sps bleached tips and pale

Reeferluke

New member
My tank is a mixed reef with mostly sps. everything was growing fine then a month ago I started getting some very pale sps and now some burnt tips. I am out of ideas what is causing this my tank is as follows
72gal bow front, evergrow d120 leds 50%whites 75% blues, mag 9 return, wp10 and a rw8 for flow. I use Foz Down ( lanthum chloride ) for phosphate and a tlf for carbon. Also dose acro power 5ml a day*

Cal 415
Mag 1350 was at 1275 but brought up in the past month
Alk 143
Dkh 7.99
PO4 .01
Nitrate 0*

Any ideas fellow fish nerds? Thanks*
 
Maybe try bringing your nitrates up a little? I've found my sps lose color and health when my nitrates are zero with po4 lower than .03. I think corals need more than some carbs and aminos to really do well. To figure out if it's due to light, maybe try putting a piece in the sandbed to gauge it's reaction to lowered light.
 
Tough to say.

It could be too bright LED lighting, especially the whites.

It could be nutrients too low, try feeding the corals a little more and see what happens.

It could be lack of something n the water, do you do regular water changes or dose trace elements?

It could be a pest, clear closeups work well but since you're in a bowfront maybe top downs would work?

When my nitrates hit 0, clear water on the Salifert test, my corals start to lose color.
 
Is there any algae growing on the tips? FME if you have algae growing then it is in a rough spot.. if there is no algae growing it could be new growth. LEDs can be really hard to dial in on new frags and the PAR output can be A LOT higher than it looks.

I currently have 0 Nitrate and 0 P04 (I've been battling a hair algae outbreak) and my colors seem to be sticking around, hell my green random mili I got at the last frag swap is turning a bright orange. I dose vodka (Now at a maintenance level) and that seems to help keep everyone colored up while waiting for this hair algae to disappear.
 
I have found my corals do not do well with the whites turned up, I have reefbreader LED but also have T5 mixed in (only run the T5 during mid day). I am still making adjustments but am running around 50-55% blue and under 10% white. Everything has done better when I dropped the whites.
 
Maybe try bringing your nitrates up a little? I've found my sps lose color and health when my nitrates are zero with po4 lower than .03. I think corals need more than some carbs and aminos to really do well. To figure out if it's due to light, maybe try putting a piece in the sandbed to gauge it's reaction to lowered light.

I agree I believe my po4 is to low along with my nitrates. I stipend dosing the lanthum and took my carbon reactor offline 2 days ago in a effort to raise po4 and nitrate. All my frags are glued in place and cannot be moved.
 
Tough to say.

It could be too bright LED lighting, especially the whites.

It could be nutrients too low, try feeding the corals a little more and see what happens.

It could be lack of something n the water, do you do regular water changes or dose trace elements?

It could be a pest, clear closeups work well but since you're in a bowfront maybe top downs would work?

When my nitrates hit 0, clear water on the Salifert test, my corals start to lose color.

I do a w/c every 2 weeks at 20 gals of rodi I don't dose anything besides acropower and the big 3. Don't think it's aefw just because my Monti caps and pocci have also gone pale and startEd to turn whitish
 
I have found my corals do not do well with the whites turned up, I have reefbreader LED but also have T5 mixed in (only run the T5 during mid day). I am still making adjustments but am running around 50-55% blue and under 10% white. Everything has done better when I dropped the whites.

I think I will lower my whites down too 35% and my blues too 50% and wait a couple of weeks to see what changes.
 
I think I will lower my whites down too 35% and my blues too 50% and wait a couple of weeks to see what changes.

I wouldn't drop blues as much as I would white. Drop the blue down to say 60 or 65 but drop the white closer to 20..... its just been my experience with the last few LEDs I had that when I turned white up colors went down hill on the coral. I seem to have better results with pretty much only the blue channel, keeping blue high and white very low.
 
My tank is a mixed reef with mostly sps. everything was growing fine then a month ago I started getting some very pale sps and now some burnt tips. I am out of ideas what is causing this my tank is as follows
72gal bow front, evergrow d120 leds 50%whites 75% blues, mag 9 return, wp10 and a rw8 for flow. I use Foz Down ( lanthum chloride ) for phosphate and a tlf for carbon. Also dose acro power 5ml a day*

Cal 415
Mag 1350 was at 1275 but brought up in the past month
Alk 143
Dkh 7.99
PO4 .01
Nitrate 0*

Any ideas fellow fish nerds? Thanks*



Im going to lower my lights down to 35 white and 60 blue. I dose just acropower ( amino acid) anybody any other suggestions on what I should also be dosing? Or what do you all dose?
Thanks luke
 
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