SPS tank, colonies bleached looking...

[FragIt Dan]

GFO, Hannah colorimeter test anything below ~0.03ppm PO4 can bleach your corals out, running that much GFO would be a likely culprit. I got a bit over eager with gfo and had the same thing happen. I would stop running the GFO for a week or two, feed some reef roids, or something else with phosphate, and give them some time to recover. This is assuming you haven't made any other recent changes like new halide light bulbs. Iodine might also help. I am under the impression iodine assists with coral bleaching due to excessive lighting, so it may be a completely different mechanism, perhaps others can comment on this. Dan

 

[fishguy597]

I'm assuming you are addressing the OP, correct? I'm asking since you quoted me.

Addressing the op and agreeing with you. sorry

 

[eja99]

I think you are stripping your nutrients,some
Bioload will help darken your corals I would cut back
On the gfo and run half
The recommended dose of rox.

Exactly what I was going to say.

I changed my Carbon (ROX) the other day and bleached a couple montis and an acro. I added about 1/4 of a reactor full on ~200 gallons total volume.

I think the combo of no nutrients and that much carbon is killing your sps.

 

[oneradtek202]

so here are my recent test results

po4 -nothing ( hannah with low range, it goes to the hundredths )
no3- nothing


also have some STN now on a few corals....i checked my alk in my DT the other night too and it was like 8! i don know how it got that low, but im hoping to have that up to 8.5 or so by tonight, will check tonight.

also my power heads need a little cleaning out too. barely blowing....looks like ill be hangin in my tank this weekend. i stopped running GFO, and my carbon is to the correct amount or lower now.

 

[DaddyJax]

I hope that the info given is going to help and keep us posted. I stick to my original statement and still recommend removing the carbon for a bit too.
Also, dont get too worried about the alk, take your time bringing it up. Alk swings all the time and you can wipe out your entire tank if you over dose or it gets too high. Sometimes a test kit can give an off reading.

 

[DaddyJax]

You could also consider getting a small school of Blue/green chromis!

 

[oneradtek202]

yea i def will. here are a few more questions i have in case anyone has any experience.

1. will ULNS start STN on sps colonies
2. i have ALOT of green bubble algae, it kind of becam an epidemic. could the lacks of po4 be attributed to the macro algae easting up all the po4 before i can get to the corals?

 

[oneradtek202]

well so then idea of having

4anthias
2 clowns
1 goby
1 tang
1 wrasse
1 hawkfish
1 royal gramma



thats 11 fish in my DT. also a 2 stripe rabbitfish in my frag tank. so actually 12 in my system that includes 100 gal DT, 55 gal sump, 10 gal refugium, 40 gallon frag tank. aprox water volume id say of 140 gallons

id say im OVERSTOCKED, but if everyone thinks i can do more fish,. i could maybe add a few more

 

[DaddyJax]

I am trying to remember but I had like 20+ fish in my each of my 135g's not to mention that I was always loaded with a hard core clean up crew! Lots of snails and a wide variety of them!