Is 0.7 Phosphates enough to turn encrusting corals white?

[ReefKeeper666]

Hi again everyone. So for the past few weeks my encrusting corals have been getting white patches on them. First I thought it was purple they were turning but I had an Ah-ha moment the other day. I turned up the whites and down the blue for like 45 seconds to look at the corals and saw the patches of discoloration were white and not blue. I had a concern it could be my new AI prime 32HD lights that Are only 48 days on the tank (which I also used the acclimation 30 day setting for them When Installed) so I dropped the levels a little and put Cool whites at 5 pct. only. My next concern was Alkalinity rising. But last night my new Hanna Phosphate and Alkalinty testers came In. I checked my water twice with each tester and got the same results both times on both tester. My Alkalinity is at 7. My phostphates are 0.70. In the past weeks using my old API kits I was getting anything from 7-10 on alk and 0-.50 On phosphates. So hopefully I’m one step closer to solving this problem. All my other corals including my birds nest which is SPS are doing well. It’s just the encrusting corals Favia, montiporia, burning banana that are Turing white In patches. Is the high phosphates my problem?

 

[Timfish]

I would say no. It would be advisable to lower your phosphates just be sure not to strip all of it out. Here's some links on phosphates and corals:

2657円まるいち 博多辛子明太子(無着色) 「博多の華」 (ギフト用) 180g Z6572海産物イクラ,タラコ,魚卵 Qoo10]　「博　まるいち　博多辛子明太子(無着色) | therichross.com

2657円まるいち 博多辛子明太子(無着色) 「博多の華」 (ギフト用) 180g Z6572海産物イクラ,タラコ,魚卵 Qoo10]　「博　まるいち　博多辛子明太子(無着色) | therichross.com

therichross.com

An experimental mesocosm for long-term studies of reef corals | Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom | Cambridge Core

An experimental mesocosm for long-term studies of reef corals - Volume 92 Issue 4

www.cambridge.org

An Experimental Mesocosm for Longterm Studies of Reef Corals

Phosphate Deficiency:
Nutrient enrichment can increase the susceptibility of reef corals to bleaching:

Nutrient enrichment can increase the susceptibility of reef corals to bleaching - Nature Climate Change

Increased dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) concentrations in sea water have been linked to a reduction of the temperature threshold at which corals bleach, however, the mechanism underlying this change is not known. This phenomenon is now explained in terms of increased phosphatase activities...

www.nature.com

Ultrastructural Biomarkers in Symbiotic Algae Reflect the Availability of Dissolved Inorganic Nutrients and Particulate Food to the Reef Coral Holobiont:

Frontiers | Ultrastructural Biomarkers in Symbiotic Algae Reflect the Availability of Dissolved Inorganic Nutrients and Particulate Food to the Reef Coral Holobiont

Reef building corals associated with symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) can access environmental nutrients from different sources, most significantly via the up...

www.frontiersin.org

Phosphate deficiency promotes coral bleaching and is reflected by the ultrastructure of symbiotic dinoflagellates

Phosphate deficiency promotes coral bleaching and is reflected by the ultrastructure of symbiotic dinoflagellates

Enrichment of reef environments with dissolved inorganic nutrients is considered a major threat to the survival of corals living in symbiosis with din…

www.sciencedirect.com

Effects of phosphate on growth and skeletal density in the scleractinian coral Acropora muricata: A controlled experimental approach

Effects of phosphate on growth and skeletal density in the scleractinian coral Acropora muricata: A controlled experimental approach

Phosphate contamination can negatively affect corals, modifying growth rates, skeletal density, reproduction, mortality, and zooxanthellae. We determi…

www.sciencedirect.com

High phosphate uptake requirements of the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata

High phosphate uptake requirements of the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata

SUMMARYSeveral untested aspects of the regulation of inorganic nutrient uptake were examined using nutrient depletion experiments with the symbiotic coral Stylophora pistillata. The total inhibition of phosphate uptake in artificial seawater lacking sodium indicates the involvement of a...

jeb.biologists.org

Phosphorus metabolism of reef organisms with algal symbionts

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecm.1217?casa_token=ziDzrEEJ8g0AAAAA%3AHnfuGTIntMdqOtx2ij-lnoTh7qVg8VBhYFz98e60zfBEvx5IcIVGhmlpUYmzIJuqUNVm0sG8_0vth6lq

 

[Spieg]

My guess (without much info to go on) would be more along the lines of too much light. Maybe dial back intensity a little and/or shorten the duration.

 

[Uncle99]

The light is new.
Might depend on what light they had before in terms of intensity.

 

[Fourstars]

I would bet the issue is alkalinity. large daily swings are never good. I would test daily till you get your dosing correct and stable. I recently overdosed my tank and had 2.50 PPM of phosphate and had no issues with my SPS accept I did notice it seemed to slow growth. It’s now back down to .05.

 

[ReefKeeper666]

I would bet the issue is alkalinity. large daily swings are never good. I would test daily till you get your dosing correct and stable. I recently overdosed my tank and had 2.50 PPM of phosphate and had no issues with my SPS accept I did notice it seemed to slow growth. It’s now back down to .05.

With Hanna checker alk looks stable so far

 

[Waters]

What kind of lights did you have prior to changing to your current lights? Did the spectrum or intensity change drastically? Making any changes with LEDs can cause issues unfortunately....even with acclimation.

 

[IKD]

Alk is on the low end but if it’s stable it doesn’t sound like the issue. The only change you really made this past month sounds like the lights. I would suspect that first.

 

[Fourstars]

With Hanna checker alk looks stable so far

Sounds good, your original post stated it was anywhere between 7/10 that’s way to big a swing. Hopefully it was an issue with the test. Usually beaching from light will cause the entire coral to rapidly bail its polyps. alkalinity stress shows up as patch’s. plus you used the acclimation sitting for a month so I seriously don’t it’s an issue with lighting. Remember the devils in the details

 

[ReefKeeper666]

What kind of lights did you have prior to changing to your current lights? Did the spectrum or intensity change drastically? Making any changes with LEDs can cause issues unfortunately....even with acclimation.

I had a fluval marine led light.

 

[ReefKeeper666]

Sounds good, your original post stated it was anywhere between 7/10 that’s way to big a swing. Hopefully it was an issue with the test. Usually beaching from light will cause the entire coral to rapidly bail its polyps. alkalinity stress shows up as patch’s. plus you used the acclimation sitting for a month so I seriously don’t it’s an issue with lighting. Remember the devils in the details

Yes but that was with an API kit. Using the Hanna checker it is coming up 7 daily. Tested twice on the first day as well. Already ordered more reagents.

 

[Super Fly]

where are these corals located height wise in tank compared to corals that are healthy?... any pix

 

[ReefKeeper666]

where are these corals located height wise in tank compared to corals that are healthy?... any pix

There are some pics in this thread. They are on the sand bed for 2 of them and 1 is just off the sand bed

 

[rapid]

mmmmh

 

[ReefKeeper666]

So some interesting news. 2 days after reducing my lights as messed up looking as my burning banana coral is about 30 mins before my lights are supposed to be out(so lighting is very low) I noticed some of its polyps are actually out!