Sps still bleaching

[renato120]

Hey guys I guess the tank is getting worse now.
All my sps's are starting to bleach.
I went to a fish store yesterday. Unique Aquaria in MA. (Excelent store)
They checked my water with Elos test kit
CA was at 550
I took the water before to 2 fish stores and calcium was at around 450.
My red sea test kit says 450.
They checked twice both were reading 550.
So these are my parameters according to the fish store
PH 8.2
CA 550
ALK 9
MAG 1100
PHOSPHATES .01
NITRATES below 20
I have lots of acans, and zoanthids as well. They are doing great.
My sos's were growing fast and for the last month they stopped. Now 80% of my sps's are bleaching from the tip down.
Lights are ATI fixture 6/24w.
Lights are 7 inches of the water.
bulbs are two months old.
I do run carbon (chemipure blue)
I dont run any GFO anymore.
I use BRS product for ALK, CA.
I run my lights 11 hours total.
So many people already tried to help and no luck.
The fish store told me it could it be the high calcium.
Two other fish store, and my test kit reads the same. They use api, and red sea.
What is making the sps's to bleach its a mystery.
Everything was growing so fast...

 

[renato120]

When things were doing fine the lights were 3 inches of the water.
I just lowered the lights to 5 inches of the water.

 

[Cment]

Not sure what's going on, SPS can be a strange animal. Are you carbon dosing (vodka/vinegar)? Could you post a pic? I would bump Mg up to 1250 at least. I keep mine about 1450ish. Raise it slow no more than 100ppm a day. Raising Mg will also raise ALK and Ca so keep an eye on those.

 

[renato120]

 

[renato120]

Not sure what's going on, SPS can be a strange animal. Are you carbon dosing (vodka/vinegar)? Could you post a pic? I would bump Mg up to 1250 at least. I keep mine about 1450ish. Raise it slow no more than 100ppm a day. Raising Mg will also raise ALK and Ca so keep an eye on those.

I just post a picture. I only dose CA and ALK. If my CA is really at 550 I cant have anything that could raise it.

 

[Daytonareefing]

I don't trust any test kits but salifert as I had so much trouble with others not reading right and through all the years I been in the hobby I was always told thats the best kit you can buy. I'm not saying thats whats going on in your tank but if your getting different readings you might try a salifert calcium test kit. I don't think even 550 CA would be a problem with your sps.

 

[hybridazn]

You said the bulbs are only 2 months old. How many bulbs do you run? When you changed did you do half and half or all at once? If you did all at once you probably light shocked them depending on how old your other bulbs were.

 

[renato120]

I don't trust any test kits but salifert as I had so much trouble with others not reading right and through all the years I been in the hobby I was always told thats the best kit you can buy. I'm not saying thats whats going on in your tank but if your getting different readings you might try a salifert calcium test kit. I don't think even 550 CA would be a problem with your sps.

I hate all test kits none of them give you the right readings.... I use salifert for ALK. Red sea for CA.

You said the bulbs are only 2 months old. How many bulbs do you run? When you changed did you do half and half or all at once? If you did all at once you probably light shocked them depending on how old your other bulbs were.

The old ones was 7 months old.
I changed all at once. :/
I run a 6x 24w

 

[Cment]

I just post a picture. I only dose CA and ALK. If my CA is really at 550 I cant have anything that could raise it.

Mg is essential in keeping ALK and Ca where they need to be, having it so low can really throw off the balance of the 2. Its just as important as ALK and Ca. If you are dosing those 2 already you can dose Mg and test for the others and then dose alk and Ca accordingly. you should also not change all the bulbs out a once, rotate a new one in each week when time to change until all have been swapped out.

 

[renato120]

Mg is essential in keeping ALK and Ca where they need to be, having it so low can really throw off the balance of the 2. Its just as important as ALK and Ca. If you are dosing those 2 already you can dose Mg and test for the others and then dose alk and Ca accordingly. you should also not change all the bulbs out a once, rotate a new one in each week when time to change until all have been swapped out.

