acro bleaching issue, could it be too much light?

[NeverlosT]

thanks doctaq, yeah, greg was his name, he was very helpful!

I dont think it is anything chemistry-wise with the frags I got from him since I also got a candy-cane from him at the same time that is happy as can be (although maybe that isnt a good assumption since it is LPS vs. SPS)

tank is about 4.5 months old, but was started with live rock and lots of live sand. But Ray your point is well taken, it is still young!

There is only one leather in the tank and it is all the way on the other side, there are other acro's doing well far closer to it, so I think it is playing nicely.

Pics to come when I get home tonight, thanks to those who have responded!

 

[SteveDola]

I think Ray has something there, my old 75 was the same way. About a year into killing sps my tank seemed to just stabilze and take off. Now i know many people that set up tanks and a month later have sps mini colonies looking awesome. Best bet is to hold rock solid parms and hope they pull through. The more you change the more stress youre putting on the tank. When you do change something, make sure its one thing at a time...dont do 5 changes at once because 1- wont know which is working/not working and 2-increased stress on the system from multiple changes.

 

[NeverlosT]

Here are some pics!

Dolomite in the reactor (it looks like more than it is, there is a little ARM mound in the middle of the cylinder).

these guys are growing and happy:

so is this guy:

 

[NeverlosT]

Now for the ones that are hurting, you can see the base is becoming more pale in this one. I just moved it to the substrate (least light possible, lots of flow) we will see... [dont mind the hair algae, it is on its way out]

the birdsnest:

the other birdsnest that is pretty happy and in WAY more light (tips look like they might be a little singed, but I think that is just the pic):

I dont know if this guy'e new growth is always lighter, but his tips look pretty light:

 

[NeverlosT]

This one is I think FOR SURE a sunburn issue, check out the meteor shower when it was newer, it is in full light midway up the water column:

its skin turned reddish pale and it was looking bad so I moved it to the shadows (see here)

its polyps are still all out and happy and I even feed it, and its skin looks like it is starting to turn blue again, but right now it looks like one pissed off meteor shower!

It, along with the white color of my tank (very white, corals dont pop too much) is one of the reasons I want 20K lights or to switch from Ushio to Phoenix 14K's. Alas, I will stick with these for a while...

 

[DoctaQ]

your orange monti digi looks fine, the tips are always white if they are growing.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I was asked to stop by this thread, but to be honest, I don't see any apparent reasons for the problem. None of the chemical issues should cause such problems.

 

[NeverlosT]

Thanks for stopping by Randy either way!

I am thinking it was just the light, I put them too close to the bright lights upon first adding them and they got a scorch. Now I have them down low and need to hope that they recover.

My algae is in a full-on retreat these days, so that is good. If I can just keep everything stable, I think these acro's have a good chance of recovering.

doctaq- thanks for the words on the digi, I kind of expected that since it did seem to be growing so it couldnt be too unhappy! I appreciate it.

I am giving the tank trace elements, amino acids, and feeding the corals some mysis shrimp and other such foods, so nutrition shouldnt be an issue, between the garlic soaked rod's reef and the rest, the tank is well fed!

I guess only time will tell... but I would still appreciate it if anyone else has an opinion!

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

that birds nest looks okay it can recover do the polyps come out?

 

[NeverlosT]

the polyps do come out, and it is still pink on one side (the side that was away from the lights probably) so I have my fingers crossed. Thanks!

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

if they are coming out its probably bleaching from lack of light on the dark side.

 

[MikeG]

After seeing the pics, I think it might actually be the age of the tank and a slight nuitrient issue. I would just try to keep your paramerters stable and as I metioned earleir they are pretty good where they are.

 

[NeverlosT]

Roger that guys, thanks very much! Just to be safe I replaced some of the dolomite in the reactor with ARM, so my mag should stay at a nice normal level from here on out, and I will try to keep the rest of the params in order.

The only other thing I just installed was a reactor with some GFO in it to put the last nail in the coffin of my algae... it is looking good!

Thanks to everyone for their opinions and help!

 

[jackthestrat]

Check for pests.

 

[JeremyR]

Careful with the GFO, if you put too much in you can shock them from the instant drawdown. Some people get STN with too much GFO use.

Nothing there looks ready to kick over. FWIW, cyphastrea doesn't hold the bluish color in high light very often, it looks best under t-5 or semi-shaded in lighting schemes like yours.

