Bleaching Coral with AI Hydra 52's?

[AKTank]

So I started my 125 (5'L x 2'W x 20"D) in December of last year (2014) with two AI Hydra 52's. I have a third but have not added it yet and I'm not sure I will. They are about 10" off the water, mounted parallel at either end with a gap in the middle. I started with the whites at around 80% and blues at 60%. When I started adding coral I used the acclimation feature at 35% reduction with gradual return to normal over 30 days. A few weeks after the acclimation period I noticed colors seemed to be fading in some corals and browning in others, so I started reducing the intensity. Over the next several months I continued reducing the intensity while colors continued to fade. These are the settings today:
UV 20%
Violet 30%
Deep Blue 35%
Royal Blue 40%
Green 10%
Deep Red 10%
Cool White 25%

It seems odd to have the setting so low, but the last time I adjusted them I borrowed a PAR meter. I adjusted primarily the blues and whites to get readings of 80 on the bottom and 280 about 2" above the highest coral in the tank. At the time that was roughly 6" below the surface. After another month I rearranged some rock to lower the highest sps in the tank. I have resisted lowering the light intensities again because I no longer have access to a par meter and I was told those readings were optimal.

The problem is some of my corals are not happy while others are thriving. Zoas, Acans, Favia, Star Polyps, Candy Canes, encrusting and branching Horns, Hammer, Torch, Mushrooms, and even an RGBTA look great and are growing. All of these are bottom to mid level with the Horns being the highest of the group. Meanwhile, most sps are faded or brown. One Acro and a small Monti frag has gone from purple and orange, respectively, to a bland salmon color. I think the Monti Frag is dead but the Acro still has green polyps extending. A blue Millie is all brown now but still has full extension. My green Gponiopora have shrunken into their skeleton and have not extended for over a month. A green and red Wellso that I've had since May has been slowly fading away. I got a red Lobo and a Chalice at the end of June and they are already bleaching. I'm at a loss and could use some advice. I know I need a par meter. It's on the list but they are not cheap. Here are my current water params. I'll post some pictures below.
Temp: 78-80
Salinity: 1.026
PH: 8.1
Calcium: 450 ppm
Alkalinity: 8.5 dkh
Mag: 1500
Dosing Kalk
Oversized Air Stone Skimmer fed by Biopellet Reactor.

 

[AKTank]

before

after

Before

After

 

[Piranhapat]

When SPS start to brown they not getting enough light. Or water par is off. What test are you using to test Alk?

 

[hybridazn]

Do you dose any additives? It looks like the corals are starving. While they are photosynthetic, they still need some sort of filter feeds. Try some phytoplankton or another filter food

 

[Tahoe61]

I run my Hydra UV at 15%.

With these lights you have to make small changes over months. A 30 day acclimation is not enough. Once the LPS are photo shocked it takes a long time to come back from, months.

My tank is 9 inches deep, the fixture sits about 8 inches off the water.

I started my tank in Dec 2014 as well. I run the lights in acclimation mode of 30% now after running it at 50 for 6 months. Typically I run the blues at twice the percentage of the white and all other colors in between except UV.

LPS need to be off to the side in much less intense lighting areas. Once they bleach it takes forever for recovery.

I agree feed those corals and hope for a recovery, look at Sponge Power as well.

I keep my most light loving sps right under the fixture, but I have bleached one or two of them as well.

Long story short, you need to turn up the blues, down the UV run the light in acclimation mode. Do not tinker with it, get the look you like ie: 20k and leave it like that. It will takes weeks to see improvement.

 

[AKTank]

Piranhapat, I'm using the Elos kits for Ca and KH. Salifert for Mg.

Hybridazn, I've been feeding the LPS with a mixture of frozen brine and mysis. I shave the cubes to reduce the particle sizes and mix in some ground up flakes. I have not been feeding the SPS outside of what the fish provide. I've been looking into adding phyto and or zooplankton but as usual it's hard to find clear information. There seems to be a lot of disagreement and it's hard to tell what's going to be best for my system.

Tahoe61, Thanks. That's good information. I figured the 30 day acclimation would be sufficient since the corals were doing well under LED's (Kellis I think) before I got them, but maybe not.

Your tank is extremely shallow. I thought mine was shallow. How much difference does the depth make with regard to the UV. Will reducing 5% really make a difference?

The two lights I'm using are at either end of the tank with about 27" between them. I've had the Lobo and Wellso dead center, as far from the lights as possible. Yesterday I put the Wellso under a ledge as a last ditch effort to try to save it. Maybe I need to do the same with the Lobo? The Chalice is directly under a light, about 6" off the bottom. Should I move it?

