SPS Bleached in 3 weeks, why?

tingo.bingo · Dec 11, 2021

Hey there - I bought an SPS on the guidance of my LFS as my tank is super low nutrient and stable. Three weeks later, it’s totally bleached. Why?

I posted two months ago about losing an SPS chip coral, which died. People here recommended I turn up lights and increases flow, which is what I did for this current SPS.

I test weekly and am open to any suggestions. Should I just stick with LPS and soft coral? I confirmed my parameters at LFS.

Could it be lights? I imported a popular AI Prime preset, although I can’t remember his name.

attiland · Dec 11, 2021

I know you want ULR but 0 nitrate is no good by my opinion. I would definitely get that detectable. I may not be the reason at all though.

Chrisv. · Dec 11, 2021

Hard to say what killed this one. How long ago did it die? Did the tissue all come off at once or slowly, or did it bleach with living tissue still present?

happyhourhero · Dec 11, 2021

0 phosphate will get you every time.

ScottB · Dec 11, 2021

a) Live rock start?
b) Age of system?

IF a = No, THEN wait until b=12 months and try again. Or just keep adding really cheap & plentiful SPS
IF a = Yes, then just keep adding cheap & plentiful SPS and keep your nutrients up.

reeftankdude · Dec 11, 2021

happyhourhero said:
0 phosphate will get you every time.

Why? and thanks

i_am_mclovin · Dec 11, 2021

How old is your system?

That alk swing you had down to 7.7 from your normal 8.6 is could be enough to kill quite a few sps. Do you know that cause of that?

ScottB · Dec 11, 2021

reeftankdude said:
Why? and thanks

It is a necessary building block to every living organism in our tanks. It does not take much, but it does take some.

IslandLifeReef · Dec 11, 2021

tingo.bingo said:
Hey there - I bought an SPS on the guidance of my LFS as my tank is super low nutrient and stable. Three weeks later, it’s totally bleached. Why?

I posted two months ago about losing an SPS chip coral, which died. People here recommended I turn up lights and increases flow, which is what I did for this current SPS.

I test weekly and am open to any suggestions. Should I just stick with LPS and soft coral? I confirmed my parameters at LFS.

Could it be lights? I imported a popular AI Prime preset, although I can’t remember his name.

Looking at your numbers, I wouldn't say that your tank is stable exactly. PH, Alk, Calc, and Mag have all fluctuated quite a bit more than a stable system would. I would wonder why Mag dropped about 200 ppm in such a short period of time given that it isn't one of the elements that has a high consumption rate in a tank.

If you are trying to run an ULN system, stability is even more key and fluctuations have a more stressful effect on the corals.

Your light schedule looks like the David Saxby light schedule.

Lavey29 · Dec 11, 2021

As others stated. 0 nitrate and ultra low phosphate can lead to various tank problems. Alk swings are killer to. If your tank is under a year old and not stabil SPS will be difficult to be successful with.

IslandLifeReef · Dec 11, 2021

Lavey29 said:
As others stated. 0 nitrate and ultra low phosphate can lead to various tank problems. Alk swings are killer to. If your tank is under a year old and not stabil SPS will be difficult to be successful with.

Why do people keep saying 0 nitrate as a cause? His chart shows that his nitrate has been at 5 ppm.

131696 · Dec 11, 2021

You can have 0 nitrates and 0phosphates look at coral euphoria on YouTube learn a few things about this.you just have to feed heavy and take out heavy also.look him up and learn his way stick to 1 person advice not 100 ask him questions after you watch his videos.feed the fish heavy

ScottB · Dec 11, 2021

125 said:
You can have 0 nitrates and 0phosphates look at coral euphoria on YouTube learn a few things about this.you just have to feed heavy and take out heavy also.look him up and learn his way stick to 1 person advice not 100 ask him questions after you watch his videos.feed the fish heavy

You are correct. However, if you spend a few minutes trying to look at the context available, that method would not work for this newbie tank. The OP likely has dead rock and a few fish. Context matters.

I feed 5 times a day with 5 tablespoons of frozen and a sheet of nori. But that is not how it all started. This is 2.5/.08 nutrient. But after years of biome maturity.

131696 · Dec 11, 2021

You need a stable tank period.

ninjamyst · Dec 11, 2021

Looks like a birdsnest which is pretty easy as far as SPS go. Your tank may just need to mature more.

Dodge Ram · Dec 11, 2021

Led tanks need waves on top for a mimic of the sun through diffusion of the light. Not sure what you got there, but it is so blue.
I have to agree that a mature tank with alot of the little things living in there need to start up first.

tingo.bingo · Dec 12, 2021

Thank you all for your answers! Consensus is time with stable nutrients. The nutrients have been a significant work in progress. I just bought a Hannah and will continue keeping phosphates and nitrates up.

brandon429 · Dec 12, 2021

Turning up the lights was 100% opposite of the safe approach:

When to lower light intensity as a reef tank CPR move

Team, you need to know that being able to revert back to cloudy day/low lighting is the #1 thing you do as tank CPR before any other action. Water charges come after Preventing light sunburn is #1 temperature insults cold and hot. chemical burns, overdoses. events where you think ammonia...

www.reef2reef.com

our corals don't die with reduced lighting, they survive cloudy weeks on reefs commonly. we'd use that to be the initial safe mode to make the other test frags stable, and increase feed quality after checking params are reasonable. the lighting is such an issue its the #1 thing we do not do during any tank challenge, even before a water change we reduce lighting intensity until the issue is located. bright lights are the very, very last thing we do to attain strong sps growth and even doing that as a guess vs par-measured for the location is risky.

Yazannreef · Dec 12, 2021

I would run an ICP test asap. You may have metals in your system that you are unaware of. All your parameters are fine within acceptable swing levels.

Colin_S · Dec 12, 2021

i had issues to begin with with SPS, birds nest died a few times amongst others, now i have 3 large colonies of it and other SPS growing well.
Age of tank will play a part, along with your levels which seem fine.
Have you measured your PAR yet? do you know that your giving the SPS 200+ par?
do you dose amino acids? if not, start