sps turning white?

chris1292

New member
I have a 125 sps tank. All of a sudden most of my sps colonies are turning white. Still have alot of PE but pale in color. The only thing I can think of or that has changed in a long time is. 1. I started dosing vinegar at .5 ml a day (way under recommend dose) 2. I set up a algae scrubber a day before corals bleached. 3. I was cleaning sump and noticed my heater was insanley hot, un plugged it amd took it out once it cooled. The wires iinside looked like they were on fire and the heayer and a slimey goo growing from a seal in heater so I took it out. My tank went from 80 to 66 overnight. I now have heaters back and tank is at 80 again. I stopped vinegar. Algae scrubber is on still but really has no algae on it so I don't think thays the problem. Any ideas?
 
Just tested
Ca at 400
Alk at 9
Ph 7.8 (going to slowly adjust these I know their off)
Phos and nit undetectable
Should I turn my lights down so coral can recover?
 
Thats what my main guess was. Anything I should do? Lights all the way on or halfway. ..? Never had bleaching so idk how to help the coral get through
 
what test you using for po4 and no3? too low nutrients can also cause some paling but I would think the temp swing will take a toll in the next few days. Another thread that a controller could have saved...
 
api I think? I forgot the name of the kit but I know it sucks bit thats all that was was available. And my heater was working still I manually removed it because I didnt like how it looked, amd didn't have back up heaters so my temp dropped over night
 
I'm betting the temp drop was the issue. If the corals are showing polyps still, there's a good chance they can color back up, but it can take a long time. Just keep everything stable and happy, and the corals will come back.
 
Consider the possibility that your heater leaked toxins into the tank. I had a heater tube break in my sump and when I got home from work, corals which were bright and beautiful when I left in the morning were pale and stinky when I got home. I did large emergency water change and ran carbon. Most recovered but it was amazing how fast they lost color.
 
Ya i have heared of them leaking, it did have a wired gel or goo on it when I took it out. I did go buy carbon and filled a phosban 150 with it jist incase
 
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