I need help with my sps corals

Donnavin

New member
I have recently started to dose my aquarium for alk and calcium I have tested these for about a month now and everything I test is in a good range all my corals are doing well other than my sps .dkh 10 cal 440 ppm temp 78.6-80 f nitrate 0 I don't test phosphate ...and my sps are turning white ..idk if it's bleaching or just color loss but I need help anyone? The pics are of a coral that's been in my aquarium for 2 weeks then the other 2 are of a new coral I purchased in hopes of figuring this out..i only had it 2 days u can tell which was first I'm sure.i will post the picture of my new coral on the first day separately
 

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They are certainly bleaching. With nitrates being 0 you may want to try to lower your alk to around 7-8 but do it slowly. What test kits are you using?
 
You can try, instead of lowering Kh so much , to increase N level around 1 by adding KNO3


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I have a reactor with a carbon gfo mix running I just don't see how this could cause any sps coral I place in my aquarium to parish
 
Medium to Low nutrients = Good

No nutrients = Death

Take the Carbon GFO offline so your corals have something to 'eat', and your Alk is a little high! The lower your nutrients, the lower your Alk needs to be.
 
As said above GFO will strip nutrients and bleach coral. Whatever the manufacturers recommended dosage is, use 1/10 of that. Use it till your phosphates are where you want them and then take the GFO offline unless you have a huge bioload to warrant its use. One your phosphates are low and if you have a low bioload, sps will use the remaining phosphate for growth and keep it manageable in your tank depending on how many sticks you stock.
 
@NaturalReef is right -- To add one more thing that's sort of on & off topic: Do not get discouraged.

You will F*** up. Things will die. Bad advice will be taken. We all screw up, better when you're starting than when you nuke a beautiful and mature reef. Keep it positive man :)
 
I'm using api test kits I've started to lower my alk yesterday should be about 9 today



The API Nitrate test bottles must be shaken very Very well just before use or you will get a false zero reading.


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Thanks I shut down the gfo and carbon reactor today ..i was thinking about lighting could be it only because the lfs had them under led and i have t5 6 39w. ?
 
Before you do anything buy some better test kits like salifert or something else, API is basically good for cycling a tank not keeping sps. You could have nitrates in your water at small amounts which is good and API is not detecting it.
 
What about lighting? Were your lights on at full strength/duration when the corals were initially added? I'm new to SPS, but I understand that lighting that is too strong before the coral has a chance to acclimate can trigger bleaching, and that it should instead be slowly ramped up.
 
I said the wattage before but it's 6 39w t5 high output bulbs those are for a 36 inch fixture ...I'll invest into some better testing kits how is red sea rated in ur opinion .....in the lfs they had led lights on them idk what wattage or the par reading but I don't think it should really bleach them since they are high light demanding corals ....hopefully when i get home there is an improvement in the health of my corals the gfo has been off for about 24 hours and my kh is now at 8-9
 
I heard red Sea is good but haven't used them. Salifert is easy and good enough for everything but I use Hanna checker for po4.
I have seen a lfs that uses leds and is only getting 80 to 100 par with black box leds. If I put one of these corals in my tank it could bleach if not acclimated. A lot of variables out there.
 
I heard red Sea is good but haven't used them. Salifert is easy and good enough for everything but I use Hanna checker for po4.
I have seen a lfs that uses leds and is only getting 80 to 100 par with black box leds. If I put one of these corals in my tank it could bleach if not acclimated. A lot of variables out there.

Thanks I'll get the Hannah checker asap and i like the way red sea has their kit setup I think I'll go with that for now ...but I know about the api kit needing to be shaken and it's as yellow as it gets its been that way since I got my skimmer in April.
 
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