SPS bleaching/losing flesh

[Scottybgood]

Hi all! I have a 75g mixed reef tank, about 1 yr old now. 26g sump with refugium, ATO, skimmer, 2 BRS dosers dosing ESV B-Ionic 2 part, adn Reefkeeper Elite controller. This tank has been a roller coaster since setup, with 2 Dinoflagellate blooms & bryopsis outbreak to name a couple things, but is finally starting to mature and get some good biodiversity established.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed my Ca was creeping up so I just shut off the doser for a day or two until it came down to my comfort range, and when I turned the timer back on, I set it to ON instead of Auto! Doh!!! I didn't notice until the second day (at which point my 2 liter reservoir for Ca part was EMPTY) and I refilled when I turned things back on. So I dumped 2L of Ca over a day or so.

I had normally been keeping my Alk 8.8-9.0 range consistently, but after dumping so much Ca, it dropped to 6.9 in less than 2 days. Ca was close to 600. I use Fritz Reef Pro salt mix which has a pretty high Mg level which I think kept a lot of the Ca from precipitating but bound up the Alk. I turned off the Ca doser, and just kept dosing my normal Alk (doser is on for 5 mins per hour over a 6 hour period from midnight to 6am) to bring it back up slowly.

A little over 2 weeks later things are stabilizing, but my SPS are taking a hit (I only assume it is from the big Alk swing but not 100% sure, because I did have a fox flame RTN (but not from bottom up which I thought was how it normally happen - more in blotches in the middle etc - similar to what is happening now with my big blue Acro - sorry don't know the proper name). The other variable is less than a month ago I got a Flame Angel and I know those are a dice role on whether they will bother things. Well, he is a polyp picker - doesn't touch the LPS though, so I will be taking him back to LFS :-/)

I have looked as closely as I can for any possible pests and don't see any with the naked eye, I have another acro that is doing just fine at the moment, so not really sure what is going on.

Testers : (Alk, Ca, ULR Phosphorus) - Hanna Checkers, (NO3) - Red Sea, Salinity - Refractometer

Parameters:
Salinity : 35 ppt
Alk: 8.2
Ca : 480
Po4: .04 ppm
NO3 : ~ 5 ppm

My green slimer which was the first piece I put in the tank has been growing and branching and now newer parts tips are bleaching. The blue stick has had growth and has starting encrusting and now is expelling mucous and losing flesh. Also have a cyphastrea that was encrusting like crazy and now looks terrible. I do have another small acro frag that shows no signs of stress.

Any ideas or advise (other than be patient, keep things stable and let mother nature do its thing - haha) would be appreciated.

 

[Flippers4pups]

The swings didn't help, but it looks like to me they are bleaching do to light intensity.

What lights are you using?

 

[Scottybgood]

I have the 2 Radion XR-15s in an Aquatic Life Hybrid fixture with T5s. I run the Radions for 10hrs with a slow ramp up and ramp down, and the T5s are on for from Noon - 2pm.

That's the schedule I have had since the beginning with the exception that I used to run the T5s for 4 hours, and recently ( a month or so ago) dropped it down to 2 hrs.

Should I shorten or keep the T5's off for a while?

 

[Flippers4pups]

I have the 2 Radion XR-15s in an Aquatic Life Hybrid fixture with T5s. I run the Radions for 10hrs with a slow ramp up and ramp down, and the T5s are on for from Noon - 2pm.

That's the schedule I have had since the beginning with the exception that I used to run the T5s for 4 hours, and recently ( a month or so ago) dropped it down to 2 hrs.

Should I shorten or keep the T5's off for a while?

I would reduce overall photo period to 8 hours max for now and intensity down 15-20%. T5's at 8 hours.

See if this helps.

 

[Scottybgood]

Thanks I will make the adjustments....So have the T5's on the full 8 hrs, and drop my LED intensity and go 8 hrs maximum?

 

[mtdaly85]

I'm having very similar problems with SPS, LPS, softies. I had my lights on WAY too high. I was getting 550 PAR mid tank and over 200 to 300 on the sand bed. I was literally burning my corals. I've dialed in back and I'm already seeing some benefits.

 

[Scottybgood]

I'm having very similar problems with SPS, LPS, softies. I had my lights on WAY too high. I was getting 550 PAR mid tank and over 200 to 300 on the sand bed. I was literally burning my corals. I've dialed in back and I'm already seeing some benefits.

I don't have a PAR meter so not really sure what levels I was getting (I know if I want to keep more sticks I probably need to invest in one to get the full picture). I was running the Radions at only 60% at the peak time (using the Radiant Color scheme which has a gentle ramp up and ramp down arc. But the two acros in the picture are in the top third of the tank, so it makes sense that in combination with the terrible Alk swing I had to stress them out the light was too much.

Though the cyphastrea in the picture is near the bottom and in partial shade, so go figure.