Phosphates are 0.... and sps are turning white

[Sailfinguy21]

Noticed sps corals are starting yo turn white.. half ny acros and my montis are chsnging whiter in color.

I thought it was because i dosed my alk too fast and that might be it. As alk was like 8.5 and i dosed it back to 10-11 but within a weeks time.. so probly too fast.

I noticed my nitrates have been going up slowely to 20ppm now over 5 or 10... I decided to check my phosphates which i dont check too often and they are 0.. at least 0 according to apis kit.

Normally they are .50ppm

I have been cutting back on feeding my fish alot as well. I habe alot of hair algae but its always kept under control by my snails urchins and fish.. it pretty much never seen and when it does grow its mowed down to rock the next day.

Im wondering.. do you think its my phosphates or that jump in alkalimity i did thats making my sps turn white ? They arent bleaching per ssy but they are lpsing the bold colors they once had.

They grew like weeds with alk at 10-11 and calcium was always dropping so quickly.. i couldnt keep calcium above 400 i had to dose every day.. so i decided to double dose and i got calcium to 430-450 and thats when i noticed my alkalinity dropping from 10-11 to 8.5 over a few days..

So i dosed to get it back to 10.. but now its alk that keeps drop.. not calcium.. lol something changed and i cant figure it out.

What should i do ? I know my corals did grest at 10-11 alk.. but i dunno if its the 10alk thats turning thrm white now... or if it was just my sudden drop in alk then jump back to higher alk.. or if its the low phosphates or what.

Should i start feeding my fish like i did before ? I would feed them 2x flakes a day. And 2x sushi paper a day... i cut it down to 1x flake a day and 1x paper evrry 2 days.

I wonder if this cut in feeding dropped the phosphates.. and if me raising cslcium so high is whst dropped the alk...

I guess im not sure where to go from here. Feed more ? Or let alk drop lower or i dunno lol. Main reason i stopped feeding so much was becauss of thr nitrates i noticed starting to go up a little. Im not worried about 20ppm.. but it going from 5-10 to 20 is whst made me stop

 

[o2manyfish]

Stick with things you can control. Cut your skimmer back to 8 hours at night. Then increase decrease the run time to dial in your phosphates where you want them.

Dave B

 

[Sailfinguy21]

I have no skimmer no sump. My tank is running old school with just lights. Power heads and hang on backs.

Ill just keep the alk at 10since i know the corals were fine at 10 and 11. I think it was the cut back in feedings for my fish and me dosing too much for alk when i noticed the alk dropped to 8.5..

At least i hope its this.. I dont wanna keep alk at 10 only to find out thats whats turning my corals white lol

 

[Mykawl]

whats magnesium at?

 

[Sailfinguy21]

1350

Here is all the readings.

Calcium 460
Amg 1350
Nitrates 20
Ph 8.2
Salinity 1.026
Temp 80f
Alk 10
Phosphates 0.

The swing i had was calcium at 380 then i bumped it to 430.. Alk went from 10 to 8.5 suddenly. I bumped it up to 10-11 too fast by mistake.. nitrates were 10 then went to 20 and phosphates are 0 now.

Its weird how things changed like this. I just hope it doesnt kill the corals.. i did lose one acropora.. and my hawkins has burned tips with algae growing on it now.

So i dunno what to do.. keep alk at 10 and feed more ? Or let it go down to 8-9.. and keep feeding less.

Like i said it was 10-11 forever and corals were growing like weeds.. then i bumoed calcium so high the alk dropped. Thrn i bumped the alk back and now this.. and calcium hasnt dropped in weeks