SPS only frag tank starting to BLEACH!

Louiemiller9 · Jun 9, 2020

Hey guys so about a week ago I noticed that some of my monti cap as well as various acros are starting to bleach. I will attach photos to show what I would call bleaching... maybe I am wrong.

50 g frag tank , running 4 T5 metal halide, 2 kessil 160s , no protein skimmer just 40lbs love rock in the sump And filter socks.

my parameters are as folllows.

Temp 80.4
Salinity - 1.0275
Alkalinity- 12 (but stable)
Calcium -500
Magnesium- 1800
Nitrate - 0-3ppm
Phosphate- 0

80.4 with the lights on I have seen it get up to 81.... or down to 79

Please help!

Jeff Jarry reef · Jun 9, 2020

Louiemiller9 said:
Hey guys so about a week ago I noticed that some of my monti cap as well as various acros are starting to bleach. I will attach photos to show what I would call bleaching... maybe I am wrong.

50 g frag tank , running 4 T5 metal halide, 2 kessil 160s , no protein skimmer just 40lbs love rock in the sump And filter socks.

my parameters are as folllows.

Temp 80.4
Salinity - 1.0275
Alkalinity- 12 (but stable)
Calcium -500
Magnesium- 1800
Nitrate - 0-3ppm
Phosphate- 0

80.4 with the lights on I have seen it get up to 81.... or down to 79

Please help!

Kinda hard to tell with blue light imo I would bring phosphates up they might be starving.

Louiemiller9 · Jun 9, 2020

Jeff Jarry reef said:
Kinda hard to tell with blue light imo I would bring phosphates up they might be starving.

How would i do that effectively?
feed reef roids?

Camaro Show Corals · Jun 9, 2020

Your salinity is high, your alk is way to high for sps, they don’t like high alk even if stable. Get it no higher then 9DKH
Your mag is also high.

what is the reason your running such high parameters? What salt mix are you using? Also what are you using to keep the tank stable and how often are you testing?

kyleinpdx · Jun 9, 2020

at those numbers my first thought would be lack of nutrients as well...

andrewey · Jun 9, 2020

I'm assuming you are trying to run higher levels of cal, alk, and magnesium to accelerate coral growth? Very few reefers I know that grow SPS with those parameters also have such low nutrient levels. This most commonly presents as alk tip burn, but my guess is that you're getting STN from starvation. I would return back down to normal levels or if you are dead set on high alk/calc/mag, I would invite you to check how much organic matter/nutrients those growers have in their water column- it will surprise you.

Camaro Show Corals · Jun 9, 2020

Even running higher prams you need Much higher Nutrients like I’m talking 10-15 NO3 and 0.10 po4, and your walking a fine line running stuff that high. It can just go boom over night. Any fish in the system?

ScottB · Jun 9, 2020

Louiemiller9 said:
Hey guys so about a week ago I noticed that some of my monti cap as well as various acros are starting to bleach. I will attach photos to show what I would call bleaching... maybe I am wrong.

50 g frag tank , running 4 T5 metal halide, 2 kessil 160s , no protein skimmer just 40lbs love rock in the sump And filter socks.

my parameters are as folllows.

Temp 80.4
Salinity - 1.0275
Alkalinity- 12 (but stable)
Calcium -500
Magnesium- 1800
Nitrate - 0-3ppm
Phosphate- 0

80.4 with the lights on I have seen it get up to 81.... or down to 79

Please help!

Your alkalinity is way too high. Natural sea water is 7. If you bought those frags in USA, they were likely raised in 8ish.
Your nutrients are way too low. Minimum .05 PO4 and 5 NO3. Again, you should make every effort to match the grow out tanks they came from. These would be minimum nutrient values in the USA.

Yes, some EUR and Middle East reefers run Red Sea or Zeo systems that are closer to what you are running, but there is a wholly different chemical & bacterial method to doing that. And they don't run 12dkh.

How old is the system? How long have the frags been in this chemistry?

Hersheyb · Jun 9, 2020

how old is the tank?? you salinity is a bit on the high side, alk is super high for having such low nutrients, if you are running high alk you should have higher no3 and po4.

TheHarold · Jun 9, 2020

No nutrients, very high alkalinity, there's no reason to expect they would do well

.

I think once you get those back to normal levels, you can expect more success.

Jeff Jarry reef · Jun 9, 2020

Louiemiller9 said:
How would i do that effectively?
feed reef roids?