I'll turn up the blues but if the corals are starving for light why would I want to turn the acclimation back on? Seems counter productive.

It's sounds like your saying I should be running the acclimation for much longer. If I have to run the feature for that long every time I get new coral then I will be in be in acclimation mode for the next several years while I stock the tank.

How would go about matching my settings to a 20k?

 

[mattvisocky2003]

65g w/ 2xhydra 52

I attached my light schedule but they are knocked back 45% acclimating for 3 months on new pieces. Lights are 11" above. I will settle around 80% blues and 20% whites later. I feed fish 4x per day and dose multiple items and feed coral 2-3x per week. Mysis once per week.

 

[mattvisocky2003]

Btw it's actually blue not purple.

 

[hart24601]

Nitrates? Would guess they are low. How about water flow? Phosphate?

Low nitrates make my coral - sps especially lose color. High phosphate make them almost instantly go brown and will low light. And remember with high light you need high flow, coral get rid of extra light energy as heat which is dissipated by flow - lots of flow.

I would not keep any Lps directly under the light except maybe hammers and similar. Lps in general are easy to tell too much light. Puffy when light 1st come on, shrink up before lights off.

 

[Daytonareefing]

mattvisocky2003 I really like your tank. I always did like a lot of coraline algae in my tanks. So are you saying you usually run your Hydra's at 80 percent blue and 20 percent white or your trying to move up to that?

 

[mattvisocky2003]

Thanks sir. Kind of a hiding tank while setting up my 450. A little full lol. I was running around 80/15 and the others between 10-40 dependent on color. Currently I have cut back only due to new corals. I changed my spectrum a little too. The hydras produce a lot of par and I can get the coral to grow pretty fast once acclimated. I start them pretty low if you can see.

 

[WetWhistle]

I experienced this problem when I first got the lights and I turned them down to acclimate new frags. Once I turned them back up the color returned.

I would set the light settings to what you want them at and raise them up higher then you normally would. Over the next few weeks to months slowly lower them down. It is easier I find to change the hight then it is to mess with the settings. As you slowly lower the lights down carefully watch for signs of distress. I would make small changes in hight and then wait a few days or more before making another adjustment. Or you can set the color to what you want and lower the intensity. Then slowly over the next few weeks to months bump the intensity up. Also watching for signs of distress. I have used both methods with success.

 

[WetWhistle]

Here are my settings. For my peak time I bump the red and green up to 60% and the UV 5% higher as well. Keep in mind it took me a month or so of slowly raising the intensity up at 2% each adjustment every few days. If I seen signs of distress I waited longer before I adjusted.

 

[3Twinklets]

I have my Blues at about 55 % and White at 20% but I also have an ATI Sunpower T-5 6x24 fixture. I always always start acclimating SPS midway down for as long as needed. All LPS need to be near the bottom. Try some Amino Acid to color up but patience make be the trick.

 

[Chaz D]

It is critical that you have sufficient nitrate/phosphate present while acclimating to increased light levels. Feed heavy during this time period.

 

[Daytonareefing]

Chaz D please explain why its critical.

 

[Chaz D]

Because if corals don't have a small amount of nitrate and phosphate they bleach and die.

 

[WetWhistle]

Corals use small amounts of those nutrients for metabolic needs. They absorb nitrates to synthesize nitrogen-containing organic molecules like DNA and protein. The photosynthetic algae that corals have within the tissue use it as a fertilizer for growth and cell reproduction. So the corals can get a good portion of their daily nutritional needs from the byproduct's of the algae.

 

[stscream4187]

+1 on the sufficient acclimation period. I have 2 Hydra 52s over a 125G as well. When adding SPS, I acclimate for 2 months with them on bottom of tank and take another month to slowly raise them. Trial and error.

 

[AKTank]

Thank you all. This is good stuff. Since my first post my welso is gone. The lobo is still hanging on but loosing more color every day. Should I hide it under a ledge like I did for the welso?

I tested for nitrate and phosphate and found to have none. Suggestions?

I've started turning up the blues. I'm going for 2% per week. I lowered the UV to 15% and raised the lights a little.

I'll be adding more rock soon to move the sps up.

I started feeding more. Ordered some coral frenzy and picked up some frozen cyclops rotifers to go with the brine and mysis I've been feeding. I considered some zoo and phytoplankton but I'm hesitant after reading some horror stories of coral disintegrating with some products. Can you all recommend some products for sps that are tried and true?

Almost anything I get has to be ordered online so I like to shop smart.

Thanks again!