Bleaching Stylophora!!

Lulu'sReef · Jul 25, 2020

Hey my name is Luis and I own a 40gal Aquatop Cube AIO. Ive been upgrading it little by little and I have a lot of corals with stable parameters in my tank & i have 2 Stylophora in my tank, that act completely different. To begin, they are both branching variety, 1 is Teal and the other is Hot Pink. The Teal Stylo loves the light and sits higher than the Hot Pink Stylo ever did. & the Hot Pink Stylo sat about 2.5 inches below the Teal Stylo. One day to the next the Hot Pink Stylo started bleaching and polyps were receding from the bottom up. I moved it to the bottom of the tank now so it still receives low light. I know the process to regain what is bleached is difficult and extensive. Anyone have any tips, guidelines or how to, help reagin bleaching from a stylo or any coral for that matter?
(P.S. I couldn't find any pics of the coral where it previously was placed)
Pictures in order:
#1 Tidal Gardens online pic
#2 Stylo now sitting on bottom behind the Dendro.
#3 Same picture with flash so you can really see the bleaching.

Cory · Jul 25, 2020

Can you list all your water parameters including temp?

Flippers4pups · Jul 25, 2020

Almost looks like it's paled from lack of light. Is the underside "completely white"? Or Pale?

Lulu'sReef · Jul 27, 2020

Flippers4pups said:
Almost looks like it's paled from lack of light. Is the underside "completely white"? Or Pale?

Yea i would probably say more PALE for sure

Lulu'sReef · Jul 27, 2020

Cory said:
Can you list all your water parameters including temp?

Most recent water test

Lulu'sReef · Jul 27, 2020

Lulu'sReef said:
Most recent water test

My temperature varies between 72° - 75°

Flippers4pups · Jul 27, 2020

What test kit do you use for P04? Zero isn't good.

Same question for DKH. 7 is okay, but on the low end.

Lulu'sReef · Jul 27, 2020

Flippers4pups said:
What test kit do you use for P04? Zero isn't good.

Same question for DKH. 7 is okay, but on the low end.

Unfortunately I use an API Saltwater master test kit. Really haven't had the chance to upgrade.

nereefpat · Jul 27, 2020

Lulu'sReef said:
API Saltwater master test kit.

So your phosphate likely isn't zero. Personally, I like your parameters. Temperature of 72 is a little chilly though. I would set a heater to 77 or so. Is it a newish tank?

What about lights?

Billldg · Jul 27, 2020

Lulu'sReef said:
Unfortunately I use an API Saltwater master test kit. Really haven't had the chance to upgrade.

IMO, when it is possible, I would upgrade to some better test kits.

Lulu'sReef · Jul 27, 2020

nereefpat said:
So your phosphate likely isn't zero. Personally, I like your parameters. Temperature of 72 is a little chilly though. I would set a heater to 77 or so. Is it a newish tank?

What about lights?

I just upgraded about 3 months ago. Originally I started with a 28gal nanocube AIO. And 1 year later I upgraded. And I've had the same kessil A350 Tuna Blue for both tanks. Its an older model, about 4 or 5 years old. I bought it used last year.

Lulu'sReef · Jul 27, 2020

OH, I forgot to mention I run a phosban 150 with rowa plus GFO. Don't know if that helps any.

nereefpat · Jul 28, 2020

Lulu'sReef said:
OH, I forgot to mention I run a phosban 150 with rowa plus GFO. Don't know if that helps any.

That can actually hurt if you don't have phoshate issues. I said earlier that your phosphate isn't likely zero...well, it may actually be zero if you naturally run low P and you are stripping it further with GFO.

Lulu'sReef · Jul 28, 2020

nereefpat said:
That can actually hurt if you don't have phoshate issues. I said earlier that your phosphate isn't likely zero...well, it may actually be zero if you naturally run low P and you are stripping it further with GFO.

So what would be a healthy measurement of phosphate in the tank?

Hydrored · Jul 28, 2020

.003-.015

my coral are happiest at .010, riding the line of .003 is tough at best

nukemdanno · Jul 28, 2020

Good morning. I keep my Phosphates below 1ppm the tank usually floats between .05-.07ppm, Nitrates I dose to keep between 5-10ppm. I'd shut down the phosban for a few and see how your tank does. If the phosphates get too high then turn it back on and you may need to dose a little phosphate to keep the numbers where they need to be. You can find potassium phosphate online. I prefer food grade potassium phospate

nereefpat · Jul 28, 2020

Lulu'sReef said:
So what would be a healthy measurement of phosphate in the tank?

By API phosphate kit, the kit should show zero. But, if the API kit shows zero, then I wouldn't run GFO.

If you want to measure really small values, you will need a more sensitive kit. Hanna ULR Phosphorous is a good one.

Lulu'sReef · Jul 29, 2020

nereefpat said:
By API phosphate kit, the kit should show zero. But, if the API kit shows zero, then I wouldn't run GFO.

If you want to measure really small values, you will need a more sensitive kit. Hanna ULR Phosphorous is a good one.

So the reason I'm running gfo is because I had a ridiculous amount of phosphates and with weekly water changes it started going down but never hit zero, so I decided to run GFO. Im currently upgrading to all Hanna instruments. Its pricey! But worth it.