Help, I killed an indestructible coral!

[JustAnt]

Apparently I’ve killed my green slimer sps. I’m slowly easing some sps into my mixed reef. I’m targeting easy sps. I was told green slimer is near indestructible and great starter sps. It appears bleached. However I kept it I middle of tank at start. Once I saw it lighten up I immediately dropped it to the sand bed where it continued to bleach. It’s been like this for 2 weeks. Where did I go wrong so I can avoid this outcome in the future.

SYSTEM

Tank: RedSea Reefer 250 version 1 sump
Skimmer:Nyos 120 run 24/7
Lights: 2x aqua illumination HD Prime
Return pump: Jeabo
In tank pumps: gyre and mj1200 on opposite sides of tank
Dosing: by hand ESV Bionic ALK & CAL
Reactor: BRS reactor run with carbon and GFO mix only run for one hour a day
ATO: 5 gallon run by Tunze Osmolator


TANK INHABITANTS:

FISH:
Bicolor Angel
6line wrasse
Blue green chromis
Tomini (Tommy) Tang
2x Clowns

Coral:
Frogspawn
2x hammers
2x Torch
Various zoa
Various GSP
Octospawn
2x RBTA 1 large 1 small
Montipora - large
Gorgonian - Photosynthetic
2x Ricordea


Frags: (all doing fine)
Red planet
Bird of Paradise
Birds nest
Oregon blue tort
Unknown digi


Parameters:

Salinity-1.026
ALK-8.9
CAL-400
MAG-1200
Nitrate-40ppm
PH-8
Phosphate-.15 ppm

In the past 2 weeks I have set up a small in sump refugium and discontinued running carbon/gfo mix reactor but the slimer was bleaching b4 I started this.

Light parameters:

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Nitrate is too high for sps and starting off at the sand bed is best then moving it up for future additions. Good luck hope your coral pulls through it still has a chance

 

[IslandLifeReef]

First, bleached isn’t dead, you maybe able to save it.

Second, your light is way to low for SPS. You should have a minimum of 2 Hydra 52HD’s on that size tank. With 2 AI Prime’s, SPS don’t really stand a chance IMO.

 

[Hemmdog]

Mag is low.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I wouldn’t call any sps unkillable. Ive killed Some “easy” ora ones, a garf bonsai, really what easy means is in a stable system most people will find success. There are also always those corals that arrive looking healthy and die for for no particular reason(at least an identifiable reason). Sometimes its at no fault of your own with sps its really important the vendor allows healing time between cut and selling, if picking out at lfs pick the frags that are encrusted to the plug. Those ones that look huge with fresh glue i would pass on.

2 ai primes on a 54 gallon with sps is going to make placement key. There will be roughly 12x12x12 under each puck that will be the sweet spot(though some acros will grow just fine a few inches outside this zone.

Your nitrate is high but not crazy high, i would focus on the magnesium and phosphate first and hopefully if these are stable your nitrate will fall naturally as corals grow faster.

 

[JustAnt]

First, bleached isn’t dead, you maybe able to save it.

Second, your light is way to low for SPS. You should have a minimum of 2 Hydra 52HD’s on that size tank. With 2 AI Prime’s, SPS don’t really stand a chance IMO.

But if my lights are to weak why did the coral bleach? Isn’t bleaching caused by Too Much light?

I am successfully growing birds nest, digi, bird of paradise. I understand these r SPS

Also I thought bleached was dead so thank you for your explanation.

 

[JustAnt]

Nitrate is too high for sps and starting off at the sand bed is best then moving it up for future additions. Good luck hope your coral pulls through it still has a chance

I ran my lights in Acclimation mode so half intensity.

 

[JustAnt]

Mag is low.

Yes, you’re right. I’ve been try to raise it but it keeps dropping

 

[bluprntguy]

Agree that it's not dead. You can still see some polyps out.

I'd concentrate on getting your nitrates down to around 5 as that could contribute to the bleaching. Phosphates should be lower as well (shoot for under .1 with .05-.03 being ideal).

 

[IslandLifeReef]

But if my lights are to weak why did the coral bleach? Isn’t bleaching caused by Too Much light?

I am successfully growing birds nest, digi, bird of paradise. I understand these r SPS

Also I thought bleached was dead so thank you for your explanation.

If you really want to know about your light intensity, rent a PAR meter. @Bulk Reef Supply has them and it will tell you a lot about the light that is available to your corals in different locations in your tank.

