Hammers bleaching, acan not healthy

[IE Reefer]

As others have mentioned, some of your parameters are too high/low. The salinity being the one that stands out most. If you added 5g of RO to a 37g tank and after you were at 1.029, you were likely at 1.035 or higher (no idea how that could happen other than topping off with saltwater or making a huge mixing mistake when doing a water change).

Other than that, just wanted to mention that RedSea AB+ is not an alternative to actually feeding your corals, think of it more like a multi-vitamin than actual food. I use it and quite like it, but it’s no substitute for feeding your LPS corals. LPS like acans need to be fed frequently with some meaty foods like mysis or brine (feed your fish until they’ve had their fill and then when you feed your corals, turn off all the pumps and watch to fend off any hermits or fish).

Wow, then I must have been starving my LPS then... What should I do to get them back in shape? Feed them more than they need? Or feed them normally on a regular schedule?

 

[Dom]

recommended is 34-35 ppt for last 3 decades. Ive been running 1.025 for near 30 years- used to run at 1.024
At 1.025- I get these results:

Sweet tank.

 

[Dom]

~37g, I bought the sump from a secondhand dealer so I am unsure of the correct volume, but when I first filled up the sump, it took around 7-8g so I assumed it was around that.

Sometimes the simple solutions are best. Maybe layoff all of the supplementation and rely on water changes to maintain your levels for a few months.

By doing this, you will have a baseline of the numbers you get just from the salt mix.

THEN do a complete testing of all your parameters and assemble a supplementation plan.

 

[Dburr1014]

Wow, then I must have been starving my LPS then... What should I do to get them back in shape? Feed them more than they need? Or feed them normally on a regular schedule?

I rarely target feed. I just broadcast different foods and different sizes of food everyday. But, my tank is somewhat dirtier than most.
My temp is 77-78,so I don't think you are cold.
Are you sure on your calibration of salinity probe? And do you keep it stable?

 

[fushi]

Hey everyone,

I've been having these hammers and acan for nearly a year, and they haven't been doing so well. The neon-green hammer started to bleach towards the end of the fall, the blue/green hammer I just noticed started to bleach, and acan hasn't been looking as fluffy for about a month or so (for some reason, its feeding tentacles only come out at night, not sure that this might be a cause of starvation or something else, and it only looks somewhat poofy when the lights come on). Initially, I was target feeding my corals Benepets every other day, but up until the beginning of December, I started to broadcast the tank ~5ml of reef energy AB+ every day. My DT is 29g (~37g total volume) and is a year and eight months old. My parameters are as follows: Salinity 1.028 (trying to lower to 1.025), Temp 76-78°F, pH 7.8 (planning how to increase to at least 8.0), Alk 8.3dKH, Nitrate 4.42ppm, Phos 0.25ppm, Cal 425ppm, Mag 1470ppm (need to decrease to 1350ppm). I'm assuming that the cause might be the elements that I need to increase/decrease, but since the rest of my corals look healthy (one Ricordea that I've been keeping for the same amount of time kind of shrunk a bit, but is still fairly healthy looking), I'm still scratching my head for a conclusion.

Below are some images of the bleaching corals. Please let me know if the images are too difficult to see so I can make some adjustments.

What test kits are you using? When you say 0.25 phosphate is that “0 to 0.25” on your test kit?
If so I would not mess with the nutrients as your test isn’t accurate enough to guide you in the correct direction.

When are you testing ph & what test kit are you using?
If your Ph is actually 7.8 during the day that means it is most likely lower at night.
I would fix PH first!
Low Ph makes any little problem in your tank a lot worse.
You could open a window, switch to kalkwasser dosing, add a co2 scrubber, add outside air to your skimmer intake, or all of the above.

Second I would check out your light settings, just by seeing your settings and knowing my AI hydra settings I don't think you have enough par.

Your temperature seems to swing 2 degrees, I use a cheap ehim heater and it swings less than 1 degree, so you might want to see what’s going on with your heater.

I hope this helps!

 

[fushi]

I’m guessing you really like the blue look, but your gonna need to add more white light to get sufficient par reading with the AI’s.

This should help guide you.

