How to help a bleached S. elegans

[ACBlinky]

I have a small yellow leather that, to make a long story short, bleached in another tank. I moved it to my 65g in hopes that it would recover, but I'm worried it won't. It's near the top of the tank, under 300W of PC lighting, with medium indirect flow. At night it completely retracts and shrinks, during the day it expands but doesn't fully extend its polyps -- there are tiny nubs on the surface but it doesn't have that 'furry' look it used to.
I had some problems with the sandbed in this tank, it 'filled up' and started releasing all sorts of nasties. It's been removed and the tank is now BB but everything's still settling out. The parameters are okay, but not excellent -- NH3/NO2 0, NO3 10 (working on this), PO4 0.1-0.25 (working on this as well), Ca 450, 9.5dKH. The temperature is running high despite a/c, elevated lights and a fan over the tank, around 86-87F during the day, 85F at night.
I change the carbon every two weeks and skim wet -- the collection cup on my Remora fills with tea-coloured skimmate in 24h.
The tank is fed nightly with a mix of phyto, Kent MicroVert (just a few drops), Kent Zooplex, Cyclopeeze and sometimes a little mashed krill (for the LPS).
Sorry for the info overload, I like people to have the entire picture

I know the heat is probably a significant issue and needs to come down (very difficult in a heatwave), but is there anything else I can do for my leather?

 

[tinyreef]

temp's your primary issue at this point imo. knock that down to 80F or so and you should see the elegans start to normalize (even with the other issues present).

running the carbon to polish the water can't hurt (for this coral) either but the temp is you biggest problem. get a bigger fan and blow it on the glass (direct thermal transfer) as well as across the water (evaporative cooling).

 

[itz frank]

agreed. temp is the main problem. everything else just takes time.

 

[ACBlinky]

Thanks guys
We live in a highrise, with 15 floors of heat rising into our unit and a lousy air conditioner. It's very hot and humid here (85F today) and unfortunately it's taking its toll on everyone. We have ceiling fans in every room, and there's a fan over the tank which helps some. I can't run fully open top (fairy wrasse) but I do separate the sections of glass top and have the fan blowing over the open area day and night. Right now the tank evaporates about a gallon per day.
I'll do everything I can to keep things cool and hope the little guy rallies -- this is such a beautiful coral, I'd hate for it to melt away.

 

[tinyreef]

maybe you can get a portable A/C unit. you'll have to exhaust somewhere though.

or get a mini-chiller unit.

a fan won't help that much if the ambient temp is so high. unless you go crazy with the fan size. i just put a 20" fan on my 15H nano when the office A/C konked last tuesday. dropped it from 88F to 79F.

 

[ACBlinky]

Unfortunately the building wouldn't allow a portable a/c and would likely not permit a chiller either (not to mention we can't really afford one ATM) -- there's a clause in our lease stipulating that tennants aren't permitted to have any appliances beyond the fridge, stove and microwave and the a/c that's built into the unit. Our hydro is included in the rent, so they're strict about this and if they suspect someone's using unapproved appliances they check. That being said, they don't seem to mind multiple fish tanks; pets are allowed, apparantly even pets that suck up hydro! Maybe I should invest in some 400W MH lights... then again, that would make the heat issues even worse

I think we're going to have to get another fan and some eggcrate. Even with the glass top partially open and the fan blowing across the top 24/7 the temperature hasn't dipped below 85F in at least two weeks. Most of the corals seem unaffected, but the red/green candycane, fox and yellow leather are very bleached. I'm feeding them as best I can so they're getting some nutrition, but I'm afraid if I don't do something quick they're not going to live too long

 

[ACBlinky]

Just an update... the tank temperature is now down to 83F, thanks to a new 8" fan running 24/7 over the tank. I'm hoping the leather will recover if I can keep the temperature at or below this level -- the little guy doesn't look like he's given up yet, I still have hope