Green slimer partially bleached

[kevin_e]

That pic isn't from shadowing. Coral is slowly dying. Not sure why. I would start by lowering the alk from 9.3 to closer to 7.3.

He said he still has polyps where it looks like STN/RTN.

 

[kevin_e]

The tank it came from had an alk of 9 and it was thriving so I don't think the alk is what is causing it

Higher alk and low nutrients can be problematic. Although, you do have ideal nitrates. Plus, burnt tips is usually the sign of a high alk/low nutrient issue.

 

[kevin_e]

What percemtage do you run your lighting? Am I seeing 100%s for blues? I'm thinking maybe a combination of lower nutrients, high direct lighting and then some shadowing from a point source.

Maybe start by turning your lights down some and see if the coral starts to brown a little.

 

[nereefpat]

The tank it came from had an alk of 9 and it was thriving so I don't think the alk is what is causing it

But what were the N&P in the old tank? And what was the lighting?

 

[dbleoh7]

What percemtage do you run your lighting? Am I seeing 100%s for blues? I'm thinking maybe a combination of lower nutrients, high direct lighting and then some shadowing from a point source.

Maybe start by turning your lights down some and see if the coral starts to brown a little.

Yeah I had the blues at 80% for a couple of weeks with the same results, so I increased the blues to 100 just recently

 

[dbleoh7]

But what were the N&P in the old tank? And what was the lighting?

That I'm not sure of

 

[bobssecrtsn]

Lol, some people just don’t understand what type of LEDS you have, the lens on your LEDS is not enough spread to cover, Search up shadowing with sps and I can almost find the exact same photos you posted as with anyone else.

 

[kevin_e]

Yeah I had the blues at 80% for a couple of weeks with the same results, so I increased the blues to 100 just recently

Like I said, I think you have a few thi gs going on and I would o ly address one at a time. 2 weeks isn't always enough to see chnages in SPS. It can take months. Try and find someone on this forum running ur lights with SPS success and get their schedule and percentages.

I think your 100% intensity and low phosphates is causing the paleness. I think the spot lighting is contributing to the shadowing on the underside.

 

[dbleoh7]

I'm increasing my feeding with frozen to try and get measurable phosphates and I just bought a Radion XR15 with the Reefbrite LED Add-on kit to get better spread. Also the AI prime's interface to change the intensities and schedule is driving me crazy so that is something that pushed me over the edge to get a Radion as well. Hopefully these two things will help it out. Do you think the bleaching is reversible or not reversible?

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Yes, it can recover from bleaching. I see polyps in the bleached areas.

I would try to keep the PAR in the 250 to 350 range.

Raise your PO4 by reducing your water changes.

I don't think it is shadowing because I see bleaching in areas of higher light and color in obvious shadow areas.

If you can raise your light higher to help reduce hot spots, that might help. Just remember to check the new PAR readings.

Bleaching isn't always caused by light issues. It is a stress response by the coral as a means of survival. You just need to figure out what is causing the stress. It could be the frequency and amount of water in your water changes. Stop those for a few weeks and see what happens.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Before you start dumping food or straight po4 in the tank, what are you using to test po4?

 

[dbleoh7]

Before you start dumping food or straight po4 in the tank, what are you using to test po4?

I used salifert and also Hanna

 

[nereefpat]

I used salifert and also Hanna

You want to use the Hanna, and it needs to be a specific one. Ultra low phosphorus (not phosphate!) ; it reads in part per Billion phosphorus and you have to convert it.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

The tank it came from had an alk of 9 and it was thriving so I don't think the alk is what is causing it

9.3 alk with zero Po4 and very little fish poop is your problem. I have an ai prime 16 on my little side 7g frag tank and grow acros just fine. I have hydra 52 HD’s, no T5s, on my DT and acros grow well in there too.
Feed your fish as much frozen as they can eat in 2-3 minutes every day.
And bring your alk down closer to 8

 

[tehmadreefer]

That’s isn’t bleached that is stn’ing

 

[dbleoh7]

Update: I changed my lights to Radion and added on 2 LED bars on each side to increase the spread and started feeding more to keep my phosphates at 0.02. I also spaced out my 20% water changes to every 20 days rather than every 7 days like I was doing. The green slimer perked up within a month and is growing like a weed now. I'm thinking it was more of the phosphates/nutrients and keeping my water too clean. Even on the parts of the slimer that are shadowed it has long polyps now so that makes me think it was nutrients.