Bleaching is caused by the coral expelling the zooxanthellae in a last chance effort to survive due to stress. While to much light can cause this, it is not the only cause. I had a an orange setosa that started to bleach under my Hydra 26HD. I was running it using a similar spectrum at about 40 watts. I thought it was too much light, so I reduced my light to 35 watts. The bleaching got worse and the coral went totally white over night. I asked my LFS, and they looked at my light schedule and said I was probably starving my coral with a lack of light. I immediately raised my light to a 50 watt output, and slowly increased it from there to its current 60 watts along with 4 T5 bulbs. The setosa came back and is doing well.

If you were running that schedule in acclimation mode at 50%, IMO, you are starving it and it needs a lot more light. At the bottom of the tank with that light in acclimation mode, I would bet the coral is getting less than 100 PAR.

Hope this helps!

 

[LIreefguy]

That sps isn’t bleach it’s dead. There is no flesh left on it

Nitrates are too high.
Green slimmer might be able to handle 40ppm imo if and that’s a big if they rise slowely

Also alk and flow are the 2 biggest and most important thing for sps

First alk keep it steady. Meaning Daliy fluctuations. Doesn’t matter if 7.5 to 10.5 as long as it’s within .2 a day and .5 a week
And flow so be strong and fluctuating

 

[Scurvy]

Generally not a good idea to run media reactors for such short periods. The water left inside uncirculated for extended periods can get funky. Ill usually replace media and dump remaining water after 10/12 hours when I forget to turn mine back on after maintenance.

Not saying thats what happened but something that jumped out at me.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

That sps isn’t bleach it’s dead. There is no flesh left on it

Nitrates are too high.
Green slimmer might be able to handle 40ppm imo if and that’s a big if they rise slowely

Also alk and flow are the 2 biggest and most important thing for sps

First alk keep it steady. Meaning Daliy fluctuations. Doesn’t matter if 7.5 to 10.5 as long as it’s within .2 a day and .5 a week
And flow so be strong and fluctuating

I'm not sure which picture you are looking at, but I see polyps and bleached flesh in the one that shows up on my screen.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

I'm not sure which picture you are looking at, but I see polyps and bleached flesh in the one that shows up on my screen.

+1

 

[JustAnt]

So assuming I get the right amount of lighting to the coral and I other parameters within suggested ranges, how long does a bleached coral take to get back to normal? I’m guess there is no real answer for that, huh? Just seems like an impossible task for bleached coral to recover

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

So assuming I get the right amount of lighting to the coral and I other parameters within suggested ranges, how long does a bleached coral take to get back to normal? I’m guess there is no real answer for that, huh? Just seems like an impossible task for bleached coral to recover

It can be done ive watched it happen in my lfs, you just need patience lol. It should take a week maybe 2 or so for it to colour up more recognisably, given optimum conditions and another week or 2 until its back to normal from what ive seen

 

[bluprntguy]

So assuming I get the right amount of lighting to the coral and I other parameters within suggested ranges, how long does a bleached coral take to get back to normal? I’m guess there is no real answer for that, huh? Just seems like an impossible task for bleached coral to recover

I'm guessing that the person that commented that you don't have enough lights thinks your tank is 250 gallons and doesn't realize that it's 250 liters with a 50 gallon display. You have more than enough light for your tank IMO. If you can borrow a PAR meter, that would be helpful, but not necessary.

I'd address your nutrient issue first and leave your lights alone. Once you get nutrients dialed in, you'll be able to visualize how changes in lighting/position in the tank can affect individual corals.

I would expect that in about 2 weeks, you'd start noticing changes and in a month or so the color will hopefully mostly return.

 

[JustAnt]

I'm guessing that the person that commented that you don't have enough lights thinks your tank is 250 gallons and doesn't realize that it's 250 liters with a 50 gallon display. You have more than enough light for your tank IMO. If you can borrow a PAR meter, that would be helpful, but not necessary.

I'd address your nutrient issue first and leave your lights alone. Once you get nutrients dialed in, you'll be able to visualize how changes in lighting/position in the tank can affect individual corals.

I would expect that in about 2 weeks, you'd start noticing changes and in a month or so the color will hopefully mostly return.

I agree about the lighting that was suggest was probably based on a 250 gal tank bc it didn’t make sense to me for a 50 gallon

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

It can be done ive watched it happen in my lfs, you just need patience lol. It should take a week maybe 2 or so for it to colour up more recognisably, given optimum conditions and another week or 2 until its back to normal from what ive seen

Sorry meant to say there is no given time scale for recovery but this is just from my experience

 

[JustAnt]

So does everyone agree with the comment that by keeping the coral at bottom of tank I’m starving it and so I should move it to the top of tank?