Sps bleaching?

[toddmau5]

So I cam home, Checked on the tank. and found one of my fav acros bleaching from the bottom up. The other day I had a seasons greetings monti do the same thing. The monti had been in the bottom of the tank in the shade and I had slowly been trying to photo acclimate it (And by slowly I mean like a month) I decided to move him up one rock. maybe 3 inches. Exact same par level. The very next day. Completely white. He's back in the shade now. The acro has been in the same spot for months now. He's been super happy and growing like crazy, I come home from work today and the bottom was wiped out. As soon as the test tubes finish drying I'm doing a full run of tests but as of the water change on tuesday the levels were as follows.
Salinty 1.024
Magnesium 1380ppm
Phosphates 0ppm
Alk 11dkh
Calcium 480ppm
Nitrates 0ppm
Nitrites 0.5ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
PH 8.2
Temp 78.1
These values were pre water change, i'm about to run a full battery of tests here in a few minutes, but I am assuming the bleaching is from the lights? maybe? I've got the whites turned down to almost nothing and the blues up maybe 35-40% But every time i move a monti just the slightest bit out of the shade they bleach. and now this acro is a whole new thing. Everything else in the tank is looking awesome, millis, sunset monti, the other acros. The only thing that has changed since the water change is I have started dosing vodka. 3ml/day and the skimmer running 24/7 wet. I have been fitting crazy amounts of hair algae since day 1 and I have been following this clubs advice so I figured it was time to add the vodka. Anyone have any ideas on why my corals are bleaching all the sudden? Do I need to have someone come over and help me dial in the LEDs? lol

 

[aguila88psi]

LEDs are a lot tougher to dial in so definitely go a little dimmer to be safe. Also you shouldn't have any nitrites, if you do then you have another problem in your tank, could be too new of a tank. I'll note that I have yet to see polyp extension on a bleached coral, leads me to believe that dosing vodka made the water extra cleaner which in turn upped the par at the level the coral is under. Dosing vodka does help but if you have low nitrates already then there isn't a real need to dose. If you have hair algea I would look to a phosphate remover like rowaphos or GFO. I think you should turn down the leds some more, run some phosphate remover and cut your vodka dosage in half or discontinue use.

 

[Dsotto]

What kind of led's do you have? I've been running the maxspect razor 16k's for about 10 months now and have had great success with SPS. If it's the lights they shouldn't be bleaching that fast.

 

[toddmau5]

What kind of led's do you have? I've been running the maxspect razor 16k's for about 10 months now and have had great success with SPS. If it's the lights they shouldn't be bleaching that fast.

D120's They have been up on the tank since oct and i have had pretty good luck with them, aside form the new monti's im still trying to acclimate.

 

[toddmau5]

LEDs are a lot tougher to dial in so definitely go a little dimmer to be safe. Also you shouldn't have any nitrites, if you do then you have another problem in your tank, could be too new of a tank. I'll note that I have yet to see polyp extension on a bleached coral, leads me to believe that dosing vodka made the water extra cleaner which in turn upped the par at the level the coral is under. Dosing vodka does help but if you have low nitrates already then there isn't a real need to dose. If you have hair algea I would look to a phosphate remover like rowaphos or GFO. I think you should turn down the leds some more, run some phosphate remover and cut your vodka dosage in half or discontinue use.

The tank is only 7months. nitrates stay almost at zero, lately they have been up below 1ppm, i'm thinking my chaeto is mad at me for some reason or another. I have been fighting green hair algae forever. I have been running phoslock for a couple months now, its been keeping the measurable phosphates at 0 but the algae is still running rampant so I decided to try a little bit of vodka dosing to see if it keeps the algae away.

 

[rogergolf66]

I didn't read other responses yet but to me an alk of 11 with super low PO4 and NO3 is a recipe for disaster with sps. Natural sea water has an alk of 6.5-7.5, And ultra low PO4 and NO3. When u start getting ur nutrients near undetectable levels similar to NSW then alk also needs to move near NSW levels.

