things arent looking good. need help

[jjoos99]

My corals have not looked good for a month or so now. My pe isnt what it was and I have been experiencing light bleaching on my caps. Several of my acros have started to bleach at the base and slowly work the way up. I have only lost one coral so far (setosa). Tonight I noticed a green cap i bleaching on the edges, part of the coral that is shaded some. I have slowly switching over to leds and am now fully led. I have no algae growth which leads me to believe it isnt a nutrient problem. The only tests that I have an issue with is my alk. which is at 12.5. I have over 500 on my ca so I have shut down my reactor to try and lower the alk. After a week it has dropped from over 13 to the current level of 12.5. It has seemed to stabilize there for several days now. i tested my water change water and it measures the same so a water change wont help. Flow is 2 vortecs. I am afraid of loosing my larger corals is something doesnt change. Any ideas would be appreciated.
thanks
jeff

 

[tboneman]

I had a lot of problems with my sps corals that were very similar to what you are describing when I switched over from a mh 250 watt XM 10k set up with T5 actinics to new leds. The original mh set up had a very bright look to it. When I switched over to 2 Pacific Sun 160 watt pythons, I started them at 50% intensity and moved up the intensity 5 percent a week. In comparison to the previous mh set up things looked very dark. It wasn't until I got them ramped up to 90-100 percent that things started to look halfway decent. It turned out however, that I think the corals were not able to take the PAR of the new leds at the level of brightness I was wanting. So long story short I lost basically the whole top row of sps and also a monti cap down further because of bleaching. I went back to mh and t5's mainly because for me they were more of a known entity. They also provided more visual brightness to my naked eye and better color rendition for my taste. So far things are going better for me but I am still wanting to try again with the leds, maybe in a couple of years when the color issues are worked out and I have some more experience under my belt.
It could also be the alk level which is bit high but my two cents are with the leds.
You could maybe try lowering the intensity 20% or so for a cople of weeks to see if that helps.
Hope things improve.

 

[Ostentum]

Couple things that come to mind. Usually high Alk causes burning from the tips, not usually from the base, but in my experience alk burn hits the acros before the montis. Do you have any temp swings in your tank? What are your other parameters? The other thing that could cause them from the base up and its probably #1 on my list is some sort of pest, ie AEFW and/or Nudi's, have you added anything new recently?

 

[beeker]

i use reef crystals for salt and keep my alk at 7-8 DKH even though RC is supposed to be high in alk

i've had my alk as high as yours before without negative effects

Are your corals getting enough flow?

Are they getting enough food?

What is your Magnesium at?

i keep mine over 1500ppm and my calc over 500ppm, so if your alk is out of whack you need to stop dosing anything to up the alk, you can still dose the calc as dosing the calc will inturn bring down the alk some, try to get it to 9DKH

Also what is your lighting schedule and current lighting? any changes to that recently?

 

[jjoos99]

I have been using seachem salt for over a year now. I dont suspect a flow problem since nothing has changed since the corals were doing good. I have alway fought my mg levels. I need to test but they have usually stayed in the 1200 range. I did add a new coral back in june but that piece is doing good with no stn on it. i usually dont feed anything to the corals, just rely on lighting, fish waste. I would have to classify this as stn starting at the base. what ever it is it doesnt seem to be affecting the millis near as much as the acros.
thanks
jeff

 

[neoalchemist74]

What is the color scheme of your leds and describe your placement as compared to the corals that are having probs . Also what are your params? What are you dosing and do you top off w/ kalk and what is your PH cycle typically? Mag needs to be at least 1300 at all times or you will have problems with alk cal and PH swings.

 

[jjoos99]

I have the leds staggered with whites and blues. i dont think it is a light problem. I do fight my mg level. it is hardly over 1200. I have almost no coraline algae growth on my glass so that might be a signal of the balance not quite right. Might be my lower mg level. do you think the lower level might be the whole issue. I did ck my salinity and it was alittle high at 1.028 so I will be working on lowering that also.
thanks
Jeff

 

[neoalchemist74]

Consistantly low magnesium over along period of time could cause problems that might lead to stn but your high salinity would also do alot of harm if it occured in short period of time. What do you think caused your salinity to end up so high? Is it a top off malfunction or did it creep up over time?

 

[jjoos99]

I believe the raise in salinity was gradual. I am going pull out 3 gallons or so a day and add ro water till i get it down. what is the best target level to shoot for? I am also adding some mag supplement daily now to work the level up.
thanks
Jeff