Corals not looking good after Red Sea Reef Energy

[JCas06]

HOW WAS TANK prior to switching salt mix?
what is your water flow and lighting schedule? Looks like light burn OR nutrient deficiency but there is more to this

Sorry, water flow is an icecap gyre and lighting a 4 bulb ATI T5 fixture with blues on from 2 pm to 11 pm and whites on from 3 pm to 10 pm
Bulbs are ATI coral plus, coral plus, blue plus, purple plus. Lights and lighting schedule has been steady for years with bulb changes of course

 

[Robink]

You need more fish. I would raise nutrients the natural way, more fish, more poop. And yes lower the alk.

 

[ihavecrabs]

I would agree with a few others above that state increasing nutrients slowly as well as trying to slowly lower your alkalinity into the 8 range. Looking at the corals, I see both issues present.

As far as raising nutrients, you'd probably be best suited picking up some Phosphate and Nitrate (or making it yourself) and dose with an automatic doser. Small amounts over the course of the day is better than all at once in my mind. You'll likely find it hard to keep phosphate measurable while dosing the nitrates. Plan for daily measurements and adjustments.

Unless you increase the fish bioload significantly, I still see the need to potentially dose. Plus if you are adding more fish, QT will take a while

 

[Ardeus]

Can you get one of those ammonia alerts?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Tank was not great before switching salt mix. Corals have been losing colors for a long time. But I want to emphasize that there was no bleaching, rtn or closed up polyps before adding the reef energy. Also I switched salt mix AFTER the bleaching, rtn and closed polyps occurred. I ordered my regular coralife salt mix from Dr. Fosters and Smith but when the package came it was Red Sea coral pro. I don’t know why this happened but I figured I try it and I needed the salt. But again, this was after the corals took a turn for the worst. The only things that changed prior to the corals going downhill was feeding the corals more than I had been and dosing Reef energy. Something I have not mentioned was I did purchase a lot of frags at reef a palooza and did not have coral dip. But two weeks had gone by between introducing the frags and noticing some of my corals bleaching at edges, rtn, and closed polyps. Also note not all my corals are showing these signs many are fine.

Reduce lighting on white(s) schedule and increase time a bit on blues. 2 small feedings weekly is adequate for corals and with a magnifier or reading glasses, inspect corals with magnifier or reading glasses for any nudibtanchs, flatworms, etc as assurance since there was no dip

 

[scottrotton]

I had a similar issue. I was dosing nopox. Corals went pale over time.

Certain algae would grow but i always read 0 on nitrates and very low on phos. In the end i got a refugium. Although i have issues with algae out competing my chaeto the corals are all regaining color except 1 acro i lost.

Also i found the lower my nitrates the easier my corals bleach on when i increase lighting.

If you dosing carbon or some other method i bet thats the problem

 

[slayerhellfire]

Hello,

I have been struggling with my tank overall and corals losing color and some slowly dying off like my war coral. I had low alkalinity and calcium numbers so I purchased a doser and brs 2 part which has been up and running for 4 months. Last week I purchased Red Sea Reef Energy A and B to see if it would help my corals in regaining their coloration. I dosed 6-8ml for 2 or 3 days in a row of both and then I noticed many of my corals had retracted polyps and my monti’s were bleaching around the edges and other spots on the corals. Nothing else changed during these few days or even couple weeks before other than I started dosing the Reef energy. I also started to feed my one fish (clownfish) more and also the corals through increased use of marine snow/mysis/cyclopeze mixture every couple days for the past two weeks. I had been reading forums and figured I had been starving my corals as I only had one fish and did not feed the corals hardly at all. I will include pictures and tank parameters below.
Tank is a 72 bowfront with Rubbermaid 20 gallon sump
Filter sock with carbon in it
Used to run phos guard but stopped months ago
Automatic doser for alk and cal
1 clownfish, snails, hermit crabs
5 year old tank
4 ATI bulb T5 lights
All tests are Salifert unless otherwise noted:
Alk - 9 dkh
Cal - 445
Mag - 1500
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0.15
Ph - 7.8
Phosphate - 0
Phosphate - 0 (Hanna ULR)
Ph - 7.9 (API)
Temp: 80 degrees Fahrenheit

I use coralife salt but just got Red Sea coral pro salt in. I did a 15 gallon water change after noticing the coral problems yesterday and then a 20 gallon water change today. I stopped using reef energy after 2 or 3 days of use and noticing of coral decline.

You will notice in my pictures I do have algae on the gyre pump, in the overflow, and on the sand bed.

Notice the Duncan’s all retracted, birds nest polyps retracted, birds nest frag has 50% rtn, bleaching around edges of monti pieces.

Things I would advice on:
How are tank parameters?
Do you think reef energy is to blame for coral unhappiness?
I purchase beautiful frags and they lose color quickly? Superman monti is almost white with little polyp extension
Any other advice welcomed

I am about to transition over to a new 100 gallon tank and would like to get everything going good again.

your tank is starving to death turn your skimmer off if you have one start feeding more