lime water causing bleaching of SPS??...

[dml931]

i have a 75g with a 30L sump and fuge. recently i started using Kalk water in my ATO as a calcium and Kh supplement as i got tired of dosing the 2 part every day to keep up with the depletion. recently i lost a birdsnest and an acropora to flesh loss and then algae started growing on the fleshless tips. both are now skeletons in my fuge. i have a Chalice coral that was growing great but the ends are starting to bleach out (and it doesn't look like growth). My other birds-nest that has a brownish flesh but glows green under the actinics is also doing the same. he still has great polyp extension but is just bleaching out. his growth has slowed, but not halted. im still dosing lime water and parms are pretty stable. should i stop dosing lime water through my ATO and maybe get a calcium reactor instead? i have a HOB skimmer that i could probably convert into a reactor of some sorts. was thinking of a GFO for that, but nothing has been done yet.

current parameters:
trite and Amm - 0
trate - 3
kh - 9.8
cal - 425
mag - 1420
ph - 8.2
sal - 1.024 (refractometer)
phos - .08
temp - 80F

all tests are Red Sea

Lighting:
T5 HO actinic for 14hrs
T5 HO 10k for 4 hours in the middle of actinic cycle
moon leds and 10k LED fuge lighting for 8 hrs on reverse cycle

i just did a 20G WC on the 3rd and have been doing that about every other week or so. Also, i have a lot of other corals including an acropora echinata that is growing like crazy. other LPS acan's have more than doubled their frag size in the last 2 months so things are growing great. but those mentioned above are not.

any thoughts or input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[dml931]

Bump...

 

[sirreal63]

How fast is the ATO pumping in water?

 

[dml931]

100ml per min for 10 min every 6 hours. or 1L every 6 hours.

 

[sirreal63]

That's not horrible but I would spread it out so you dose the same amount every 24 hours. You may be spiking the alk or the ph with that dose, that then drops then rises. Limewater by itself works very well but because it can change parameters if dosed too quickly, which can impact sps. I spread my daily evap over a 24 hour dose and the parameters stay consistent with no spikes. You may not be having issues with the way it is dosed, but I would try changing it to a more consistent 24 hour dose.

 

[Siebo]

Test the perameters 5-10 minutes after the ATO kicks off. You are probably getting a spike in perms that your tank does not like. Try adding 33ml every 2 hours especially if it is saturated kalk water. My ATO kicks on about every 2-3 hours on my 65 and I add just short of a gallon in 24hours. I use a float so it varies. No issues dosing so far.

 

[dml931]

I'm using an aqua lifter to pump the water from my top off resivour to my sump. I have a stainless valve that I'm using to control the flow. Will having the lifter run 24 hrs dripping at 2.8ml a min (calculates to 4000ml a day) harm the pump? The valve is on the output side so I'm thinking no due to the opinion with regard to other larger pumps. Am I wrong in thinking this? If so what would you suggest?

 

[sirreal63]

Aqualifters are cheap and easy to rebuild or replace. I use a true continuous duty peristaltic pump at can run 24/7 and it works flawlessly, but I know that isn't always in the budget. It shouldn't harm it but it may have a reduced life, if you do it for a while and things improve then you know what you need to do.

 

[dml931]

Thanks for your suggestions. They are most helpful in narrowing down the issue at hand. Especially knowing most SPS care more about stability rather than parameters as long as they aren't too far off the charts. I'm going to dial in my lifter tonight and see how things progress testing at different times of the day to make sure stability is exactly that. We'll see in about a month or so. I'll post my findings so others can learn from this as well. Thanks again.

 

[sirreal63]

I usually use a calcium reactor but have gone back to kalk until my demand warrants the reactor. I have used kalk off and on for a long time, it works great as long as it is dripped consistently. Of course this may not be the issue, but it is a good place to start, you should see results or not in a week or two.

 

[dml931]

:beer: