Chalice bleaching :(

Mulkxican · Jul 14, 2021

Jumped into reefing and may have made first mistake? Have had corals in tank for little over two weeks now most seem to be doing fine some SPS, favia, zoas, but my chalices seem to have started to bleach. Thinking it was my lighting I turned them down (initially they were in center tank on crushed coral bottom) so moved them to bottom corner and turned lights down.

Phosphate .25 ppm (little higher than normal)
Nitrate 5.0ppm normal level no spike
Alk 11 (normally around 12)
Temp 79

Nothing crazy out of whack from normal (have had tank for over a month aquired off of a friend who had it running for over 6months with established rock from even older system with stable conditions and. Xenia and GSP overtaking everything) So added more corals. Well LFS I got mixed corals from says all is significantly higher than his and most (says most r closer to 9 and that's a big swing to adjust to and 12 is too high) my research says 12 is high but not too high for corals and debated on allowing SPS and skuly corals faster growth so I thought nothing of it he thinks it may have over stressed my chalice.

Should I switch salt from red Sea Coral Pro to slowly bring down alk? Or so you think it's more cause of light? Or something I missed?

Oh I'm using a AquaKnight a029 which based off YouTube video and par meter does around 300 at top and 150 full spectrum. 200 top and 100 bottom full blues. Well I was only running around 70 blues and 30-40 whites if I remember.

KrisReef · Jul 14, 2021

Phosphate 0.025 ppm is low but ok, 0.25 is 5 times to high, imo. Not sure how you are measuring, or if that was a typo but the tank doesn't look that high in P

The brown out chalice frag looks more like it got hit by another corals sweeper tentacles than bleaching, imo? Some corals will send out sweeper tentacles at night to attack and eat other corals to keep space open for them to grow.

The Alk is high, I try to stay near 8 or less, with 7 as the lower target. Stability is more important than the number and a lot of folks run higher alk without issues.

Hopefully others with similar numbers will look at your post and supply opinions & advice regarding the loss of flesh on these frags. How are you topping off evaporation? An automatic top off is a good thing to help with stability. HTH.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 14, 2021

Tank may not be mature enough. Alk also a little high as is whites. Take whites to about 20%
moderate light and water flow, salinity 1,025
Mag 1300
Temp 77-79
Ph 8.1-8.3
Ca 440
Nitrate < .10
Alk 8-11

Mulkxican · Jul 14, 2021

Im using

KrisReef said:
Phosphate 0.025 ppm is low but ok, 0.25 is 5 times to high, imo. Not sure how you are measuring, or if that was a typo but the tank doesn't look that high in P

The brown out chalice frag looks more like it got hit by another corals sweeper tentacles than bleaching, imo? Some corals will send out sweeper tentacles at night to attack and eat other corals to keep space open for them to grow.

The Alk is high, I try to stay near 8 or less, with 7 as the lower target. Stability is more important than the number and a lot of folks run higher alk without issues.

Hopefully others with similar numbers will look at your post and supply opinions & advice regarding the loss of flesh on these frags. How are you topping off evaporation? An automatic top off is a good thing to help with stability. HTH.

Using a crappy API color test not super accurate but seems higher than it normally is. Working in getting better test kits. Not sure why phosphates are higher when nitrates got lower. Yea Ive read that 12is higher than most ppl but not bad especially with stability so would be curious on others input there for ALK. Water changes help to get phosphates down I assume?

I do use ATO to try and keep salinity stable around 1.025-1.026

Cynearia is near it and could have stung it if it has stingers I know it had sweepers not sure if their stinging variety though.

Mulkxican · Jul 15, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Tank may not be mature enough. Alk also a little high as is whites. Take whites to about 20%
moderate light and water flow, salinity 1,025
Mag 1300
Temp 77-79
Ph 8.1-8.3
Ca 440
Nitrate < .10
Alk 8-11

Okay I'll take whites down thanks! But nitrates and phosphates I know are high.

Sorry forgot to add ive only had for month but was a 6month established tank from a friend that he started with established rock and water from even older system.

yoelf · Jul 15, 2021

Definitely looks more like bleaching than a sting from a sweeper.
I would try moving it out of direct center to a slightly more shaded area and monitor it for a dew days.

Mulkxican · Jul 15, 2021

yoelf said:
Definitely looks more like bleaching than a sting from a sweeper.
I would try moving it out of direct center to a slightly more shaded area and monitor it for a dew days.

Will do I have an Arch way I can place it under. Thanks!

vetteguy53081 · Jul 15, 2021

Mulkxican said:
Okay I'll take whites down thanks! But nitrates and phosphates I know are high.

Sorry forgot to add ive only had for month but was a 6month established tank from a friend that he started with established rock and water from even older system.

For phos and nitrates, add a pouch of chemipure blue which will bring it down a little and keep it in check