Possible lighting issues?

[I<3Reefer]

Ok, so I think I have some lighting issues, specifically with a birdsnest colony.

Below is a photo of the colony a week after I bought it and a photo of it about 3 months after I bought it. A few days before the 2nd photo I changed my light to an AI Prime HD... I did not use the acclimation mode and switched from the stock Fluval 5 gallon evo light... I know, that's likely the root of my mistake.

Almost all my corals have THRIVED, the birdsnest colony has begun bleaching, it is now worse than that 2nd photo and the tips are exposed and have algae growing in them. The other coral colony which suffered was my purple and green Acan colony, it's been shriveling and just last week I noticed the green pigment around the mouths of the polyps which were pointed directly at the light, is gone, it's all purple in there now.

I have drawn back my lights from an 11 hour period, to a 8.5 hour period and from the following settings:

UV-19%
V-21
RB-25
B-20
G-5
R-10
CW-19

To now these settings:

UV-17%
V-21
RB-19
B-17
G-1
R-1
CW-11

I purchased a green birdsnest colony with a thicker skeletan yesterday from a lfs as something that could replace the spot of my purple/green Acan colony, since it's the area directly under the light.... But now I'm reading green birdsnests like lower light? Lower than an Acan?

Other corals include Red monti, jack o lantern Lepto, Toadstool, Favite, Candy Cane, Duncan, and GSP. They are all THRIVING, the coral is incredible and they're growing fast (except the GSP, it's looking mediocre, I noticed some Dyno growing on them and took care of that, they seem to be coming back now).

My levels are as follows :

Calc: 460ppm
Mag: 1330 ppm
PH: 8.1
Salin 1.025
Temp 76
Alk: 11.5

I have not checked for phosphtes. But a few weeks ago I noticed Nitrates had reached 20PPM at the end of the week (I change a gallon every 7-8 days). I have since upped water changes to once ever 5 days, did a sliiight cut back on food (everyone in there seems like they're always so hungry, but I just feed a pinch of small pellets and 1/6th of on of those small SFbay brine shrimp cubes every other day) but currently don't have a nitrate test kit...

Any suggestions? Aside from coral, I have 2 juvenile clowns, 1 tailspot blenny, 2 small hermits, 1 turbo snail, 3 nassarius snails, and a skunk shrimp. I know that's a bit overboard for a 5G but I am planning on upgrading within a year to a 75G.

 

[I<3Reefer]

For further clarification, I started my HD Prime at the following for 2 days

UV 57%
Violet 55%
Royal 30%
blue 39%
Green 29%
Deep red 60%
Cool White 31%

then moved down to my "first numbers" i mentioned above.

 

[I<3Reefer]

Bueller?

 

[I<3Reefer]

anyone?.....

 

[Matt Carden]

Your in the wrong forum

 

[Matt Carden]

Can you help @Dana Riddle

 

[Jason mack]

Birds nests tend too be the canaries of the tank world ....if there's a problem in your tank they tend to be affected first ..but I think its definitely your lights or schedule.....I'm having similar issues after swapping from cbbs to kessils ... I think your last settings are good....only time will tell ...can you maybe post your params for your tank too ...will also help give insight ...
Edit
Just seen them ...sorry ....your alk is highish do you normally keep it so high

 

[Dana Riddle]

Can you help @Dana Riddle

Let me review the posts... Might be Sunday before I can get to it. Love these sorts of posts!

 

[I<3Reefer]

I think the alkalinity tends to hover around 11ish. I change a gallon of water in the 5 gallon (really like 4 gallons of water when you include everything in the tank). I noticed when I change 1 gallon every 7 days my Alk is closer to 10, when I do it every 5 it's closer to 11. I use water from my LFS since I only have a 5 gallon and no RO system.

I noticed today my water seemed cold. I checked it with a standard suction therm and it read 72, I also tried my digitial therm (which always runs high) and it read 75.8... I'm thinking my water is 72/73.... This fluval evo gives me nowehre to really put a heater, so I put it in this tiny compartment where the flow pump is. Keeping it in there in the summer at 76, keeps my tank around 76. But now that it's winter I think I may have to bump it up. I turned it up to 79, hopefully the rest of the tank will move up a couple degrees too.

I cannot wait to move so I can set up a 75 gallon.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Sorry I'm late to the party... I think your alkalinity is too high. The bicarbonate, acting as a carbon source for photosynthesis, could rev up the rate and possibly overwhelm natural defenses. Of course, photosynthesis is also light-related and while intensity is important (can you share any PAR numbers?), spectral quality can also cause bleaching (as in too much red.) However, Seriatopora colonies tend to be a fickle bunch in my experiences.

 

[I<3Reefer]

Could my active carbon affect this?

I use 2 of these at a time, and I generally change 1 out every `2 months or so

https://premiumaquatics.com/product...MIqdWekMfP3gIViANpCh1MmgNfEAkYFCABEgK5rPD_BwE


How do I find my PAR?

 

[I<3Reefer]

Could active carbon cause this? I use 2 of these at a time and change 1 pouch out every 2 months or so

https://premiumaquatics.com/product...MIqdWekMfP3gIViANpCh1MmgNfEAkYFCABEgK5rPD_BwE


Also, how do I calculate PAR?

 

[I<3Reefer]

One of my acan colonies is also suffering from signs of bleaching, but not nearly as bad as the birdsnest. I moved both to lower light areas.... not sure what else to do. I also tried to increase the flow to the birdsnest... but it's hard in the low light area (on the substrate)... I know the substrate is generally not great for birdsnest colonies... but I'm not sure what else to do.

I'm having a really hard time finding the best settings for my tank on my AI PRIME light as well.

I feel like the problems got worse when I listened to the employee at my LFS that said to run lights for 8 hours instead of 11. I went from lights on 9-8 to 12-8, with blues on from 8-11. Here's my current light setup, the second screen shows my lights at peak. I only run white's for 7 hours, with that number only being like 4 hours and a ramp up and ramp down hour

 

[CindyKz]

I feel like any setting on an AI prime might be too much for a 5 gal tank, but I am no expert.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Could active carbon cause this? I use 2 of these at a time and change 1 pouch out every 2 months or so

https://premiumaquatics.com/product...MIqdWekMfP3gIViANpCh1MmgNfEAkYFCABEgK5rPD_BwE


Also, how do I calculate PAR?

No, activated carbon isn't considered a source of carbon photosynthesis. As for PAR, you'll need a quantum meter or, at a minimum, a lux meter preferably with a submersible probe. As an alternative, someone out there has PAR estimates for your light, unfortunately, I do not.

 

[I<3Reefer]

I probably should have listened and avoided sps. Luckily that birdsnest colony was only $15, and the monti is doing pretty well. I guess I'll just keep doing research and avoid adding coral for a while.

 

[I<3Reefer]

So I found a video of someone doing a par reading in a tank with a similar depth to mine, slightly higher levels, but 3 inches closer to the tank. which means, if my par readings are even in the same ball park as his.... my birdsnest has been hanging out in about 150 par this whole time... So it wasn't too much light... it was not enough. time to do some intense aquascaping. I'm going to move my candy can off the rock and down to the substrate, then move my birdsnest in it's place and alter the flow.... I'm going to do this all in steps day to day.... hoping I don't kill anything.