The more your tank ages, the more mag becomes an issue.. when coralline algae really kicks in, you'll have alot more mag loss. If it doesn't rise above 1500, I woudln't bother pulling the dolomite.. 1500 won't bother anything, and you'll just have to put more in later if you get a heavy coralline growth coupled with high SPS growth. The exact ratio varies by tank and coral mix.

Reactors often have a hard time raising calcium initially, once your dkh is where you want just add liquid calcium to even it out the way you want it, and then it will usually stay put. Your calcium isn't low enough to bother doing that for me, and you are really still in the area you will have to be very careful with the reactor.. you could overdo it and jack your alk up pretty easily.

 

[SteveDola]

none of those corals look that bad at all. digi looks like its growin infact. Id suggest stabilizing your params and let the new frags settle in.

ps- Jeremys' right about GFO, if your using it to rid your tank of algea watch out. start slowly and then increase slowly.

 

[Aquaman_68]

Didn't read the whole entire post but it appears you have an issue with either the gfo or the bump up of the alk/kh swing...algae will gow in a lower alk/kh value...(around 7) so since you bumped it up...that would be the reason for the HA decline....alk/kh....can really be a PIA with acro recession if you don't have it stable....(it can also screw with the other values...making them unstable).... Why are you using GFO? How old is the tank? how good is your product water to start?LMK...I'll try to help ya.....sps r something I know a tad about... After looking at the pics....they don't look all that bad....polyps are out...the color at the base of the tri color isn't bleaching... btw...cyphastrea as stated above is normal to see a shift in color under higher MH lighting...


HTH,
B

 

[NeverlosT]

Hi all, and thanks very much for the comments! I have just started running GFO but have very little water going through the reactor so I am trying not to shock the critters, my ALK is sitting at about 8, my mag is less than 1500 (I think the testers messed up last time) and is closer to 1250, and my PO4 is 0.05.

I scooted the cyphastrea to a shaded spot and it looks a bit happier, full polyp extension etc. I will try to not make any huge changes, I removed a bit of the dolomite from the reactor but not much (Sorry Jeremy I didnt see your post in time!). Things all look happy and my algae is pretty much gone, I think the algae was largely due to the tanks age (4.5 months) I think I may throttle back on the GFO even further and see if my algae stays away since folks here seems to think it would not be good to eliminate PO4 too quickly (nothing good happens fast in a reef I am told!).

oh and I have looked for pests, and have dipped every coral to go into the tank, so I think I am pest free at the moment! (I hope it stays that way!)

Anyhow, I will post more pics in a few days and go from there. Thanks again all!

 

[SteveDola]

alot of people get algea around the 4 mth mark, did you try a tank or other fish that eats algea

 

[NeverlosT]

Well, the good news is that the Algae is pretty much gone (the mexican turbo snails and kole tang saw to that). I also have a midas blenny but he doesnt really eat algae, prefers the garlic soaked Rod's Reef instead!

The GFO continues to run in the sump, but PO4 is only about 0.05 so even if it comes down a tiny bit more, it wont be a shock to the system (not coming from very high). Skimmer is working awesome and growth is evident in lots of the frags. I started taking pics so that I can post the "monthly growth" threads.

The birdsnest that was so hurtin looks like he is getting some more color in his polyps (pic to follow), the tri-color acro has been slower to respond, but as mentioned before, the funniest thing is that I got three chunks of that tricolor and put them all over the tank. Two didnt do so well (seemed to be scalded) but the one all the way at the top is growing a lot, encrusting the rock and so on, so hey, I guess I must be doing something right here.

The fish are pumped, the corals are growing, my calcium is nearer to 410 now and the alk is about 9, so I am hoping to get a bit more corraline growth (rock is still white white white).

Next additions will be some mille's and acro's with dark and vibrant colors like very blue or purple or highlighter green or yellow. I am still not very good with all the names, but I know the look of what I like. I am going to bug member Gardiner for some frags (he has some awesome colonies) but if any of you have something neat you would not mind fragging, I dont mind taking a drive and would be happy kick in a few bucks to help fund a fellow reefer!

I am still on the fence about switching to 20K bulbs or maybe 14K phoenix's from my 14K ushios to get some more blue light and flourescence from my critters, but I want to wait and see how the tank looks with corraline on things first, maybe these will do well!