Nearly all my coral died overnight...HELP!

[Phludd]

Here is basically what’s going on:
I came home last night(Tuesday) to find all my coral in very bad shape. When I say bad shape I mean my acros were losing tissue, zoas were all closed, LPS were only 10% extended. None of my SPS had any PE.
Monday night everything was fine.

My lights come on at 5pm and I always get home about 7pm. So typically everything is fully extended by then, so I knew something was definitely wrong.
I immediately did a 25% water change and over the next few hours things only got worse.

Here is some background and detail about my tank:
I have a biocube 29gal HQI (150w MH) which has been running for 23 months. It is a mixed reef with LPS ( 2 hammers, bubble, elegance, goniopora etc), a couple ricordea, GSP, zoas, and SPS (3 large acro colonies, 2 pocillopora and a stylo). I also have 2 fish (flame hawk, royal gramma), 3 snails and 1 hermit.
I originally received the acros somewhat brown, but over the last few weeks have regained most of their color, my LPS have always done really well.

I have tried many bulbs over the last 2 years and have been using the Ushio 14k for the last 4 months.
Until Saturday when I changed the bulb to a Geiseman MegaChrome 17.5k bulb.
I have changed in the past from Ushio 14k to Phoenix 14k without any light acclimation period and it has never caused an issue. So I assumed going from the Ushio 14k to the G’man 17.5k would be less PAR since it is a higher rated Kelvin. SO again I did not acclimate into the light.
I did slightly reduce the photo period from 7.5hrs to 6hrs. So Saturday-Monday a total of 18hrs on the new bulb. Then I came home last night after 2 hours of light and everything was nearly dead.

Here are my waters parameters last night:
Ammonia -0
Nitrate – 2ppm
Phosphate - .02
pH – 8.1
Ca- 460
Alk – 10.5 dKh
Mg – 1440
These levels are very close to my ‘norm’ . I test weekly

Now initially I thought the problem was some chemical warfare from my LPS.
But after thinking about it last night and checking again this morning it seems all the tissue damage to the SPS was done on the top sides facing the light. (see pics below)
SO I am thinking now most likely its an issue with the new bulb (UV?) or the ballast. Since I just changed the bulb 3 days prior to the issue, the timing leans more towards the bulb.

But why would things be fine (even GREAT) for the first 3 days of bulb use and then just nuke everything on the 4th day?
Did the bulb ‘burn in’ and hit some deadly spectrum after 18hrs?
Keep in mind this affected everything in my tank, except my ricordea and xenia. But they are on the outer edge of the tank furthest away from the MH.
Aside from the tissue loss on the acros, the sides of my other SPS facing the light (stylo, pocillopora, cyphatrea) turned white and lost color.
My LPS kept trying to extend but never would and there is tissue damage on each one.

Does anyone have any ideas on what happened? I am sick about losing my SPS (possibly my LPS too).
Again I assume it’s the bulb or ballast. So just unplugged the MH for now, I have 2 fluval sull spectrum LED strips I have set to come on today at 5pm. They are nowhere near the intensity of the MH but it will give the color some light and maybe I will see some improvement tonight.
I only did a 25% water change last night because that’s all the water I had on hand, I planned on picking some more up today.
Does anyone think that it makes sense to do another perhaps larger water change tonight?
Or is this definitely a light issue?


FWIW – I have a app on my phone that is a ‘lux meter’. It uses the the light sensor on the phone to give you a reading. I KNOW its not accurate but it IS consistent when you place the phone in a fixed stationary spot. So I use this to get a brightness value for comparison with other bulbs and light sources. AGAIN I know its not an accurate number but it is consistent so it works in figuring out if source A is brighter than source B, from the same distance.
So I tested the Ushio 14k before changing it out Saturday…it read 65k lm (all 15 times I tested it). When I first put in the G’man it tested at 72k, after about 16hrs I tested it again and it was read about 67k. Testing it again last night it was still reading 66k-67k. For reference the LED strips I now have on the tank read about 12k lm from directly below the light, the same distance as the MH.
I only mention that because it would seem the new bulb only put out a minimal increase in visible light/brightness.
SO is it maybe a UV issue with the bulb? I do have a UV glass shield in the fixture and I have a glass top over the tank.
Or is its possible the new bulb suddenly started blasting out a considerable higher par on the 4th day of use?
Maybe my ballast suddenly got jacked up? Again the timing doesn’t add up.

