Advice regarding bleaching, polyp extension, lighting and coral placement

[Shooter7]

Ok, in another thread I've had a few people tell me a coral I had a pic of was getting bleached, but no one is telling me exactly what to do about it. I'm not new to SW, but am new to SPS. I have purchased several frags from a few different members in here in hopes of getting nice, healthy specimens to start with. I'd appreciate input on how to keep them healthy and colorful.

My last water parameters are as follows:

pH 8.2
alk 10 dkh
Ca 380
Mg 1280
NO3 and PO4 are undetectable per salifert test
temp ranges from 79.5 - 81
I have been dripping kalk but still need to get an ATO set up to make it more regular.
Lights are on 9 hours per day, 2 x 250w 12k Reeflux. The lights are about 8 inches above the water and a little over 9 months old now.
I have a little over 30x flow in the tank.

First up is the coral in question regarding bleaching:

This coral is almost directly below a light, it's up about 7 - 8 inches from the bottom of the tank. If it's indeed bleaching, where would be the best place for me to move it to in order to help it?

Another coral I have is a very nice frag of a green colored, "super hairy" mille. I don't have a pic available right now. It is also directly below a light about a foot under the surface. This coral has done some extensive encrustation of its base, but it is nowhere near being "super hairy" anymore. More like super stubble is all. Would like some input on what may be going on with it and what I should perhaps do to help it.

On the other side of the tank from that one is an ORA blue mille who is also encrusting its base well and has decent polyp extension, but has gone mostly brown. It's the only coral in the tank to have really done this color change. Input on this one please?

I have several others that seem to be doing well right now. A pocillipora, green slimer, and cali tort all seem to be holding their color and growing. Several other frags are really new, so it remains to be seen with them.

I'd really like for all of these guys to be healthy and happy in here. I'm working on continuing to make my water conditions more stable and possibly adding more flow. It's a mixed reef right now. I'm not particularly looking for a jam packed SPS reef, just that the ones that I have now to look good. Thank you very much for constructive input towards this end.

 

[Shooter7]

Somebody?

 

[dukes707]

i have the same prob. i have been monitoting this thread waiting for a reply but no answers. well heres a bump to the top. hope you get some answers.

 

[parothead22]

I'll try to shed some light on your problem. Your acro is bleaching, my guess, due to one of these conclusions:
1) your Acro is not in the right place for proper lighting(either receiving too much or too little light.(try placing coral in another location). My guess is that your Acro is bleaching because it is receiving too much oxygen due to photosynthesis(zooxanthellae). When this happens bleaching is the end result.
2) Your bulb may need to be replaced.
3) you don't have proper water flow which Acropora requires to remove detritus and carbon dioxide as well as carry food to them!
How long ago did you purchase the Acro?
What kind of lighting was the Acro in at the place you purchased it and placement? Shock will result if you don't use a strict acclimation regimen.

 

[Shooter7]

Thanks for your response...had kind of given up on this thread.

1 & 2) My guess, given the circumstances, is that it is not receiving enough light as it was somewhat deep in the tank, the lights are not exactly a high PAR light, and they are 9 months old. I have moved the coral up higher and the lights down slightly lower. It is looking slightly darker in the base right now. I am working on replacing my current lighting with a new parallel reflector, probably 10k Ushio bulbs, and either VHO or T-5 supplementals. Hoping to do this in the next week or so.

3.) Flow is maybe slightly over 30x volume. May be looking at ways to increase this as well.

Coral was purchased, I believe, in June as I recall. I asked about its current lighting enviroment at the time and I am not completely sure if it was under 250w or 400w halides. I don't think I still have the PM where I discussed that with him.

Thanks again for your response.

 

[parothead22]

One thing to be aware of is when you go to replace your bulbs, there will be an initial shock because of the strength of your new bulbs as oppossed to the lack there of of your bulbs being used now.
My suggestion to you is if you change both bulbs at the same time, shorten the duration that you have them on to say 6 hours or so and gradually up that time over a period of a month or so. The other thing you could do is place some of your fragile corals lower down in your tank, then slowly move them back up. This is done to again stop the strees of your corals and the bleaching thing!