That will bring it up

Crustaceon · Jun 9, 2020

Saw 12dkh... ok.

Then saw 0-3ppm nitrates and zero phosphates.... Eeeeekkk!

For 12dkh you probably can run up to 20ppm nitrates & .5ppm phosphates (not .05ppm).

Louiemiller9 · Jun 9, 2020

The Camaro Show said:
Your salinity is high, your alk is way to high for sps, they don’t like high alk even if stable. Get it no higher then 9DKH
Your mag is also high.

what is the reason your running such high parameters? What salt mix are you using? Also what are you using to keep the tank stable and how often are you testing?

What would you recommend I run my salinity at? ... best way to bring down alk?

Louiemiller9 · Jun 9, 2020

The Camaro Show said:
Even running higher prams you need Much higher Nutrients like I’m talking 10-15 NO3 and 0.10 po4, and your walking a fine line running stuff that high. It can just go boom over night. Any fish in the system?

Yes a yellow tang as well as a six line

Louiemiller9 · Jun 9, 2020

TheHarold said:
No nutrients, very high alkalinity, there's no reason to expect they would do well .

I think once you get those back to normal levels, you can expect more success.

Best way to lower alkalinity? I am very new to this... I am using fritz salt

Louiemiller9 · Jun 9, 2020

Hersheyb said:
how old is the tank?? you salinity is a bit on the high side, alk is super high for having such low nutrients, if you are running high alk you should have higher no3 and po4.

The tank is about 5 months old.

Louiemiller9 · Jun 9, 2020

ScottB said:
Your alkalinity is way too high. Natural sea water is 7. If you bought those frags in USA, they were likely raised in 8ish.
Your nutrients are way too low. Minimum .05 PO4 and 5 NO3. Again, you should make every effort to match the grow out tanks they came from. These would be minimum nutrient values in the USA.

Yes, some EUR and Middle East reefers run Red Sea or Zeo systems that are closer to what you are running, but there is a wholly different chemical & bacterial method to doing that. And they don't run 12dkh.

How old is the system? How long have the frags been in this chemistry?

About 1 month in this chemistry.

Hersheyb · Jun 9, 2020

Your tank is fairly new... so I would keep to standard parameters until your tank ages a bit..

Salinity 1.025
Alk 7-8
Calc 450
Mag 1350
Po4 .03-.05
No3 1-5

At this point, just slowly adjust your parameters... I would start off by slowly removing some saltawater from your tank... maybe 1 gal day and replacing with fresh rodi, until salinity drops to 1.025

For you Alk, Calc and Mag - Are you using the red box or blue Fritz? If you are using the red one, I would recommend switching to the blue or any salt that matches closer to your tank parameters. You can either do a water change with lower paraemeter salt water or just wait it out.. alk should drop daily... If your dosing alk/calc stop it for now until your parameters are back on track.

For po4 and no3 - increase feeding or you might consider adding some fish... if not you can dose no3 and po4.

I'm just wondering how parameters shot up so high?? was it from the salt mix or are you dosing??

andrewey · Jun 9, 2020

Louiemiller9 said:
Yes a yellow tang as well as a six line

Don't want to derail this thread as the focus is on your SPS bleaching, but while you're making changes in the tank for the long term success of all your animals, you might consider the space requirements of your yellow tang. Plenty of other methods of removing hair algae growth in a tank that size with animals that will be happy long term

Louiemiller9 · Jun 9, 2020

Hersheyb said:
Your tank is fairly new... so I would keep to standard parameters until your tank ages a bit..

Salinity 1.025
Alk 7-8
Calc 450
Mag 1350
Po4 .03-.05
No3 1-5

At this point, just slowly adjust your parameters... I would start off by slowly removing some saltawater from your tank... maybe 1 gal day and replacing with fresh rodi, until salinity drops to 1.025

For you Alk, Calc and Mag - Are you using the red box or blue Fritz? If you are using the red one, I would recommend switching to the blue or any salt that matches closer to your tank parameters. You can either do a water change with lower paraemeter salt water or just wait it out.. alk should drop daily... If your dosing alk/calc stop it for now until your parameters are back on track.

For po4 and no3 - increase feeding or you might consider adding some fish... if not you can dose no3 and po4.

I'm just wondering how parameters shot up so high?? was it from the salt mix or are you dosing??

I started off using Red Sea coral pro salt..... now I have switched to the fritz blue box.... maybe a water change with more new salt would help....I was also using polyp lab one for calcium.