Hi ALL!
My slimmer is having some major issues and i'd love some help. It's started to bleach and grow some algae. The polyps are still alive but not getting PE like I was a week or so ago when it all started. The color of the polyps is there and its the skeleton on the branches thats turning white. A few weeks ago I was looking at the coral in awe of how amazing it looked and at night the polyps were huge for an SPS. I was so happy with condition of it and found myself looking at it for way to long at a time
. As for now the base is still in tip top shape but the the branches towards the top is where the problem is. Here is a little history. My tank is 58 gallon and about 4 months ago I switched from 6 T5's to 2 T5's (blue plus and actinic) and 1 Radion Pro. The radion has been fantastic in my eyes and every coral has been going crazy in a good way since switching except for the recent issue. The corals looked good before but since the change it's another level of awesome. The most intense the radion gets is at 60% intensity and 20k temp. When I was acclimating the coral to the light I ramped up the intensity till i noticed my bird of paradise was bleaching so I dialed back and it's colors returned. At no time during the acclimating or even when I had lights at 80% did the slimmer ever give an indication of having too much light. I've been at the 60% setting for a few months and everything was thriving and I thought I finally found the sweet spot as far as light and chemistry till a week or so ago when the slimmer started to bleach on the branches followed by some algae growing on it starting a day or two ago. I hope you can see what i'm talking about in the pics. Notice how the base still looks good but the branches are being affected. I'd love some feed back or ideas how to save this baby. I've grown it from a 1 inch frag and it is my fav coral and really would be sad if it died.
water...
8-9 dKH salifert
1.024-1026 salinity
5 ppm nitrates salifert
.02 phosphate Hanna checker
1400-1500 mag salifert
380-420 calcium API
For salt I either use TropicMarin Pro or Brightwell. I like the parameters Brightwell mixes to better but sometimes MarineDepot is out of Brightwell and i figure using tropicamarin isn't going to kill anything.
my water has been pretty close to this chemistry for the few years i've had the tank going under this setup. The first year or so I was seeking undetectable nitrates and phos which I did but all my corals look like crap as far as color. Growth was good in my eyes but none of the colors were too impressive. After reading and learning on RC my conclusion was the water was too striped and thats why my colors were not there, so I took out the macro algae in the fuge and stopped running GFO. Since doing this over the last 6 months or so the corals have taken off. The algae on the glass grows faster now and have some HA the pops up in a few spots but love the coral colors. I have since added back the GFO a few months ago but running 1/3 of the recommended amount and phos has been stable on the hanna at .02.
Some of the other corals that are doing great are...
Acro valida
Acro milli
sunset monti
mystic sunset monti
ORA bird of paradise
magician zoas
candy cane
a few chalices
one acan frag
a stylo
but of course my fav is dying before my eyes and i feel helpless
the three pics are.....
1. a few weeks ago before the issue
2. current branches that are effected
3. the base of the coral that still looks good
thanks for looking
My slimmer is having some major issues and i'd love some help. It's started to bleach and grow some algae. The polyps are still alive but not getting PE like I was a week or so ago when it all started. The color of the polyps is there and its the skeleton on the branches thats turning white. A few weeks ago I was looking at the coral in awe of how amazing it looked and at night the polyps were huge for an SPS. I was so happy with condition of it and found myself looking at it for way to long at a time
. As for now the base is still in tip top shape but the the branches towards the top is where the problem is. Here is a little history. My tank is 58 gallon and about 4 months ago I switched from 6 T5's to 2 T5's (blue plus and actinic) and 1 Radion Pro. The radion has been fantastic in my eyes and every coral has been going crazy in a good way since switching except for the recent issue. The corals looked good before but since the change it's another level of awesome. The most intense the radion gets is at 60% intensity and 20k temp. When I was acclimating the coral to the light I ramped up the intensity till i noticed my bird of paradise was bleaching so I dialed back and it's colors returned. At no time during the acclimating or even when I had lights at 80% did the slimmer ever give an indication of having too much light. I've been at the 60% setting for a few months and everything was thriving and I thought I finally found the sweet spot as far as light and chemistry till a week or so ago when the slimmer started to bleach on the branches followed by some algae growing on it starting a day or two ago. I hope you can see what i'm talking about in the pics. Notice how the base still looks good but the branches are being affected. I'd love some feed back or ideas how to save this baby. I've grown it from a 1 inch frag and it is my fav coral and really would be sad if it died. water...
8-9 dKH salifert
1.024-1026 salinity
5 ppm nitrates salifert
.02 phosphate Hanna checker
1400-1500 mag salifert
380-420 calcium API
For salt I either use TropicMarin Pro or Brightwell. I like the parameters Brightwell mixes to better but sometimes MarineDepot is out of Brightwell and i figure using tropicamarin isn't going to kill anything.
my water has been pretty close to this chemistry for the few years i've had the tank going under this setup. The first year or so I was seeking undetectable nitrates and phos which I did but all my corals look like crap as far as color. Growth was good in my eyes but none of the colors were too impressive. After reading and learning on RC my conclusion was the water was too striped and thats why my colors were not there, so I took out the macro algae in the fuge and stopped running GFO. Since doing this over the last 6 months or so the corals have taken off. The algae on the glass grows faster now and have some HA the pops up in a few spots but love the coral colors. I have since added back the GFO a few months ago but running 1/3 of the recommended amount and phos has been stable on the hanna at .02.
Some of the other corals that are doing great are...
Acro valida
Acro milli
sunset monti
mystic sunset monti
ORA bird of paradise
magician zoas
candy cane
a few chalices
one acan frag
a stylo
but of course my fav is dying before my eyes and i feel helpless
the three pics are.....
1. a few weeks ago before the issue
2. current branches that are effected
3. the base of the coral that still looks good
thanks for looking