I did make a mistake! I changed all at once. But now its too late. If my Calcium is really at 550 then this could be the problem. But I just tested again twice and my red sea is at 450.
Mag at the fish store was 1100 tested with Elos test kit.
I just test it, and my red sea reads 1440.
I put so much money into my sps's and the sps thats not bleaching its all looking pale... In a couple of days they will bleach it too..
Im afraid to dose anything now. I dont know where im at. One test kit says 450 the other one says 550
Mag one say 1100 the other one says 1440

 

[renato120]

Would it be a good idea to do a water change with instant ocean salt? To lower my parameters faster.

 

[twilliard]

Triton water test and hanna alk test.

Can't go wrong

 

[Cment]

I did make a mistake! I changed all at once. But now its too late. If my Calcium is really at 550 then this could be the problem. But I just tested again twice and my red sea is at 450.
Mag at the fish store was 1100 tested with Elos test kit.
I just test it, and my red sea reads 1440.
I put so much money into my sps's and the sps thats not bleaching its all looking pale... In a couple of days they will bleach it too..
Im afraid to dose anything now. I dont know where im at. One test kit says 450 the other one says 550
Mag one say 1100 the other one says 1440

I would trust your test kits. I believe this is due to changing out all your bulbs. Ca at 550, though on the high side, i dont think is the cause. Shorten your light schedule for the next 2 -3 weeks by an hour or two. Then slowly add it back in. Stop dosing Ca until its back to were you want it. you can do small water changes to slowly lower the Ca Im sure it wont hurt but I dont feel its really needed

 

[renato120]

I would trust your test kits. I believe this is due to changing out all your bulbs. Ca at 550, though on the high side, i dont think is the cause. Shorten your light schedule for the next 2 -3 weeks by an hour or two. Then slowly add it back in. Stop dosing Ca until its back to were you want it. you can do small water changes to slowly lower the Ca Im sure it wont hurt but I dont feel its really needed

I just changed my light schedule for one hr less.
I shut it off my CA doser. I want it to be at 400 now. I will be checking everyday to see where Im at on everything.

 

[Cment]

Good plan..let it drop to 425 and keep it there for a while and see how things work out

 

[renato120]

Good plan..let it drop to 425 and keep it there for a while and see how things work out

Thank you for the help! Hopefully things will change. Another one started to bleach today.

 

[FarmerTy]

I'd say potentially lights but have you checked your salinity? I may have missed it but I didn't see any salinity readings.

I've had a SPS tank for 4 years and when I upgraded 1.5 years ago, I couldn't figure out why all my SPS kept looking really faded and dying. Of all the parameters, my salinity happened to be at 1.031 and when I had someone doublecheck it, the truth was realized.

Total rookie mistake for someone supposedly experienced. Haha. Just mentioning to give it a second look just in case.

 

[renato120]

I'd say potentially lights but have you checked your salinity? I may have missed it but I didn't see any salinity readings.

I've had a SPS tank for 4 years and when I upgraded 1.5 years ago, I couldn't figure out why all my SPS kept looking really faded and dying. Of all the parameters, my salinity happened to be at 1.031 and when I had someone doublecheck it, the truth was realized.

Total rookie mistake for someone supposedly experienced. Haha. Just mentioning to give it a second look just in case.

Yes I ckecked at a lfs. Same as mine 1.025

 

[FarmerTy]

Well, there goes my theory. [emoji17] Hopefully you find out what's going on soon!

 

[renato120]

Well, there goes my theory. [emoji17] Hopefully you find out what's going on soon!

Me too! Its been a couple of Months like this. I already went to Three fish stores and the water is fine. Except the last lfs I went on Sarurday said my CA its at 550.
Im lowering to 400. Im Hoping this is the problem. It could it be when I changed all the bulbs at once too.