Strange film on Acro tips

Murr7 · Jul 1, 2016

I came home after being out of town for 2 weeks to find this odd growth on a couple of pieces in my tank. I am beginning to test the parameters and it may be nothing but algae on burnt tips but it doesn't seem to be GHA bc it blows right off. Also the polyp extension is still good on the pieces which seem to be odd to me too. Here's some pics.

After using a turkey baster to suck it off.

Where the brown is seems to be killing the coral it covers. It's only on 2 pieces right now but I don't want it to spread if it's a bacterial thing. I will post my test results when I complete them.

Murr7 · Jul 1, 2016

So my first test was my alk it came in at 8.1dkh (hannah), I double checked it with red sea pro and got 8.3ish (went one or two drops to far to make sure it was the proper color change). The testing will continue, will post the rest of the results when I'm done.

Diesel · Jul 1, 2016

Looks like a ALK burn but your ALK is spot on.
What about lights............ what do you run and intensity?

Murr7 · Jul 1, 2016

I run 2 hydra 26, they are about 7 inches above the water. I have them set at 50% both blues, 25% whites, 35%purp, 15%green, 10%red and 25% uv at the top of the ramp which last for 3 hours. These percentages are at the peak hours, I use an 10 hour cycle with 1 hour moonlight in the am and pm. I actually have the lights set on coral acclimation with a 25% reduction (ending in 3 days) because I bought 2 montipora pieces that need to be light acclimated. Here's the tank at the moment.

That coral in the picture earlier and a teal staghorn are the only 2 with it on it. The stag horn only has one small speck of it.

Diesel · Jul 1, 2016

Those are AI Hydra's 26 HD light right?
What intensity you have the set on?

Mattrg02 · Jul 1, 2016

Ill bet the light is too strong/close to corals. I've got this light as well. I raised mine up 12in over water surface. So, about 22in to the corals.

I've got a plug in power meter that shows I am running around 25w during peak time. Any idea what watts you are at?

Murr7 · Jul 1, 2016

Diesel said:
Those are AI Hydra's 26 HD light right?
What intensity you have the set on?

Nope just regular hydra 26's. I'm not sure what you mean by intensity. These corals have been in the tank under these lights since February under the same constant light setting. Which is why the brown film has me concerned, especially because right now I have the coral acclimation setting on and it is reducing the intensity of all colors by 25%. The across that has the worst is in the middle of the tank about 24" from the lights.

Murr7 · Jul 1, 2016

Mattrg02 said:
Ill bet the light is too strong/close to corals. I've got this light as well. I raised mine up 12in over water surface. So, about 22in to the corals.

I've got a plug in power meter that shows I am running around 25w during peak time. Any idea what watts you are at?

I'm not sure about the watts, may have to pick up a power meter.

Mattrg02 · Jul 1, 2016

A power meter is very handy for these. Good way to see what power level is being run. I've actually got the hd version of this light, so that's why I have mine up higher. If you've been running since February then I'd suspect some parameters swing.

Murr7 · Jul 1, 2016

Here's my test results.

Alk 8.1 dkh (hannah)
Phos undectable (salifert, have a hannah on the way)
Cal 490 (red sea pro, hannah says 500)
Mag 1360 (red sea pro)
PH 8.0-8.2 (red sea)
Ammonia 0 (red sea)
Nitrate 10 (red sea) I fed about 2 hrs before test
I use IO Reef for salt.

If you want I can give the whole breakdown of the tank equip and all that.

Diesel · Jul 1, 2016

Well, of course i didn't know your history about your lights but what i see can come IMO only from two issues, one is a ALK spike you had and maybe you don't even know, as for that I always test daily on ALK,
Second is your light, if your water gets to clean this can be the problem too, running GAC, low No3 and Po4 in combination with your light.

Diesel · Jul 1, 2016

Murr7 said:
Here's my test results.

Alk 8.1 dkh (hannah)
Phos undectable (salifert, have a hannah on the way)
Cal 490 (red sea pro, hannah says 500)
Mag 1360 (red sea pro)
PH 8.0-8.2 (red sea)
Ammonia 0 (red sea)
Nitrate 10 (red sea) I fed about 2 hrs before test
I use IO Reef for salt.

If you want I can give the whole breakdown of the tank equip and all that.

I see, not out the ordinary.
Maybe by moving the corals to a lower spot will give you some answers.
Clip the dead tips with algae off the coral and see if it recovers when you move it.
Any change in color combo of your light?
Too much white light?

[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]

Murr7 · Jul 1, 2016

Diesel said:
Well, of course i didn't know your history about your lights but what i see can come IMO only from two issues, one is a ALK spike you had and maybe you don't even know, as for that I always test daily on ALK,
Second is your light, if your water gets to clean this can be the problem too, running GAC, low No3 and Po4 in combination with your light.

The alk could very well have swung, I have been gone for 2 weeks. I dose a small amount of brs 2part(soda ash) only every night after the lights go out to hopefully combat the swing. I appreciate the help trying to figure this out. I will lower the light intensity even more and stay up tonight to take an alkalinity reading late tonight maybe it's swinging more than I thought.

Will the brown stuff hopefully not spread as long as I don't allow my parameters to get all out of wack?

Diesel · Jul 1, 2016

Nope it won't spread, just as I mentioned clip the dead parts off and your good, pay attention on the healing process.
And test for ALK every day for a week or longer to keep it on balance.
Btw, keep a eye on your Po4 as you might want that a little higher as in 0.04 or in that range.

hybridazn · Jul 1, 2016

Looks like Alk burn to me, just clip the bleached tips off and give the fresh cut time to heal. The brown film is just algae growing over the dead skeleton.

Murr7 · Jul 1, 2016

Thank you for your guys quick responses too, it's very nice having help and sound advice when you encounter a problem. I will keep an eye on the coral. Also I'm assuming my phos is higher than the test result just with the salifert it was hard to detect a change in color, