What do you think is causing the bleaching?

[Charley Diesing]

Recently I have had a few corals start bleaching on me... My montis, and Stylo's only. Not any of my acros.

My thinking of the cause of this is its one of two things or a combination of both.

First case scenario:

I just changed from a 10k Coralife bulb to a 14k phoenix bulb.

Second case scenario:

I recently added highly concentrated saltwater mix to raise my SG from 1.022>1.0235 obviously while doing this I also rouse my Cal, Alk, and Mg without thinking.

I also did a 5 gallon water change which also rouse those levels significantly... Because keep in mind my tank is roughly 25-30 gallons of actual water.

Since I've done this I turned down my dosing pumps significantly and will be testing Cal, Alk, Mg daily.

My parameters(Before adding SW + 5G water-change)

17-Apr

Cal-410
Alk-10.5
Mg-1380

My parameters now(after adding SW + 5G water-change)

28-Apr

Cal-430
Alk-13.5
Mg-1500

What should I do? Just wait it out and hope they don't bleach worst/die?

Thanks,

Charley

 

[fishypets]

SG from 1.022 to 1.035 is your issue. Since then you have lowered it back down? Natural seawater is 1.026.

 

[Charley Diesing]

SG from 1.022 to 1.035 is your issue. Since then you have lowered it back down? Natural seawater is 1.026.

I'm sorry not 1.022 to 1.035...

I meant 1.0235

 

[examiner]

That's an insignificant increase in salinity for a 24 hour period

5g water changes should not have caused that much of an alk increase unless your fresh saltwater had a dkh of 20+, which doesn't seem realistic.

I'd check the output of your dosing pumps.

 

[Finland]

IMO it is the alk spike, not the increase in salinity. That is a pretty big spike. Also, new lights may have a part in it also, but more than likely it is the alk. I would just wait it out and do not dose(unless you lose more than 1dhk per day). Let the alk come down on it's own. Then try to keep things stable. I had a big alk spike in my tank and faded/bleached corals out pretty bad. I let the alk come down on its own and things recovered. Ended up with some tissue recession, but has since healed up.

 

[turtlespd]

Everything u did will cause bleaching. Slow and steady changes works best. All that I would have done over a month period. I recommend dropping the photoperiod or raising the lights a lot higher. Leave ur water a lone for a bit, I don't think that change would cause bleaching but stn. I also change 5 g on a 30g also and saw same changes when I used reef crystals, since I have switched to Instant ocean and now I don't see the swings.

 

[ssscuz]

So why are u running your sg so low instead of 1.025-1.026?
Have u just tried raising that?

 

[Charley Diesing]

That's an insignificant increase in salinity for a 24 hour period
Well the 5 gallon WC and the added Saltwater where over the course of about 5 days. Also I added the water in over the course of about 8 hours. But I obviously added to much.
5g water changes should not have caused that much of an alk increase unless your fresh saltwater had a dkh of 20+, which doesn't seem realistic.Yeah I dont think it really added much but it didn't help they case.

I'd check the output of your dosing pumps.I did, and I turned them off for now.

 

[Charley Diesing]

IMO it is the alk spike, not the increase in salinity. That is a pretty big spike. Also, new lights may have a part in it also, but more than likely it is the alk. I would just wait it out and do not dose(unless you lose more than 1dhk per day). Let the alk come down on it's own. Then try to keep things stable. I had a big alk spike in my tank and faded/bleached corals out pretty bad. I let the alk come down on its own and things recovered. Ended up with some tissue recession, but has since healed up.

I decided to just to lower my dosing pumps about 65%. and keep testing. If I don't see much of a lowering of my levels I will lower them some more.

 

[Charley Diesing]

Everything u did will cause bleaching. Slow and steady changes works best. All that I would have done over a month period. I recommend dropping the photoperiod or raising the lights a lot higher. Leave ur water a lone for a bit, I don't think that change would cause bleaching but stn. I also change 5 g on a 30g also and saw same changes when I used reef crystals, since I have switched to Instant ocean and now I don't see the swings.

I dropped the photo-period a lot already. Now I am low adding about 15 min a day. Until I get to were I was at.

 

[Charley Diesing]

So why are u running your sg so low instead of 1.025-1.026?
Have u just tried raising that?

Like previously stated that's what I was doing, but without thinking I also added a lot of Cal, Alk, and Mg into the mix. Please don't post unless you read the entire post.

 

[ssscuz]

Like previously stated that's what I was doing, but without thinking I also added a lot of Cal, Alk, and Mg into the mix. Please don't post unless you read the entire post.

I read your posts, your still at 1.0235?
So your sg is still low! Bring it up to 1.026 for starters

I understand that your mag and cal levels are high currently but in my experience high levels of this causes browning.

Can u get hold of a low mag/cal/alk salt mix? To use in ATO for a while to get sg up. Or do a water change with lower level salt mix?

 

[Charley Diesing]

I read your posts, your still at 1.0235?
So your sg is still low! Bring it up to 1.026 for starters

I understand that your mag and cal levels are high currently but in my experience high levels of this causes browning.

Can u get hold of a low mag/cal/alk salt mix? To use in ATO for a while to get sg up. Or do a water change with lower level salt mix?

I didnt think that kind of salt existed?

 

[TimeConsumer]

I didnt think that kind of salt existed?

I wouldn't call the parameters low, but my Red Sea original mixes to about 8dkh and 420ppm calc at 1.026, the closest I've been able to find to NSW.

 

[ssscuz]

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=reef+salt+mixes+chart&um=1&hl=en&biw=1517&bih=636&tbm=isch&tbnid=JoJhUqF0JtTBcM:&imgrefurl=http://www.mdreefclub.com/showthread.php%3F657-so-what-salt-mix-does-everyone-use&docid=dFa_DwlXSX2KcM&itg=1&imgurl=http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt260/cindywhip/salt-mixeschart-1.jpg&w=487&h=473&ei=APmAUbfeDIOjkAXjl4CoAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=690&vpy=217&dur=1781&hovh=221&hovw=228&tx=134&ty=108&page=2&tbnh=130&tbnw=146&start=24&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:28,s:0,i:168

hope this link helps you out. I know ive used Instant ocean and it is alot lower than other salts.

 

[sasharotty]

I wouldn't call the parameters low, but my Red Sea original mixes to about 8dkh and 420ppm calc at 1.026, the closest I've been able to find to NSW.

Is that consistent bucket to bucket bag to bag? I use rc and io and numbers are wacky from box to box. Sorry to derail.

 

[Andyf30]

I agree with the alk increase. A salinity increase maybe, but an alk increase of 3.5 dKH, and especially all the way up to 13.5? thats really high. I keep my alk at around 9dKH. I would either do a water change with diluted salt water, or just wait it out and let levels drop again. That being said, the bleached corals may be slow to use the calc alk and mag, so it may take a long time

 

[TimeConsumer]

Is that consistent bucket to bucket bag to bag? I use rc and io and numbers are wacky from box to box. Sorry to derail.

It seems pretty consistent. I don't trust measurements of my fresh mixed water very much as there's a lot of room for error. I might not have shaken the bucket enough before use, I may have added salt too quickly or at the wrong temperature and resulted in excess precipitation, my refractometer may not have been calibrated, etc.

The salt works and has parameters I like, there's not much residue, my LFS use it too. However it used to be about $55 a bucket and it went up to $65 a bucket recently. That irks me a little bit.