I really appreciate any informed feedback on what happened and what I need to do moving forward.


Below are some top down shots of my acros (and zoa).
The first one was Monday night the G’man bulb had been running for 18hrs. Color was great.
The second one is last night about 7pm when I got home bulb was running for 20hrs.Clearly the tissue was already falling off and significant color loss.
The last one is this morning, before I left, bulbs had ran another 3 hrs last night before I shut them off. Its clear the top side of the acros took all damage, they are much darker on the underside where the light didn’t hit them directly and some tissue remains.

 

[CafeReef]

I hope xenia, warrior snail is still doing well, sorry for whats going on.

What was the temp of your tank? maybe your heater went haywire and shot up in temperature or shut down and got to cold?

 

[Phludd]

Haahaa. Thanks cafereef, I needed that.

She actually retired her head dress into the GSP colony, during my freaked out water change last night I just siphoned it out. Thinking MAYBE that was the source of some chemical warfare between the GSP and xenia. Even though neither supposedly have stinging cells.

Sorry forgot to mention that temp was 80 degrees last night, which is the norm after the MHs have been on for a couple of hours. 78 during the night usually 80 during the light cycle.

 

[dymaxiun]

Sorry to hear about this, and hope these recover. Should consider saving a few frags, and moving them tot he bottom of your tank to recover.

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my $0.02

It's a >30g tank with a 2 degree swing daily? (not good) Remember after rock, and other additions to mass in the tank your total water volume decreases significantly. Swings in other areas could easily occur undetected. pH as well...

Are these new additions? (don't see base)

When you did water change was the water at the same temp and readings as your display?

My initial thought is.... New Lights (post break-in) + temp swing in a small tank possibly did this... Because, you mentioned everything was affected.

Just because it's a 17.5k bulb and same watch doesn't necessarily mean it's equal or less PAR. I wouldn't trust a light meter on phone IMO

 

[Phludd]

I know that 2 degree swings are not ideal, but without a chiller its something I(and my coral) have to deal with.
I have had my stylo, pocillopora and cyphatrea for roughly 6 months and they have never had any issues and seem to grow extremely well.
Though I know acros are more sensitive.
Yes the acros are new, ranging from 2-5 weeks. Like I mentioned they seemed to be coloring back up after shipping stress.

The only change directly tied to this time frame is the bulb change, but still very weird for it to happen after 3 days of using it.

I guess it COULD be a higher PAR rating than the Ushio 14k, again its just so odd for it to happen all at once ...3 days after using the bulb.
I would have thought it to be a more gradual decline. Plus for it to hit my LPS which are on the sand bed at the same time just confuses me.

also no, I dont trust a phone based light meter at all, it was just giving me some frame of reference for brightness, so I though I would mention it.

Thanks for the feed back.

 

[eddiereefs]

U fried ur corals without proper acclimation of the bulb, mike palleta talks about this, metal halides lose stregth over time and when u put a new bulb in the corals are fine for a while and then fry because of the intensity

 

[Phludd]

U fried ur corals without proper acclimation of the bulb, mike palleta talks about this, metal halides lose stregth over time and when u put a new bulb in the corals are fine for a while and then fry because of the intensity

Thanks.
I am familiar with the concept. In the past I have went from Ushio 14k to Phoenix 14k, ran it for 10 days without acclimation and there was no ill effects.
Thats why I assumed I wouldnt need to acclimate going to the 17.5k bulb.
Its still tough for me to wrap my head around it taking 3 days...and then BAM its frying things.
Logically I would think that there would have been signs that they were getting to much light before sudden meltdown.

Honestly I hope thats all it is, because then I may be able to salvage most of my coral.

 

[d2mini]

You say your coral died, but in the pics you posted, those coral are not dead, they are browned out.
Stress can cause this, very possibly due to the sudden lighting change.

 

[Phludd]

You say your coral died, but in the pics you posted, those coral are not dead, they are browned out.
Stress can cause this, very possibly due to the sudden lighting change.

The bottoms are browned out, the tops have lost nearly all their flesh. Last night I was watching the flesh being blown off, so I assumed by the time I got home today they would be lost.
Also at the time I was still unsure about the root cause.

As I mentioned earlier, I hope it's a simple 'lamp burn' issue. Then I will be able to salvage at least some of them.

