NEED HELP, corals are bleaching from the base where they have been encrusting :(

jewilson83 · Jul 7, 2014

By bleaching, you mean whitening right? How often do you perform WC? Is the reputable source an "expert". Not trying to discredit, I don't believe it's your gfo, carbon but anything is possible.

scoobysnack77 · Jul 7, 2014

jewilson83 said:
004 is not perfect but still a good reading. Read more than once. That's not enough to effect your corals. You would see things like increased algae and bacteria i.e. Cyano with bad RO water.

thats what I was told as well. This problem is destroying a once healthy reef. It's painful to watch

jewilson83 · Jul 7, 2014

Have you made any changes in the past few weeks? Equipment, supplements?

jewilson83 · Jul 8, 2014

I forgot to mention from you first post. You should raise you alk a little higher. You're at the bare minimum of 8. SPS like a higher amount. Try to raise at least 9,10 no higher. How long have you been dosing Amino? Amino supps have nitrogen in them so I hope you are doing the recommended dose. Look it up. What type of lighting, and the age of bulbs/LEDs?

scoobysnack77 · Jul 8, 2014

jewilson83 said:
By bleaching, you mean whitening right? How often do you perform WC? Is the reputable source an "expert". Not trying to discredit, I don't believe it's your gfo, carbon but anything is possible.

I do water changes weekly. And my source is a biologist who had the same issue.

scoobysnack77 · Jul 8, 2014

jewilson83 said:
Have you made any changes in the past few weeks? Equipment, supplements?

the only thing I added was prodibio reef booster. I've added that before and it never killed anything

scoobysnack77 · Jul 8, 2014

jewilson83 said:
I forgot to mention from you first post. You should raise you alk a little higher. You're at the bare minimum of 8. SPS like a higher amount. Try to raise at least 9,10 no higher. How long have you been dosing Amino? Amino supps have nitrogen in them so I hope you are doing the recommended dose. Look it up. What type of lighting, and the age of bulbs/LEDs?

ok, I'll raise my alk a bit and see if it helps. I use acro power at the recommended dose of 2ml a day for my tank size. And I have a 6 bulb ati t5 fixture over my 75gallon.

scoobysnack77 · Jul 8, 2014

jewilson83 said:
I forgot to mention from you first post. You should raise you alk a little higher. You're at the bare minimum of 8. SPS like a higher amount. Try to raise at least 9,10 no higher. How long have you been dosing Amino? Amino supps have nitrogen in them so I hope you are doing the recommended dose. Look it up. What type of lighting, and the age of bulbs/LEDs?

i forgot that I already set my doser last night to raise my alk a bit. It's 8.7 now. I'll raise it a bit more today

b_rad_G · Jul 8, 2014

There are plenty of sps tanks that run alk around 8. I try to stay between 8 and 9 dkh. If you have kept your tank around 8 I don't see it being a problem. Changing alk will further stress the coral but its too late for that now.

I would personally stop dumping all the trace element and amino stuff in it. The mag is a bit high buy not enough to cause problems IMO. Kalk can not use mag either BTW unless it is dosed wrong and allowed to form precipitation.

If it were mine I would increase flow and reduce gfo and carbon. Gets some nutrients in the water and let the corals feed. They seem to be much healthier and less susceptible to the abuses we put them through.

scoobysnack77 · Jul 9, 2014

b_rad_G said:
There are plenty of sps tanks that run alk around 8. I try to stay between 8 and 9 dkh. If you have kept your tank around 8 I don't see it being a problem. Changing alk will further stress the coral but its too late for that now.

I would personally stop dumping all the trace element and amino stuff in it. The mag is a bit high buy not enough to cause problems IMO. Kalk can not use mag either BTW unless it is dosed wrong and allowed to form precipitation.

If it were mine I would increase flow and reduce gfo and carbon. Gets some nutrients in the water and let the corals feed. They seem to be much healthier and less susceptible to the abuses we put them through.

