Several unhappy corals!

[k2parkstar]

Several of my chalices have receded some, an acan mini colony is almost dead and my fungia plate almost gone. My only 2 guesses. 1 is lack of light, I've been in need of new bulbs (t5) for a couple weeks. I finally ordered some and they will be here wednesday, but my sps doesn't seem unhappy. 2 I just put in a new chemipure elite pouch. That's the only changes to the tank. My other corals are ok and my parameters are great.

Salinity 1.026
Temp 78
Nitrate less than 5
Alk 8.5 dkh
Cal 450


Could it really just be that I need those new bulbs ASAP?

 

[Steven R]

Yea bulbs will help but there might be another problem how old is your carbon if you are running carbon?

 

[k2parkstar]

I only use chemipure. I just put the bag in a week or so ago

 

[m and m]

My thinking is that your SPS would go or show stress long before your LPS does. You bulbs would have to be very bad to do this most the time you just get bad algae growth when there old. How old are they? Is there any chance those parameters swung or a flux in your salinity?

 

[k2parkstar]

My thinking is that your SPS would go or show stress long before your LPS does. You bulbs would have to be very bad to do this most the time you just get bad algae growth when there old. How old are they? Is there any chance those parameters swung or a flux in your salinity?

I would have thought so as well. To be fair though I only have 2 small acro frags. That's the extent of my sps. I've just recently started get cyano. That's how I knew I really needed new bulbs. They're probably 7 months old. No swing that I'm aware of, my tank is a 45g cube do I manually top off every day or every other day.

 

[m and m]

You use RO/DI right? Also 7 months old isnt that bad for T5's at all I change mine out every 6 months but most people give them 8-10 months depending on there light cycle.

 

[k2parkstar]

Yep rodi, it's mostly my corals in the shallow front part of the tank. That bulb is a geissmann actinic + and is on from 4:30pm to 1 am. I'm switching to all ATI bulbs. My coral towards the back of the tank and higher up seems fine, this another part of my reasoning on thinking bulbs

 

[droblack]

Doubt it is a low light issue. Lps like chalices tend to love low light. Contrary to popular belief, lps can experience problems while sps appear unaffected. This may be due to some interaction of stressors, such as an alk shift making certain corals more susceptible to pathogens or opportunistic bacterial infections. If the shift is fixed, the sps may appear fine, while lps can fade away due to the acquired infection even though the initial problem has been remedied.

 

[k2parkstar]

The only thing I've done different is the chemipure bag

 

[m and m]

Doubt it is a low light issue. Lps like chalices tend to love low light. Contrary to popular belief, lps can experience problems while sps appear unaffected. This may be due to some interaction of stressors, such as an alk shift making certain corals more susceptible to pathogens or opportunistic bacterial infections. If the shift is fixed, the sps may appear fine, while lps can fade away due to the acquired infection even though the initial problem has been remedied.

Do you have any reading on that alk shift causing those issues? That isn't me doubting you thats me wanting to get some more knowledge on the subject.

 

[k2parkstar]

Just tested again alk 8.9 using salifert.