umm..what's this ?

[uhupong]

My corals dying and now developing white stuff on top of them. What is it ? Should I be concerned ?



My tank is about 2 months old. It's Biocube HQI 29G

Amonia=0, nitrite=0, ph=8.3, calcium=500, gavity=10.22, nitrate =5


Thank you all.

 

[stingythingy45]

It's just the coral polyp melting.
What exactly is gravity 10.22?
And where is the alkalinity?

 

[stingythingy45]

I would suspect with a calcium level of 500,alk must be low.
How do you check salinity,refractor?

 

[uhupong]

I use coralife hydr meter (deep six) to measure specific gravity. I do not have alkaline test kit yet.

What do you suggest i test interm of keeping coral. I'm very new at this hobby.

Thank you ST45

 

[JohnK]

I would suggest bringing a water sample into a good LFS and asking them to check the salinity and the alk. (the deep six kind of works, but should not be relied on without at least checking it against a refractometer).

Basically your seeing a non-specific symptom. The coral in the pic is melting down. This can be from many causes, but in general stress of some sort is usually the issue. Having Ca/alk at incorrect levels would make for stress. Also, if you have had reccent unusually high temps in the tank, that could make for a lot of stress.

For the time being, I would use a turkey baster or airline siphion to suck off as much of that dead/slimy material as possible.

 

[Blueflu1]

2 months is pretty new of a tank for corals too unless they are hardy corals. I would wait and test your tank regularly and wait until it is stable before adding more corals.

 

[Rone]

I use coralife hydr meter (deep six) to measure specific gravity. I do not have alkaline test kit yet.

What do you suggest i test interm of keeping coral. I'm very new at this hobby.

Thank you ST45

Where are you located? I can do some testing for you if needed.

 

[Conlius]

Calc is a little high, salinity is a little low.

I like to keep my tank around 1.024-1.025 (some swing from 1.023-1.026). Calc sitting around 400-440.

Stable ALK is important!

 

[gweston]

In the shorter term if you don't have an Alk test kit, I'd do a ~5gal water change once today and again tomorrow. Should nudge salinity to around 1.025 +/- 0.001. The water changes will also help your params out (Alk, etc). Before the change though, take a water sample and keep it aside. That'll help you identify the before and after state of your water. Maybe add a phosphate test kit to that list, but from the pic I don't see an algae problem which that would cause.

If you are using RODI filtered water with your mix, great, if not, you may be running into water quality issues that don't show up in the usual reef tests. I suspect your lighting is plenty sufficient with that tank (HQI).

Lots of knowledgeable people around here! I am a newbie myself.. soaking up a LOT of information in just the past few months myself.