 

[d2mini]

Well that sucks.
I hope you get it figured out.

To help mitigate further damage, skim heavy (really wet) and run fresh carbon every few days. Do a large water change a couple times, a few days apart, too.
Once one sps stresses out it can start a snowball effect of chemical warfare, so you want to get that junk out of the water.

 

[Phludd]

I would hate to lose any of my coral, but I had accepted the fact that the SPS probably wouldnt make it. It SEEMED like the LPS would pull through, they just looked ****ed. They kept partially extending then retracting. Though both my hammers and frogspawn have a big group of stems that looked...well...burned.
Last night I was sure it was a water chemistry / chemical warfare issue.
Now it seems pretty obvious its bulb related.

Yeah I tend to skim wet anyways.
I replaced the carbon yesterday when I performed the water change, also changed the poly filter pad.

Question:
Should I just run my Fluval LED strips for a couple of days and switch back to my Ushio 14k?

 

[d2mini]

I'd keep what you got, and just reduce the photo period more. Slowly bringing it back up. 15 minutes every few days.

And i mean REALLY wet skim. Like fill the cup up with really light tea colored skim on a daily basis. Might be overkill, but anything to help pull stuff out of the water just in case there is something in there causing the damage.

 

[Phludd]

I am just worried something went crazy with this new builb. Because at the end of Mondays light cycle everything was full and happy, then when I showed up 2 hrs into Tuesdays cycle ...it ...was....death.

I am scared to put the 17.5k back on them at all, even though I do love the look.

*sighs*
Ok then
thanks for the help d2mini.

 

[Reef Frog]

The way in which you presented the events, and since the only change was the bulbs, that would have to be the prime suspect. I am familiar with greenhouse lighting, and it's an "accepted fact" that new 1000 W HID bulbs emit significantly more UV radiation - under the 390nm range - enough to scorch tender plants and seedlings. But I'm not an expert or read any technical papers on the matter. Although I've never run metal halide on an aquarium, I am imagine the same phenomena might affect aquarium MH bulbs as well.

If it were me, I would definately go back to the previous bulbs that worked for you. Your corals look really good and were obviously growing well under them so I can't see any downside. I think wet skimming and GAC is a good precaution as mentioned above. Good luck with everything.

 

[Phludd]

Yeah, the facts are stacking up to be pretty solid against that bulb.
Or more specifically my lack of acclimatiing it.
Speaking of my ignorance...I have never acclimated any other bulb, even going from a 1yr old Coralife to the Ushio 14k. Mayhaps I have just been lucky.

IIRC...some bulbs have UV filtering in the glass and some dont. I believe I read that Phoenix did not. But I never found any info regarding the G'man and UV. In any case I do have the UV glass sleeve around the bulb and a glasss cover on the tank.

Oh well. I do actually feel better with it most likely being a bulb issue. Thats an issue thats easily resolved. I believe I will wait a day or so and then throw the Ushio back on just to be safe. Start with a shortened light cycle and see what happens.

Thanks for the input reef frog.

 

[d2mini]

Double ended bulbs do not have the UV protection so you need to use the glass that comes with the fixture.
Single ended bulbs DO have the UV protection so no additional glass is needed.

 

[Phludd]

^^^ Ahhhhh. Good to know
I always used it with all my bulbs just to be sure.

 

[OllieDog]

Just because the bulb is higher Kelvin does not mean you will always have less par. Some bulbs work better with some ballasts.

 

[Phludd]

Good point OllieDog...maybe the G'man bulbs work better than the Ushio with my ballast.

 

[Reef Frog]

Best of luck with the recovery process. It's a hard thing to swallow, I know, but at least now it's a known issue and not some unknown cause that can drive one nuts. I hope you can post at a later date where you report what made it thru, and what didn't if that's the case.

In all the articles and posts I've read over the years on coral decline & deaths, I really don't recall seeing sub 400nm invisible spectrum discussed as a confirmed cause or even suspected cause. One reputable author discussed how UV PAR is used by coral's zooalanthae, and how may it may be lacking in some LED chips used in even high end LEDs. So that makes me wonder if new T5s have an early UV spike - we've all heard how some people need to phase-in new tubes when it's time to change them or they have bleaching events. Or do even the top T5 bulbs from Gleismann & ATI produce some <400nm radiation?