sps bleaching?

[oneradtek202]

im not too sure if im just being paranoid or what, but it seem that alot of my sps(not all) have been bleaching a little bit. Now im not too sure as to the cause of this, but i have some speculations.

Flow, as my colonies have grown im finding it harder to get the right amount of flow to each colony , some have direct hits and some have it just right, while some dont have enough

temp swings, for the last month or so, my 300watt titanium aquaheat heater has been malfunctioning because of the temp probe faulting causing it not to turn on sometimes...some days ive woken up to a 75 degree tank

using sodium bicarb for a few months, i ordered the wrong stuff on BRS and decided to give it a try for a month or so. I think that i might have been lowering my ph too much during these doses.


other than that, my tank has been operating at 1.025 sal , 9dkh alk, 450 ca

Ive been doing religious water changes at 10 gallons a week. Ill post some pics later for everyone to see what im talking about

 

[oneradtek202]

also, i change out my radiums every 10-12 months.....lighting for 8 hours a day. I have been using ROX carbon for the last few months , maybe ive been using too much? for 100 gallons of water i use just about half a phosban reactor of carbon.

also i have no algae what so ever in my tank, it seems my cleanup crew has been doing a good job or my skimmer has been . i dose amino acids every day.

what yall think?

 

[pascal32]

Welcome to my world. I can't keep the sps colored, then again my t5s are no radiums!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

years ago we'd hear about SPS browning out. It was (usually) due to excess organics in the water. Nowadays it seems that more and more people are having problems with their SPS losing color or "bleaching". Although the causes are often different, many times ultra low phosphates and/or nitrates are at least part of the cause. ROX carbon is good stuff. So are many other tools of the trade (PO4 adsorbers etc.) but overuse can result in less than desirable results.

 

[mr86mister]

I think Gary hit the nail right on the head. Obviously I'm not much into SPS but I have heard and read about exactly what he is stating.

 

[oneradtek202]

thats what i thought, maybe i should reduce my changes down to 5 gal a week? thats why i dose aminos though to add a little bit more to the water. hmm

 

[Capt_Cully]

What's your sand bed situation? Having fallen victim to it myself, I think many newer sps systems have a honeymoon period. Once this is over its where you earn your bones. That said you've done an amazing job with your tank. I'd check your nitrates and phosphates like Gary said. Maybe give the sandbed a thorough vaccuming or do a BIG waterchange

 

[oneradtek202]

yea but i think that i dont have enough nutrients. if i have a sandbed issue thatd mean high trates and po4? that being said, my sand bed is thin and no algae on it and looks fine for now. but that sand is only 9 months old! lol

 

[Bluephish13]

did my thread make you paranoid. lol

I am not much help, but if you figure it out let me know!!!

 

[diverdick]

Brandon,

It looks like you have a few things going on that may contribute to system upset of some kind. Ph shift or temperature fluctuations ?? Hard to tell. I want to chime in with my 3 months with Radiums. I have since taken them off my display. It only took ~ 6 weeks to see SPS did not like them - at all. Now, one of my problems with lighting in my display is I can not raise the lamps higher than they are now. I imagine if I could raise them, I may have left them longer. I went back to 20k XM's. Not all SPS minded the light shift though. Interesting to see the balance.

Anyway, good luck with your issue

--Rich

 

[belgian_waffleman]

im not too sure if im just being paranoid or what, but it seem that alot of my sps(not all) have been bleaching a little bit.

Could you explain this statement a bit? is it the complete coral? is it just getting lighter in color?
I ask because on the SPS forum, some people new to SPS's are freaked out when the tips seem to be bleaching when in fact is actual growth.

Waffleman

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

What's your sand bed situation? Having fallen victim to it myself, I think many newer sps systems have a honeymoon period. Once this is over its where you earn your bones.

ditto that analagy!

 

[oneradtek202]

nah, ii know what growth looks like, this is more or less a whitening of the branch of the sps...the tips still have color though


rich, i have used radiums for over a year and everything has loved them around 9" off the surface. i know the bulbs arent the issue this is happening. i started off my tank with radiums basically so theyre used to the spectrum. i wonder why ur tank didnt like them, ive never really read anything bad about radiums! lol on a side note, ill be home this weekend, u gonna be around?

 

[oneradtek202]

years ago we'd hear about SPS browning out. It was (usually) due to excess organics in the water. Nowadays it seems that more and more people are having problems with their SPS losing color or "bleaching". Although the causes are often different, many times ultra low phosphates and/or nitrates are at least part of the cause. ROX carbon is good stuff. So are many other tools of the trade (PO4 adsorbers etc.) but overuse can result in less than desirable results.

youre saying that the color loss might be due to not enough po4 and no3's?

 

[jaybfresh]

Just dump a bottle of vodka in your tank and everything will be fixed

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

youre saying that the color loss might be due to not enough po4 and no3's?

yep.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

thats what i thought, maybe i should reduce my changes down to 5 gal a week? thats why i dose aminos though to add a little bit more to the water. hmm

I never dosed aminos.
I don't know how the practice compares with feeding an Emperor Angelfish and gigantea anemone. I suspect that I pollute my SPS reef aquarium much more than the normal reefkeeper would.

 

[oneradtek202]

i think i might start feeding twice a day and see what happens

 

[Willistein]

I would guess it's probably the fluctuation in Alk and pH. Did you bake the sodium bicard to make it sodium carb or just use it as is? I would think that would cause issues.

 

[Capt_Cully]

I would guess it's probably the fluctuation in Alk and pH. .

Sometimes your parameters can remain between the "normal" values, but it is indeed the fluctuation that they react to. That is if you ever do get an answer. It may cease as quickly as it starts.