Tricky problem

[kmacartney]

This is a long story so I will try to keep it brief.

I have a problem with my shrooms and softies. They are coming out into the light in my tank. The zoas come out but not all of the way open. The shrooms crawl along the rock till they are out of the light.

I have a 75G mixed reef
pH 8.2
NO3 undetectable
Phosphate undetectable
Ca 420
Alk 11

This started happening when I got my new 6X54W Tek light. In fact all of my brightest critters are paler the closer you get to the light.

Any input?

 

[Reefing102]

did you do any light acclimation?

what lights did you upgrade from?

the reason being is if you upgraded lights from lets say power compact then the light is much brighter and it would be a light shock to the coral, so you may need to acclimate by placing screen or some other light diffuser over the tank to let the corals adjust.

 

[kmacartney]

I had them in a 30 Gallon with 4X39 T5s, the tank in my avatar. No problem then.

 

[Aqua Keepers]

Just because they come from a T5 light tank does not mean that they don't need light acclimation. How old were the bulbs in the old system? Sometimes just buying new bulbs will require you to acclimate.

 

[kmacartney]

These corals have been under that same light for over a year with different bulb combinations. I have also noticed better PE and colorationfor corals with slight shading like my millis

 

[Aqua Keepers]

I'm confused!!! So, they have been under the 6X54W Tek light in the 75g for over a year? And you've been haveing this prob for over a year?

 

[kmacartney]

Yep, I thought it might be water quality. But that seems unlikely.

 

[kmacartney]

I have been tinkering with the problem for this long. I am just looking for input.

 

[Aqua Keepers]

Well, I don't think that the 6X54W Tek light in the 75g is too much for softies. I could see them hiding if you just changed the bulbs or something, but after a year I'd think they would have adjusted by now. How high off the water do you keep the lights? If the flow in your sig is correct, I wouldn't think it was a flow problem either. Unless, you had the flow directed right at the softies. Maybe your ULN?

 

[kmacartney]

The problem softies are out of the way of the flow. Like I said my acros closest to the light get quite faded as well. My GBTA hides constantly from the light as well.

The lights are about 4" off of the tank. If you click my red house you can see some pics of the system.

What is ULN?

 

[Aqua Keepers]

ULN = Ultra Low Nutrient
Some people report fading in SPS colors and other probs with LPS when at an ULN state. It's usually remedied by either feeding more, adding more fish, or adding amminos. However, I'm not totally convinced that this is the prob.

Anyone else wanna chime in?

 

[kmacartney]

I have been dosing vinegar with my Kalk top off. Perhaps this has an effect?

 

[Aqua Keepers]

I'm not sure about the vineger + kalk
Are you running carbon? Could there be chemical warfare going on?

 

[kmacartney]

I run carbon and change it every other week. In my acros, the PE is much more substantial in the shaded parts of the coral.

I talked to RHF and the vinegar and kalk and gave it the ok.

 

[Aqua Keepers]

The reaction your corals are giving spells lighting (at least to me). However, I don't feel that the lighting you have should cause this, but what do I know. Try raising your fixture 2"

I'm really surprised that no others have jumped in on this.

 

[kmacartney]

I may try that. Thanks Pito!

If anyone else has an opinion please share it.

 

[cook]

Vinegar is an organic carbon source. Like vodka. Your prob sounds like ULN to me. ULN sps have less zoox than browned out overfed corals. The bacteria feed off of your carbon source and consume available nutrients. I kept an sps tank and they lightened a lot. Very pale and sun tanned. Not bleached, almost white flesh. If you have no algae issues and run a clean tank. Try to feed more. This helpd me a lot. All corals regained color. I would keep dosing the vinegar though. They should have adjusted to that amount of light by now. I have burned sps under 400's and they came back fine. Also iodine can help corals adjust/deal with high lighting.

 

[Aqua Keepers]

That's what I was thinking, but would that explain why he notices better PE and coloration for corals with slight shading any why the shrooms crawl along the rock till they are out of the light? And the zoas not all of the way open.

 

[cook]

I am not an expert but the lack of zoox may let more light get to the corals. PE and coloration would be better b/c this is a good environment for sps. Low po4,po3,and low nitrates. mixed reefs are a balance. Most of these corals do not come from the same water depth,clarity,nutrient levels.

 

[kmacartney]

I always understood coloration as basically sunscreen to protect the corals. But that would not explainhow the most colorful acros are at the bottom of the tank. Also my monties are quite colorful. I can try to use more of my frozen seafood mix to see if this helps.

I have almost no algae issues just some film types here and there and some of that stuff may be bacteria.

Come to think of it, my coralline has almost stopped growing.

Here is the kalkwasser article that also mentions vinegar.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php