coral bleacing in center

[turtlespd]

I have never lost a frag due to bleaching with or without acclimation. Once i get a frag i place them where i feel they will be successfull and im done. I never touch the coral again and they thrive.

Now what i was wondering is since i gotten a few bali pieces recently i figure it would be wise to acclimate them. The problem is i notice on one of the acros the coral is bleaching alittle. It is very slight but enough to make me worry. The coral it self has been in my tank for 3 weeks at most and grew a 1/2 all around. I was very pleased to see these results and felt the coral was very happy but after admiring it for a hour or so i noticed that the body seem to be lighter than the rest of the coral. after closer inspection it looks like bleaching. The whole underside of the acro is lighter but nothing major. I proceeded to move the coral in a area with more flow and less light.

Parameters:

alk 8
ca 440
Mag 1250
ph 8.2
temp 78-79
phospahate 0
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0

Water changed weekly 5g IO adjusted temp and buffed.
Lighthing consist of
2 250w MH DE pheonix 5 montsh old for 5 hours a day.
VHO is on for 8

Water movement, two tunze 6000 on munti controller
(90% and 40%) and 1000gph return. I cant even keep colrals on the floor and sediment is always floating in the water collum.

All other frags growing like weeds and very colorfull.

Im wondering maybe the bottom half of the coral needs more acclimation because maybe it has been in poor lit conditions and the upper half wasnt? Strange to get amazing growth on the upper branches and then bleaching of the center. This has happend in the past but i dotn recall what i did cause i havent purchase a colony for such a long time. Maybe someone can clue me in on what is happening and why.

P.s tank is bare bottom not cause i support it, only cause i move often.

Paul

 

[turtlespd]

thoughts?

 

[Hef]

Sounds like you are doing the right thing, more flow and less light for now.
Photos really help in a situation like this. We dont know how big it is, coloring. Is it a dark frag that is bleaching or is it a lighter colored coral that is even lighter where you say it's bleaching.

I would be worried if it is a dark purple coral and it turns very light to translucent. That's a sign of RTN on the way.

Either way, there is not much you can do about it. Less light, good flow, and a Stable environment. You mentioned Alk. is at 8.0 dkh, I know that Instant Ocean is around 11+ dkh when mixed. You are only doing 5g changes, no big deal.

Good luck.
Post a photo.

Hef

 

[turtlespd]

I wish i could take photos good enough to show the probems but ill try this weekend. Im actualy out town so it does make things difficult.

The coral is in fact brown body and is getting lighter. Not the good lighter but the bleach "turns very light to translucent" is . I just checked out my corals last week and its happening to another coral. My tyree soli! I hope the coral is just getting lighter because i did move it from my friends tank to mines and we run the same bulbs, in fact mines are twice as old as his. I hope the coral is just adjusting to the new light and lighting up. Now on the side of my lighting instead of directly under it and i increased the flow. BTW im running 6100 streams not 6000. Who of thought i wouldnt have enough flow from that. I plan to add two more so i wont ever have flow issues. I have seen Solis in the past that are on the lighter side but since this coral is a lot more important than any AC coral i must take procautuons.

WHen the coral was in my friends tank he had maxijets on a wave make strip and noobie conditions. I think i may have taken water quality to an extreme.

I also double checked my reator out put and effluent is at 30dkh and ph of 6.7 and steady for the 4 days i was able to watch it. The tank parameters barely moved at all except temp swing from 78-79 at most.

when i get home this thursday ill attach a pic.

 

[Hef]

Efflos & Solis are pretty tough corals. I've got Two Efflos, and they have both gone through serious color changes. One of them bleached pretty badly, not white, but very light, it has recovered and darkened up. Funny, now I'm trying to lighten it up again