 

[toddmau5]

I didn't read other responses yet but to me an alk of 11 with super low PO4 and NO3 is a recipe for disaster with sps. Natural sea water has an alk of 6.5-7.5, And ultra low PO4 and NO3. When u start getting ur nutrients near undetectable levels similar to NSW then alk also needs to move near NSW levels.

This is an issue that I have been dealing with and when talking to people they didn't know how to get my alk down without raising the calcium. Up until recently my calcium was in the 550+ with no dosing, just regular water changes. Now the tank is finally starting to use the calcium. The water test I just did puts me at 12dkh with calcium at 450ppm. If I remember correctly, High alk will start casing tissue necrosis? I'm going to dose some calcium tonight and stay on top of it the next couple of days and see if my alk will come into check. Are there any negative affects to running too high a calcium level.?

 

[listen2bob]

I didn't read other responses yet but to me an alk of 11 with super low PO4 and NO3 is a recipe for disaster with sps. Natural sea water has an alk of 6.5-7.5, And ultra low PO4 and NO3. When u start getting ur nutrients near undetectable levels similar to NSW then alk also needs to move near NSW levels.

+1, even with moderate nutrients like I have, I keep my alk more in the 8-9 range. However typically high alk issues gives burnt tips.

 

[bigzman]

+2 roger,

Alk is high. I have d120 with blues at 90 and whites is 30%. Going on to 8 months using it.

 

[toddmau5]

+2 roger,

Alk is high. I have d120 with blues at 90 and whites is 30%. Going on to 8 months using it.

I was running my d120s at 100% blue and 30% whites, but it got too much for me so i dialed them back. I guess I'm burning my corals from alk and not light.... >_<

 

[rogergolf66]

This is an issue that I have been dealing with and when talking to people they didn't know how to get my alk down without raising the calcium. Up until recently my calcium was in the 550+ with no dosing, just regular water changes. Now the tank is finally starting to use the calcium. The water test I just did puts me at 12dkh with calcium at 450ppm. If I remember correctly, High alk will start casing tissue necrosis? I'm going to dose some calcium tonight and stay on top of it the next couple of days and see if my alk will come into check. Are there any negative affects to running too high a calcium level.?

Seems like a backwards way to change ur alk. Just change your salts brand to a lower alk salt.

 

[toddmau5]

Been using reef crystals, is there a better option?

 

[kory1006]

You could run your salinity a little lower to help with high Ca and Alk. What are you using to check your salinity and when was it last calibarated?

 

[MJNTWise]

Red sea reg.

http://www.redseafish.com/red-sea-salts/red-sea-salt/

 

[toddmau5]

You could run your salinity a little lower to help with high Ca and Alk. What are you using to check your salinity and when was it last calibarated?

as of the water change it was at 1.024. Tonight its back up to 1.026 and i've been keeping the water at the same line with RO/DI top off. Im using a refractometer, I calibrated it last on the 6th. made sure the calibration fluid was at tank temp

 

[rogergolf66]

Been using reef crystals, is there a better option?

I use regular Red Sea, but I stand ocean is also a much lower alk level.

 

[rogergolf66]

You could run your salinity a little lower to help with high Ca and Alk. What are you using to check your salinity and when was it last calibarated?

Wouldn't be able to run it low enough to get alk near 8

 

[toddmau5]

I use regular Red Sea, but I stand ocean is also a much lower alk level.

I found a comparison chart between the salts, instant ocean was right with reef crystals, granted this comparison was done in 08' and i'm sure they have tweeked the formula's a little bit here and there.

So I am assuming salt change is my best option at this point? Is it possible the high alk has caused these corals to loose their color?

 

[rogergolf66]

Low nutrients can cause them to get pale in color.

 

[toddmau5]

Low nutrients can cause them to get pale in color.

Well not just plale, but the acro looks strait bleached