7 gallon nano corals slowly bleaching

[Shirak]

So the bleaching couldn’t be from not enough light correct? Prime will be decreased even more then.

In my experience not enough light will cause them to get darker brown colors so the opposite of bleach, yes The AI lights are quite powerful and your 100%blue,70%uv could be too much. Does it look like the bleaching is occurring where the light is strongest on the corals?

 

[Picoflreefer.]

You have more than enough light. The 15 hour photoperiod is probably most likely to blame and recovery will be slow.

Bought my 1st nanocube in 2000. Been keeping nanos ever since and never had a need to balance N/P. Feed your fish and perform regular WC.

Or you can go down product buying rabbit hole.

That’s what I was thinking. 15 hours is a lot and I didn’t realize it. Was running that long for months. Everything opens up nice and has great color just recently noticed my corals weren’t so happy in the evenings and turning a bit pale. Just changed it down to 10 hours 3 days ago so hopefully it will solve my issue.

 

[Picoflreefer.]

In my experience not enough light will cause them to get darker brown colors so the opposite of bleach, yes The AI lights are quite powerful and your 100%blue,70%uv could be too much. Does it look like the bleaching is occurring where the light is strongest on the corals?

It’s only a 12x12 cube so most of the tank get direct light. I’ve noticed on most of my corals other than my zoas, Duncan, and frogspawn. But they are newer corals.

 

[Picoflreefer.]

In my experience not enough light will cause them to get darker brown colors so the opposite of bleach, yes The AI lights are quite powerful and your 100%blue,70%uv could be too much. Does it look like the bleaching is occurring where the light is strongest on the corals?

I’ve slowly added coral for about 6 months now getting one here and there. I really started to notice the bleaching on my green favia and my Hollywood stunner coral. Also my freak hair Pavona. My freak hair and chalice have been in the tank the longest . My favia was put in a month and a half ago and just started to see it fading in color.

 

[Picoflreefer.]

Current picture

 

[aqua_code]

it's very hard to maintain proper salinity in a tank this small, do you check daily?

 

[Picoflreefer.]

it's very hard to maintain proper salinity in a tank this small, do you check daily?

Not daily but couple times a week. I have an auto top off system (ato) so my salinity doesn’t change.

 

[jeffww]

What are your actual nitrate and phosphate levels? I run a 7g SPS reef and I have to dose those things.

 

[aqua_code]

do water changes and run carbon. If you have impurities that will flush them out. Also check your RODI water and make sure it has 0 TDS.

Also calibrate your refractometer every time you do a test. Get several calibration solutions so you are 100% confident in salinity.

I recommend the 25 pack hannah digital refractometer and the test packets from BRS. With the digital one I only calibrate it once every couple weeks. The traditional ones can get miscalibrated often.

Salinity Calibration Solutions

Bulk Reef Supply - Saltwater Aquarium Supplies for Reef Tanks

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Picoflreefer.]

What are your actual nitrate and phosphate levels? I run a 7g SPS reef and I have to dose those things.

5ppm on nitrates. I haven’t checked my phosphate my lfs does but I think I’m okay with my levels. I have them checked weekly and I also run tests at home.

 

[jeffww]

Any advice people give you will only be guesses if you dont provide numbers. I check phos weekly with hanna ulr and I maintain it from 0.1-0.01 ppm. This is probably below the detection limit for most tests offered by lfs. I wish you luck on getting things back on track.