 160w LED setup which is "supposed" to be comparable to a 250w MH. Can't say that its true or untrue, but its definitely brighter than the 150w MH.

I have an MP10 on 100% reef crest, so I think it should be enough. Corals that have decent PE are definitely swishing around.

Forgot to say that its a 45gal cube, with a 15gal sump.

 

[graveyardworm]

Do you have access to a PAR meter? It wouldnt hurt to figure out how comparable the LED fixture is to the 150w mh. If there's a club in your area they sometimes have one that they lend out to members.

Can you post any clear closeup photo's of the corals? There's always a chance you may have one of the sps/acro pests. If you cant post photos then look around here and familiarize yourself with what they look like if you dont aleready know.

 

[Bello]

There is thread with the PAR details, but can't seem to find it anyhow. No go on the PAR meter. Have been looking but see no sign of any pests. But then again, you never know exactly whats in your tank with all the live rock:lol2:

These should give you a rough idea idea ,

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1774745

Have enclosed a pic of the corals, sorry I'm quite terrible with the camera. Still learning.

 

[graveyardworm]

Based on that pic it looks like your nutrients may be too low. What other livestock do you have, and are you dosing anything?

 

[Bello]

Well N03 -> 0 - 1 ppm, P04 -> 0 (as per salifert kits), Mag kit seems to be expired

Live stock:
Royal Gramma
Orchid Dottyback
Flasher Wrasse
Dartfish
Tomini Tang & Sailfin Tang (which will be moved to the 250g in 2 weeks)
One Cleaner Shrimp.

Recently, have been dosing,

10ml Ecosystem Reef Soln
10ml each ESV's B-Ionic
2 drops Zeo Amino Acid Concentrate (doesn't seem to be doing much)

Any ideas?


Thanks

 

[Bello]

Also,

The pic didn't come out too good. The colors are bit darker, especially on the Formosa (hope thats the correct ID), but theres minimal polyp extension on it