Few corals looking different....

[OneFish]

I recently started dosing ESV 2-part (~3 weeks ago) after I noticed that my alk and calcium were too low. I am NEAR my wanted numbers now (dosing slowly), but I have noticed a few of my monti’s and one or two acros have lost a slight bit of color. I am also seeing a layer of white-ish, “fluffy” algae that seems to be building up on my glass and wave makers a bit, requiring me to clean my glass more often.

Examples on color loss would be my red cap has lost the some of its white "growth" rim and does not look as bright of red as well as my creamsicle monti losing some of the bright orange/pink and my superman monti starting to retract some of its blue polyps.

I have also started dosing Red Sea Trace Colors, and Red Sea Reef Energy recently (only about half the recommended amount).

Other than that, nothing has changed.

My parameters are -
Alk. - 7.2 dKh
Ca. - 425 ppm
PH - 7.96
Phosphates - 0.0 ppm
Nitrates - 0.0 ppm

One month ago my alkalinity was 5.5 dKh and calcium was 400 ppm.

Alk and pH checked with Hanna checkers.
Calcium checked with Red Sea.
Phosphates and nitrates checked with API (and the color was very much 0).

The 2-part is about a little over a year old as I started dosing a year ago and then realized my tank did not need it - I honestly do not know if it has an expiration date or not (I checked everywhere on the bottle).

Any suggestions?

 

[OneFish]

Also my RO/DI filters were replaced 3 months ago and I check frequently to make sure that my water is at 0 TDS.

 

[OneFish]

Bump.

 

[hyprc]

In my experience, B-Ionic has a near-ideal level of trace and using another trace element program in addition could be resulting in higher than desirable levels. Are you testing your trace elements? Also, zero no3/po4 is a common cause of weird algae and pale corals.

 

[OneFish]

In my experience, B-Ionic has a near-ideal level of trace and using another trace element program in addition could be resulting in higher than desirable levels. Are you testing your trace elements? Also, zero no3/po4 is a common cause of weird algae and pale corals.

I do not test my trace elements... maybe I will stop with the Trace Colors. What do you recommend for increasing nitrates/phosphates? I only have two clowns so I do not feed much - I could get a couple more fish (worries me a bit cause I do not have a qt) or I could turn off my skimmer for a bit?

 

[hyprc]

I do not test my trace elements... maybe I will stop with the Trace Colors. What do you recommend for increasing nitrates/phosphates? I only have two clowns so I do not feed much - I could get a couple more fish (worries me a bit cause I do not have a qt) or I could turn off my skimmer for a bit?

Check out Brightwell NeoPhos. I know I don't ALWAYS follow it but it's important to remember the golden rule: don't dose elements for which you are not testing. Killing the skimmer will help bring up phosphates as well but also nitrates.

 

[OneFish]

Update - I have noticed that the white algae has grown onto my Superman monti and has caused it to retract its blue polyps. I stopped dosing Colors and cut back on my Energy dosing. Still don't know what this algae is - I have done a few searches and the closest pictures I can seem to find is "white slime" - anyone heard of this?

 

[roberthu526]

You probably raised alkalinity too quickly. 1.7 in a month for SPS is pretty big swing. I would keep everything stable for at least a month and see if things improve.
Algae growing on glass and power heads are totally normal and it is a sign of healthy water as long as it doesn’t grow too fast. I would not worry too much.