Ok I'll leave the alk alone. So far I'm just dosing b-ionic and did 2 large water changes a few days ago. I fed the sps and lps oyster eggs last night. The mag is is back in line from the water changes. I took the carbon / gfo offline a few days ago because my nitrate and phosphate are zero from the water changes.ive been adding acro power aminos daily at the minimum dosage. Any other suggestions? I'll increase flow now

jewilson83 · Jul 9, 2014

Alkalinity is a buffer for pH, meaning that the correct alk (and higher alk ) will help to keep your pH from fluctuating too much. Alk is also a needed component for keeping acros as these corals consume alk in order to survive and grow. I like to keep mines at 9 on the 8-10 scale. Some people even keep there's between 10-12 but in my opinion it takes too much monitoring. Plus you can burn your acros. Keeping yours on the low end (7.9) is too close to the lower end. That's why I said 9 because you don't have to keep adjusting.

jewilson83 · Jul 9, 2014

You never told us what your PH was. That's important to know.

jewilson83 · Jul 9, 2014

As for flow...... Was your flow low to begin with?

scoobysnack77 · Jul 9, 2014

jewilson83 said:
Alkalinity is a buffer for pH, meaning that the correct alk (and higher alk ) will help to keep your pH from fluctuating too much. Alk is also a needed component for keeping acros as these corals consume alk in order to survive and grow. I like to keep mines at 9 on the 8-10 scale. Some people even keep there's between 10-12 but in my opinion it takes too much monitoring. Plus you can burn your acros. Keeping yours on the low end (7.9) is too close to the lower end. That's why I said 9 because you don't have to keep adjusting.

Yea I agree . 9 is a more flexible reading than 8. Mine is 8.7 now and I'll increase it a tad today

scoobysnack77 · Jul 9, 2014

jewilson83 said:
As for flow...... Was your flow low to begin with?

my ph is 7.9 at night and 8.1 during the day. And I have an mp10 on full blast and an mp40 about halfway on a 75 gallon tank. Just increased the mp40 a bit last night

Jimbo · Jul 9, 2014

Be careful about changing your Alk. Your Alk was fine and not the cause of the problems you are having . SPS are very sensitive To Alk changes normally, I would imagine even more so when stressed.

scoobysnack77 · Jul 9, 2014

Jimbo said:
Be careful about changing your Alk. Your Alk was fine and not the cause of the problems you are having . SPS are very sensitive To Alk changes normally, I would imagine even more so when stressed.

Ok, I'll let it stabilize between 8.0 and 9.0.

b_rad_G · Jul 10, 2014

I cant say for certain what the problem is but I can say going from 8 to 9 on alk and pulling gfo and carbon offline isn't going to help. Making changes like that is worse than anything. Have you made changes like this in the past? I know from experience just taking gfo offline can cause some color loss and it takes a while to recover. Some people think a 1 dhk swing isn't a big deal. To me its huge. I won't swing 1dkh a month and if/when my alk goes from 8.5 ish to mid 7s (7.6-7.8) I will bring it back over a few days.

Its too late now but next time I think you should make more gradual changes and take your time! Everything you did should have been over 3-4 days or maybe even a week to minimize stress.

jewilson83 · Jul 10, 2014

b_rad_G said:
I cant say for certain what the problem is but I can say going from 8 to 9 on alk and pulling gfo and carbon offline isn't going to help. Making changes like that is worse than anything. Have you made changes like this in the past? I know from experience just taking gfo offline can cause some color loss and it takes a while to recover. Some people think a 1 dhk swing isn't a big deal. To me its huge. I won't swing 1dkh a month and if/when my alk goes from 8.5 ish to mid 7s (7.6-7.8) I will bring it back over a few days.

Its too late now but next time I think you should make more gradual changes and take your time! Everything you did should have been over 3-4 days or maybe even a week to minimize stress.

Good point. Like I said I don't believe it's the GFO, Carbon. Changing gradually is the best move. A 1 dkh isn't a big swing. You do want to change bigger swings gradually. I hope in a few weeks that can be the case and help your Acros get back on track.

scoobysnack77 · Jul 10, 2014

jewilson83 said:
Good point. Like I said I don't believe it's the GFO, Carbon. Changing gradually is the best move. A 1 dkh isn't a big swing. You do want to change bigger swings gradually. I hope in a few weeks that can be the case and help your Acros get back on track.

I agree, I'm just trying to figure out the stresser and remove it so my Acros can begin healing. I took the carbon /gfo offline because my nitrates and phosphates are undetectable and I wanted to get a small reading on both. As for alk I'll make sure from now on that any increase is gradual