New to SPS, need some advice

[Shark.Bait]

I got a few colonies of sps about 2 months ago and they seem to have been doing well in my tank, birdsnest is growing and montipora has healed its damage from shipping. I've been dosing kalk in the top off without testing (first mistake). Recently I've been noticed the montipora color has began to fade and its "bleaching," I think.

This began around the same time I added some new lights over the tank. I don't think they would have caused them to lose color, they're chinese black box LED on the lowest setting. I replaced my older, underpowered LED. Also, I've noticed my phosphates are way too high, along with my alk. I've added a bit of phosphate remover today to help this. I'm not sure if it's the lighting alone, or a combination of these factors. I am unable to isolate a variable because I only bought tests and started testing when I saw a problem (second mistake). So, take a look at my parameters and tell me what I'm doing wrong please!

Salinity 35 ppt
ph 8.0-8.1 (apex)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0 (api)
Phosphate .5 (api)
Alk ~11 (api)
Calc 460-480 (api)

Pictures to follow, thanks.

 

[Shark.Bait]

Before

After

Other sps and fts

 

[.Chris.]

You've already answered your own question. Your alkalinity is likely too high, and your phosphates are too high. How you control that is up to you, but once you get those in line, you may see improvement.

It's generally recommended that you only change one thing at a time in order to see if it will positively or negatively affect your tank, so that you can isolate the issue if it arises.

You also realised the mistake of dosing for anything without testing. Any time you are adding something to your tank that can be tested for, you should test for it before you add it.

 

[pstank1]

11dkh isn't horrible if your corals are acclimated to it. If you recently switched from low powered leads to high powered ones, I'd give things a little more time to adjust while slowly bringing down your phosphates. Knee jerk reactions are never good with reefs, and as Chris stated, never dose anything that you haven't tested.

 

[cFloor]

I would think you should bring your alk and phosphates down, but do it slowly. You have a beautiful tank!

 

[Shark.Bait]

Thanks for the replies everyone. How quickly can I safely bring down my alk? I was just going to dilute the kalk top off until I got there.

 

[.Chris.]

I would do it slowly over the course of a couple of weeks.

 

[ReefBum]

Agree with others......slower the better.....and once you get the levels to where you want them be diligent and test frequently to make sure they sat there. Stability is the key with SPS.

 

[Shark.Bait]

I'll lower it slowly. I'm just worried about it surviving while I get it there. By lowering the phosphates and light intensity I think it should be ok?

 

[BigJohnny]

Before you do anything, at all, get new test kits. API are notoriously innacurate and I've seen absurdly incorrect results when comparing versus proper test kits.

Salifert are reliable and cheap. Go with those. I personally use hanna checkers for alk and phosphate (well ULR Phosphorus technically), red sea pro nitrate, Salifert calcium and magnesium. Anything is better than API however.

You might be getting accurate results, but you might not, and making changes with bad test results is a bad idea.

Get some good tests and report back to us with results.

If they are accurate I agree that your alk and phosphates are too high, and you should bring them down slowly

 

[Reefvet]

Before you do anything, at all, get new test kits. API are notoriously innacurate and I've seen absurdly incorrect results when comparing versus proper test kits.

+1 on the test kits.

Cheap LEDs can be all over the place for power and spectrum. You get what you pay for. The change in lighting could easily cause your issues.

Alk of 11 is not a big deal nor is .5 phosphates. If you're using Kalk just cut back on it a bit and let the Alk drop. Using it in an ATO is hard to keep consistent. If your evaporation has gone up during the summer then you can expect a bump in Alk.

 

[Shark.Bait]

Just to update this, I've bought the Salifert test kits and have been testing my water daily. I've been trying to lower my alk and raise my calcium a bit but the sps are getting worse. My calcium and alk have been pretty stable daily, so I know the bleaching isn't from alk swing. I've also changed all of my ro filters and i'm reading 0 tds and 0 phosphate. I'm thinking it may be the phosphate, lighting, or bugs of some sort at this point. I have added gfo also, and will be picking up a hanna checker this week. My plan is to get my alk low enough where I can carbon dose. I have also removed all fish due to a bit of an ich outbreak, except a six line who I can not catch yet.

Lps, zoas, chalices and clam are all doing great and growing. The opposite is happening with my sps however.

Temp 77-78 (apex)
Salinity 36ppt (ref.)
Ph 8.0-8.1 (apex)
Alk. lowered from 10.24 dkh to 8.96 dkh over 3 weeks (salifert)
Calcium raised from 365 ppm to 460 ppm over 3 weeks (salifert)
Mag. was ~1300 (salifert)
Phosphate ~.25 (api)

The reason I am thinking I may have bugs is because of the discolored patches in the montipora. Also, I have found yellow eggs of some sort, but I cant I.D. them. The coral seem to be fading from the bottom up. Pics to follow.

What are your opinions? I need a course of action to save my remaining sps.

