i really need some help

cwb_reeftank · Jan 24, 2015

ok I had my mom turn my MH on for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening. once I got home today I saw that my grapevine favia has turned white, my meteor shower has turned from to some weird brownish color?, my tyree red dragon is turning white on the bottom, and my sweet blue tenius is still white with a blue tip. I have plenty of flow and my temps are steady now. I'm going to do a water change and test my alk tomorrow. I don't understand why this is happening because my montipora is doing fine and so is my hammer and frogspawn. I would really like some help with what's going on. my tank has also been set up for probably 4 years now.

saltyphish · Jan 24, 2015

Run some tests and post results

cwb_reeftank · Jan 24, 2015

ok but the only thing I cant test for Is phosphate

RalphsReef · Jan 24, 2015

Were any other lights running, or was it just MH for 2 hours a day? How long did this go on for? Did mom feed, dose, or do anything else? Any indication of a power outage?

cwb_reeftank · Jan 24, 2015

My 4 t5s were also on as well and probably sense Tuesday. And she only feed them she didn't dose bc my alk was at 12.0 and I'm trying to bring it down to 8-7

cwb_reeftank · Jan 24, 2015

And no power outages

RalphsReef · Jan 24, 2015

Were the T5's on the entire time, or are they on timers?

cwb_reeftank · Jan 24, 2015

The t5s are on a timer to come on at 8am and go off at 8pm

cwb_reeftank · Jan 24, 2015

It's a 55 gallon tank too

SnakeBlitz33 · Jan 24, 2015

Are the halides brand new? Are they HQI and have a glass sheild? Are they UV shielded mogul base lamps?

RalphsReef · Jan 24, 2015

Sounds like you may have had a water parameter shift (perhaps an alk swing). However, montis are usually the first to show sings of an alk swing.

Keepswiming · Jan 24, 2015

cwb_reeftank said:
My 4 t5s were also on as well and probably sense Tuesday. And she only feed them she didn't dose bc my alk was at 12.0 and I'm trying to bring it down to 8-7

I would say the alk swing that high could be your issue...

cwb_reeftank · Jan 24, 2015

They are brand new I got them for Christmas and I tested my pH and it was at 7.8 and my nitrate was at 40ish which is really high so I'm doing a 5 gallon water change today and then a 10 gallon change on Friday I am going to do my alk test after I do my water change

cwb_reeftank · Jan 25, 2015

i feel like It has to do with my nitrate

Keepswiming · Jan 25, 2015

I would recommend not purchasing anything until you get your parameters in check and learn how to keep them stable with little to no fluctuation. Your problem could be a combination of alk and nitrate which are both to high. Make sure your salinity and temp match when you do water changes. When you get into sps heavy then you will watch to match alk, salinity, temp and ca while doing water changes.

cwb_reeftank · Jan 25, 2015

everything else is fine and stable the only thing that's a problem is my alk and nitrate but I don't understand why my nitrates are so high when I do a 5 gallon water change every weekend and I only feed twice a day and its not very much

mrsandman · Jan 25, 2015

Are you absolutely sure the lights were only on for 2 hours during this time? I've bleached corals before because of too much light. Not to mention that the increased photoperiod causes an uptick in all photosynthetic activity resulting in algae blooms, temp spikes, etc.