 

[Dburr1014]

+1 on the ph. Definatly need to boost that up.

 

[MaxTremors]

Wow, then I must have been starving my LPS then... What should I do to get them back in shape? Feed them more than they need? Or feed them normally on a regular schedule?

Just start feeding them on a regular schedule, you don’t need to make up for not feeding them (they’re photosynthetic so it’s not like their starving). I’ve found that a lot of LPS need to be fed to grow, without feeding they still grow, but just much, much more slowly.

 

[IE Reefer]

I rarely target feed. I just broadcast different foods and different sizes of food everyday. But, my tank is somewhat dirtier than most.
My temp is 77-78,so I don't think you are cold.
Are you sure on your calibration of salinity probe? And do you keep it stable?

With all the salinity checks I did before, I believe they were inaccurate because I made sure to correctly calibrate my refractometer (used RO to bring the white line down to 0, then used calibrating solution to bring to 35ppt) which now I received 1.025 after adding my tanks water. There have been times where I would add about a gallon or two into my tank when my pump is running dry and it would not mess with the salinity, but I'd be adding 1-2g every other day due to evaporation and the dryness in the air.

 

[IE Reefer]

What test kits are you using? When you say 0.25 phosphate is that “0 to 0.25” on your test kit?
If so I would not mess with the nutrients as your test isn’t accurate enough to guide you in the correct direction.

When are you testing ph & what test kit are you using?
If your Ph is actually 7.8 during the day that means it is most likely lower at night.
I would fix PH first!
Low Ph makes any little problem in your tank a lot worse.
You could open a window, switch to kalkwasser dosing, add a co2 scrubber, add outside air to your skimmer intake, or all of the above.

Second I would check out your light settings, just by seeing your settings and knowing my AI hydra settings I don't think you have enough par.

Your temperature seems to swing 2 degrees, I use a cheap ehim heater and it swings less than 1 degree, so you might want to see what’s going on with your heater.

I hope this helps!

I use Salfert for Phos, Mag, Cal, Alk; I have a Hanna Nitrate Checker which I use for Nitrates; and I use API for pH, Nitrite, and Ammonia (which I rarely check except for pH). This last test I did, I tested after the lights went out (~10:30 pm); but I'll normally test around 7-8 pm but not as often as I should. Would you mind posting a picture of your settings so I can sort of base mine off of yours? Temp wise, my heater is set to 78°F, but it will swing down to 77-76 when I add RO (which is around 72-74°F) but later recover back to 78°F. This does help out a lot with stuff I need to keep in check, thanks!

 

[IE Reefer]

Just start feeding them on a regular schedule, you don’t need to make up for not feeding them (they’re photosynthetic so it’s not like their starving). I’ve found that a lot of LPS need to be fed to grow, without feeding they still grow, but just much, much more slowly.

Any tips on how I can keep fish away from the feeding corals without them nabbing at their meal?

 

[MaxTremors]

Any tips on how I can keep fish away from the feeding corals without them nabbing at their meal?

Besides feeding them and using a stick or turkey baster to fend them off, you can take a two liter soda bottle, cut off the bottom off and then stick it over the coral/colony and use a turkey baster to squirt the food through the hole/lid, it acts as a sort of cage to keep fish and inverts away from the coral, just leave it there for twenty minutes or so. If you want to get real crafty, you can glue some weights to the bottom of the bottle (around the edges of the part you cut off), make sure they’re reef safe and distributed evenly, but this way if the coral is on the sand bed or a somewhat flat area it’ll stay put without having to hold it there. It’s not the most elegant solution, but I’ve known people who’ve used this method (usually for shrimps that will tear into LPS to get the food).

 

[IE Reefer]

Besides feeding them and using a stick or turkey baster to fend them off, you can take a two liter soda bottle, cut off the bottom off and then stick it over the coral/colony and use a turkey baster to squirt the food through the hole/lid, it acts as a sort of cage to keep fish and inverts away from the coral, just leave it there for twenty minutes or so. If you want to get real crafty, you can glue some weights to the bottom of the bottle (around the edges of the part you cut off), make sure they’re reef safe and distributed evenly, but this way if the coral is on the sand bed or a somewhat flat area it’ll stay put without having to hold it there. It’s not the most elegant solution, but I’ve known people who’ve used this method (usually for shrimps that will tear into LPS to get the food).

