Acros bleaching out or is this STN?

[Erick Armanii]

I haven’t had much success growing sticks.. things start off well for a few weeks and then slowly see tissue peeling away, algae growing on them, or white white white edges.. any idea?

parameters are in check:
1.025 salt
78.6 temp
Alk 7.7
Cal: 443
Phos 0.19
Nitrates: 4.77
Mag 1380

tank is less than a year old. (February 2020)
Coraline everywhere and a lot of things are thriving while others are apparently dying

 

[brmreefer]

I'd start off by validating those parameters. Maybe there is an LFS near by that provides testing.

Curious as to what lighting is being used and PAR readings at various locations.

How big of a system? Smaller tanks tend to have bigger parameter swings throughout a day (especially salinity via evaporation and temp).

Just a few things to consider if it has not already. Note that if anything is going to be changed, try one thing at a time to aid in the process of elimination.

 

[Hincapiej4]

Turn off flow, put hydrogen peroxide on the spots algae is growing. If needed, softly use a brush to rub the algae off after peroxide is applied

 

[KrisReef]

I took a quick look at your build thread and two areas of potential concern would be your lights (not enough par?) or possibly water top off / return & salt creep issues.

The Middle picture of a frag that has died on the dark side while the illuminated side is looking more healthy suggests that the coral is moving resources from the dark to the light trying to get enough photon energy to survive? (The lit side still looks viable.)
&
The red Montipora looks like it may have grown in your tank a tad bit, but again it starting to fail in spots but not only on the unlit side like the middle frag I mentioned. The Monti looks like it could have been bombed perhaps by salt creep falling from above, or salt or other dosing chemical carried by the return water and depositing salt crystals that burn holes in the coral? Do you dose salts into your sump? Or is there salt spray-crust deposits that might be flaking off into the tank?

The green frag (branching Montipora?) also is spotty like the red with algae growing where the coral has died. So the cause may have been an episode that caused death but now has passed?

The other possible cause is that you have a pest that is munching on these corals?

The damage is not totally consistent with AEFW, and I don't know if it matches Montipora eating nudibranchs, so hopefully you may just need to increase PAR?

All these are fantastic wild guesses from a braying donkey so pray that I'm not being road by that guy Balaam. See Vs 22+ Shalom.

 

[Erick Armanii]

I'd start off by validating those parameters. Maybe there is an LFS near by that provides testing.

Curious as to what lighting is being used and PAR readings at various locations.

How big of a system? Smaller tanks tend to have bigger parameter swings throughout a day (especially salinity via evaporation and temp).

Just a few things to consider if it has not already. Note that if anything is going to be changed, try one thing at a time to aid in the process of elimination.

Hannah checker and Neptune’s trident are within a small fraction of one another. I ordered an ICP test to confirm accuracy and any underlying issues. That should be coming in the mail hopefully this week.

I have 3 hydra 26HD running a modified BRS AB+ spectrum at roughly 70% and aquatic life T5 hybrid 3 ATI Blue plus and 1 Coral Plus bulb.

125L display with trigger 44 sump estimated water volume after displacement is 133gals

 

[Erick Armanii]

I took a quick look at your build thread and two areas of potential concern would be your lights (not enough par?) or possibly water top off / return & salt creep issues.

The Middle picture of a frag that has died on the dark side while the illuminated side is looking more healthy suggests that the coral is moving resources from the dark to the light trying to get enough photon energy to survive? (The lit side still looks viable.)
&
The red Montipora looks like it may have grown in your tank a tad bit, but again it starting to fail in spots but not only on the unlit side like the middle frag I mentioned. The Monti looks like it could have been bombed perhaps by salt creep falling from above, or salt or other dosing chemical carried by the return water and depositing salt crystals that burn holes in the coral? Do you dose salts into your sump? Or is there salt spray-crust deposits that might be flaking off into the tank?

The green frag (branching Montipora?) also is spotty like the red with algae growing where the coral has died. So the cause may have been an episode that caused death but now has passed?

The other possible cause is that you have a pest that is munching on these corals?

The damage is not totally consistent with AEFW, and I don't know if it matches Montipora eating nudibranchs, so hopefully you may just need to increase PAR?

All these are fantastic wild guesses from a braying donkey so pray that I'm not being road by that guy Balaam. See Vs 22+ Shalom.

Highly doubtful of any pests as everything has been purchased thru reputable venders. Salt creep is also unlikely. I have a decent mixing station and preform auto water changes via the neptunes dos. Ever so often I manually siphon the rocks or dead spots that the 2 MP40s push into corner of the tank

 

[brmreefer]

Has a PAR meter been rented or borrowed to see what the PAR is throughout the tank?

 

[melanotaenia]

Not enough light. Did you start with live rock?

 

[reef_ninja]

Just to add to the discussion, I very well could be wrong, but I always thought bleaching was more associated with over illuminating or too high temp, and browning out more related to under-illumination?

 

[Erick Armanii]

Has a PAR meter been rented or borrowed to see what the PAR is throughout the tank?

No par meter at the moment, but I am in the works on renting one from my local club. Guys from my local club have similar setup and par in the 350 upper area of tank..

 

[Erick Armanii]

Not enough light. Did you start with live rock?

Gotta rent a par meter ASAP to confirm, but it seems like everyone is leaning this direction. I started with mostly dry rock then moved over around 30-40 pounds of live rock from a previous tank, and 2 marine pure blocks.

 

[melanotaenia]

Sounds like you have good biodiversity if you have added live rock from a previous tank; I would say lighting unless you have pests or something is off with your test kits.

 

[ZoWhat]

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Gotta rent a par meter ASAP to confirm, but it seems like everyone is leaning this direction. I started with mostly dry rock then moved over around 30-40 pounds of live rock from a previous tank, and 2 marine pure blocks.

First, I believe that you meant your tank is 125 gallons, not liters. If so, it may be a light issue, but between the 270w of LEDs and the 4 T5 bulbs, you may have enough light. Get that PAR meter to be sure.

You stated above that you have marine pure blocks in the sump. That may be the issue. People have reported those leaching aluminum into their tanks. It will be interesting to see what your ICP test says. If your PAR is good, you might want to consider removing the marine pure blocks to see what happens. I would recommend removing one at a time with 3-4 weeks in between so you don’t remove to much bacteria at a time and give your system time to recover.

 

[Erick Armanii]

First, I believe that you meant your tank is 125 gallons, not liters. If so, it may be a light issue, but between the 270w of LEDs and the 4 T5 bulbs, you may have enough light. Get that PAR meter to be sure.

You stated above that you have marine pure blocks in the sump. That may be the issue. People have reported those leaching aluminum into their tanks. It will be interesting to see what your ICP test says. If your PAR is good, you might want to consider removing the marine pure blocks to see what happens. I would recommend removing one at a time with 3-4 weeks in between so you don’t remove to much bacteria at a time and give your system time to recover.

great point I will definitely look into that! Interested into seeing what the ICP test shows and I bet you might be into something since the marine pure blocks are pretty old and starting to break apart.

Also you are correct, 125 gal tank 125gal 6’ Long.... I believe I may have said 125 gallons somewhere....