Help a brother reefer out!!!

[ryno212]

That facts:
· The tank is 7 month old 120 gallon tech
· Started with 250MH in luminarcs for the first 5 months and changed to T5s
· Put first SPS frags in about 4 months in
· Within 1 week they bleached down to white, with only the polyps that retained their color. The frags that faded were 2 caps, and 2 acros. There are no pests in my tank!! I looked and found none, plus the frags came from a reef member that has a very healthy tank.
· Polyps will extend and look health other than the color fade but have very slow growth.
· For the past month I have had solid parameters Alk..9 Cal 450….Ph 8.0-8.2 Mag 1300…Phos .01….Nitrates 0 Nitrites 0..Temp 76-78
· I feed DTS and AA for the corals and brine, mysis, and cyclopes for the fish once a day.
· I do water changes every 2 weeks with TM
· My equipment: 8bulb 54W Tek T5 fixture, MSX 200 skimmer, Vortech, K4 and 2 K3 for water movement, 1620 for a return, run carbon 24/7,and have a fuge with cheato.
· After the fading took place I put in 4 more frags that dulled a little but not bleached as the others did.

My questions are these:
1. Can I expect the bleached corals to make a comeback, if so how long will these process take before I should give up on them (already been 3 months with no coloring up)?
2. What can I do to prevent the new corals from getting worse?

 

[paveking1]

If they are healthy enough they will come back ,Lower them to the bottom of the tank or not in direct light & that will help alot.

 

[ryno212]

If I shorten the light period, will that help? Right now it is at 8hrs. What should I go with to be safe for my other sps. I can't lower them, because they are glued where they are now.

 

[SALT WATER CRAZ]

you could put peices of screen on top of the tank than remove a layer at a time.

 

[paveking1]

As salt water craz said screen will help & shorten your photoperiod ,That is not real long .I would go with the screening & try to lower them down .

 

[ChrisKirkland]

You should start all your new SPS coral out on the substrate. When Acclimating SPS corals you need to take your time. It could take as long as a month before you can put the SPS corals in their perspective locations.

 

[ryno212]

Well when I changed to T5s I had them 11inchs off the water and moved them down a inch a week. I just moved them down to 5 tonight. Do you think I should move them back up, or do the screen thing. Will this mess with my other sps that have not been affected. One more thing..How come when a coral bleaches due to light, it's color won't come back on it's own if you keep light the way it is?

 

[flyyyguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13143270#post13143270 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ryno212
One more thing..How come when a coral bleaches due to light, it's color won't come back on it's own if you keep light the way it is?

it will.......but depending on how bad it is you are just greatly increasing its chances by giving it a break from the same light that caused the issue.

When this happens it is IMO success gettign it to turn brown. you can worry about coloring it up later. you want the zoox back first and foremost

 

[DML08]

how did you light acclimate them?... I put all my new frags on the bottom (in the sand) and leave them there for about a month them move up and into position slowly.

 

[crmjacks]

I have some granulosa that I have not seen polyps out on in over a month. It has still retained it's colors (though a bit faded) but I suspect too much light. At this point I am not sure it is still alive. I have another brown Acro up high that is the same story. If it is not bleached out, does that mean it's alive? Or not necessarily? My other SPS clearly have their polyps out waving so I am getting suspicous. Can anyone comment here on their experiences?

 

[flyyyguy]

bleached and dead are two very different things.

if its white and you suspect its dead but arent sure its real easy to tell.

smell it. if it smells like acro it is still alive, the zoox just bailed and it is bleached. if ti doesn really smell it is just dead skeleton.

if its retained some color it is surely still alive

 

[Dansin]

Lets see some pictures.

 

[ryno212]

how many screens would you put on the top? let say 3, would you remove one every 2 weeks?