I guess I know what I'll be doing today, thank you for the tip, hopefully, my Flame Tail Blenny (the one who usually nabs the coral's food) won't find a way underneath the soda bottle...

 

[IE Reefer]

I’m guessing you really like the blue look, but your gonna need to add more white light to get sufficient par reading with the AI’s.

This should help guide you.

This is what I came up with after watching the video. What do you think? To note, my tank is 29g (30.6"L 19"H 13.25"W) and I have two Primes that are about ~7" off the surface of the water.

 

[fushi]

This is what I came up with after watching the video. What do you think? To note, my tank is 29g (30.6"L 19"H 13.25"W) and I have two Primes that are about ~7" off the surface of the water.

I had a hydra26 on a deeper tank so my settings won't really work for your tank, but the brs video shows an lps setup for a 40breeder ( 17" tall) with 2 primeHD's so that would be a close enough match to your tank.

10" above the water

This is what I would use until you rent a par meter to find the exact fit for your tank.

I use Salfert for Phos, Mag, Cal, Alk; I have a Hanna Nitrate Checker which I use for Nitrates; and I use API for pH, Nitrite, and Ammonia (which I rarely check except for pH). This last test I did, I tested after the lights went out (~10:30 pm); but I'll normally test around 7-8 pm but not as often as I should. Would you mind posting a picture of your settings so I can sort of base mine off of yours? Temp wise, my heater is set to 78°F, but it will swing down to 77-76 when I add RO (which is around 72-74°F) but later recover back to 78°F. This does help out a lot with stuff I need to keep in check, thanks!

Your Ph will generally be lowest in the morning before lights com on (barring you don't have a refugium light running at night) and highest around the peak light point of your day. Generally every tank is different. If you don't have a constant ph monitor I would test ph first thing in the morning before lights come on and at the peak lighting point of the day. That should give you an idea of where your high and low ph are.

Ramping up the intensity of your lighting schedule may also increase Ph due to increased photosynthesis. So keep testing.

Also what test do you use for your Phosphates and how precise is it?

You should also be aware fixing your problems will not always save dying corals, sometimes they're just too far gone. However fixing your issues will defiantly prevent any further issues, so don't let any losses discourage you.

 

[IE Reefer]

I had a hydra26 on a deeper tank so my settings won't really work for your tank, but the brs video shows an lps setup for a 40breeder ( 17" tall) with 2 primeHD's so that would be a close enough match to your tank.

10" above the water

This is what I would use until you rent a par meter to find the exact fit for your tank.



Your Ph will generally be lowest in the morning before lights com on (barring you don't have a refugium light running at night) and highest around the peak light point of your day. Generally every tank is different. If you don't have a constant ph monitor I would test ph first thing in the morning before lights come on and at the peak lighting point of the day. That should give you an idea of where your high and low ph are.

Ramping up the intensity of your lighting schedule may also increase Ph due to increased photosynthesis. So keep testing.

Also what test do you use for your Phosphates and how precise is it?

You should also be aware fixing your problems will not always save dying corals, sometimes they're just too far gone. However fixing your issues will defiantly prevent any further issues, so don't let any losses discourage you.

Ok, will do. To test my phosphates I use Salfert. Thank you for all your help, I really hope that I can bring these guys back to life, but we all learn from our mistakes. The polyp just fell off of the skeleton sadly, should I dispose of it? or let the critters do their work?

 

[fushi]

Ok, will do. To test my phosphates I use Salfert. Thank you for all your help, I really hope that I can bring these guys back to life, but we all learn from our mistakes. The polyp just fell off of the skeleton sadly, should I dispose of it? or let the critters do their work?

I prefer to take it out of the tank. The skeleton makes good calcium reactor media in the future.

 

[IE Reefer]

I prefer to take it out of the tank. The skeleton makes good calcium reactor media in the future.

Will do, thank you again...

 

[damsels are not mean]

try turning the lights down