SPS recovery timeframe

[Potatohead]

So, my tank is really in a sad state. I fell into the trap of "a little is good, so a lot must be better" and burned about half my SPS by increasing lighting too quickly :sad2:

I have a monti cap that is virtually white, and a couple torts, a birdsnest, and a digitata with burnt tips. All my other acros have no polyp extension but they aren't white or burnt, other than (of course) my favourite, a red planet started to stn in the shaded area.

A few days ago I turned my LEDs down by 30% to a level they were at probably three months ago. I raised my T5 supplements 3" and reduced their photoperiod by 50%. I'm going to leave all that until at least a week or two after when and if I start to see recovery. My water chemistry is the same as always and is stable. I have some Euphyllia, acans and zoas along the bottom of the tank and they are all doing just fine.

Part of me wants to just tear the affected corals out and start over, I'm so bummed about it. If I continue with it, how long do they typically take to recover? Are we talking weeks or possibly months? Will and area of stn, assuming it stops, ever grow back?

Thanks

 

[scar79]

I think you've done everything right up to this point. ID'd your issue, corrected it, and changed nothing else. Perfect.

As for recovery, you are aware it's a slow road. Give the tank maybe a week to settle down. At that point you'll really be able to see which pieces are on their way to recovery and what is truly dead. Get out your coral cutters, and nip off dead tips or other affected areas. Your corals will color back up and start to regrow in a few weeks time I'm sure if everything was healthy and growing before the event.

Best of luck!

 

[Wazzel]

Weeks to months is what to expect. I would not go and rip out anything that still has living tissue on it. With good water, proper light and a little patience things should come around. Nip the tips on the SPS. If the cap has anything left it will recover. No drastic action is required.

 

[steallife904]

yep.... it can take a long time to recover, that's the way this hobby is. takes a long time to get nice, can go south quickly. I would go ahead and tell yourself it will be a few months. Im dealing with something similar now except in my cause I over dosed calc and alk. My calc went real low so I bumped it up on my doser then decided to raise the alk a bit...... bad idea, been a month and I am still trying to save some corals.

 

[Potatohead]

Yeah, there is nothing dead but the torts are in rough shape, about half the coralites on the "sunny side" side are peeling but the shaded side is fine, although really pale. I guess not much I can do other than leave things alone and wait it out. I'm really bummed about my RP, I hope it will recover, that was my favorite.

 

[ReefBum]

Agreed that it can take weeks to months for corals to recover.....it has happened to me and you certainly need patience. Ever consider setting up a small frag tank or something in your sump with a light to serve as sort of a hospital tank for the corals to recover?

 

[Scorpius]

It's always taken my sps months to recover from any damage. Keep everything stable and they should recover.

 

[nmotz]

I just started to encounter a problem with bleaching myself. Been raising my LEDs since late June. Got 'em up to about 70% intensity and my birdsnest in the center of the tank is starting to bleach out. I lowered intensity today and will hold there until I see improvement. Depends on how bad the event is, but I usually see major changes in the corals in 3-4 weeks once I lower lights/correct water chemistry/fix whatever else was plaguing the corals.

 

[Myka]

Weeks to months is what to expect. I would not go and rip out anything that still has living tissue on it. With good water, proper light and a little patience things should come around. Nip the tips on the SPS. If the cap has anything left it will recover. No drastic action is required.

Agreed. It sucks though. :headwally:

 

[Potatohead]

Alright, I will keep moving forward. My red digitata looks much better overnight but the rest is status quo. I'll leave it for a couple weeks and make some more decisions then.