 

[BigJohnny]

Just to update this, I've bought the Salifert test kits and have been testing my water daily. I've been trying to lower my alk and raise my calcium a bit but the sps are getting worse. My calcium and alk have been pretty stable daily, so I know the bleaching isn't from alk swing. I've also changed all of my ro filters and i'm reading 0 tds and 0 phosphate. I'm thinking it may be the phosphate, lighting, or bugs of some sort at this point. I have added gfo also, and will be picking up a hanna checker this week. My plan is to get my alk low enough where I can carbon dose. I have also removed all fish due to a bit of an ich outbreak, except a six line who I can not catch yet.

Lps, zoas, chalices and clam are all doing great and growing. The opposite is happening with my sps however.

Temp 77-78 (apex)
Salinity 36ppt (ref.)
Ph 8.0-8.1 (apex)
Alk. lowered from 10.24 dkh to 8.96 dkh over 3 weeks (salifert)
Calcium raised from 365 ppm to 460 ppm over 3 weeks (salifert)
Mag. was ~1300 (salifert)
Phosphate ~.25 (api)

The reason I am thinking I may have bugs is because of the discolored patches in the montipora. Also, I have found yellow eggs of some sort, but I cant I.D. them. The coral seem to be fading from the bottom up. Pics to follow.

What are your opinions? I need a course of action to save my remaining sps.

If your phosphate is actually .25 and not .025, it's too high. Make sure you bring it down slowly though, start with a little gfo then add more gradually.

If you have white patches and not just general bleaching on your montis then you likely have monti eating nudibranch. You can try n frag the living parts away from the white patches and then dip them in bayer weekly while staying in another tank, but no gaurantee the frags will survive.

Do the other sps have patches as well, poor coloration, or just general bleaching?

 

[Shark.Bait]

 

[Shark.Bait]

Pics of the egg mass

 

[Shark.Bait]

If your phosphate is actually .25 and not .025, it's too high. Make sure you bring it down slowly though, start with a little gfo then add more gradually.

If you have white patches and not just general bleaching on your montis then you likely have monti eating nudibranch. You can try n frag the living parts away from the white patches and then dip them in bayer weekly while staying in another tank, but no gaurantee the frags will survive.

Do the other sps have patches as well, poor coloration, or just general bleaching?

High enough to cause this level of bleaching? Yes, I've added some gfo but I'm waiting to get the hanna checker before I add more, I don't want to drop too fast. Also, I've looked every night for nudis, but haven't seen anything. I may be missing them.

The only sps thats doing "well" (surviving and healing) is the huge acro colony. Colors are sub par.

 

[pstank1]

How do you measure your salinity and how do you calibrate what you're using? To have an entire colony melt away like that makes me think something is way out of wack, or you did something like a freshwater dip on your corals, or dumped it in a bucket of pure bayers for 30 minutes.

 

[Shark.Bait]

How do you measure your salinity and how do you calibrate what you're using? To have an entire colony melt away like that makes me think something is way out of wack, or you did something like a freshwater dip on your corals, or dumped it in a bucket of pure bayers for 30 minutes.

I agree, I can't figure it out. The only time I've dipped the coral was before adding it to the system. I dip in either coralrx or revive according to the instructions. Have not done any freshwater dips or bayer dips at all. I measure the salinity with a refractometer and it is accurately calibrated as verified by a swing arm hydrometer and 2 different lfs (give or take 1ppt)

I have also added a polfilter to catch anything I may be missing, still no color change after a week.

 

[pstank1]

I agree, I can't figure it out. The only time I've dipped the coral was before adding it to the system. I dip in either coralrx or revive according to the instructions. Have not done any freshwater dips or bayer dips at all. I measure the salinity with a refractometer and it is accurately calibrated as verified by a swing arm hydrometer and 2 different lfs (give or take 1ppt)

I have also added a polfilter to catch anything I may be missing, still no color change after a week.

I would invest in some calibration fluid. Many online shops sell it if your favorite LFS doesn't. It should be a 35 ppt / 1.026 SG solution. A swing arm hydrometer is not accurate enough when you start dealing with sps. Calibrating using ro/di is not valid either.

Bayer is actually a pretty good dip to use. If you keep it at around 5 ml/250 ml of tank water with a 5 minute dip, I've had zero negative impact with any sps i've dipped in it. I tried a 10 ml/250 ml solution for 10 minute and completely bleached out a red dragon frag and another random frag but the other 15 or so frags that went in the same solution had no issues. Both of the bleached frags are starting to show a hint of color again after about 2 weeks.

 

[Shark.Bait]

I would invest in some calibration fluid. Many online shops sell it if your favorite LFS doesn't. It should be a 35 ppt / 1.026 SG solution. A swing arm hydrometer is not accurate enough when you start dealing with sps. Calibrating using ro/di is not valid either.

Bayer is actually a pretty good dip to use. If you keep it at around 5 ml/250 ml of tank water with a 5 minute dip, I've had zero negative impact with any sps i've dipped in it. I tried a 10 ml/250 ml solution for 10 minute and completely bleached out a red dragon frag and another random frag but the other 15 or so frags that went in the same solution had no issues. Both of the bleached frags are starting to show a hint of color again after about 2 weeks.

I'll pick some up. I may try the Bayer, it seems to be popular. However, it seems to be putting a bandaid on the underlying issue of what may be causing the bleaching in the first place. I am definitely missing something, I'm just not too sure what is causing this.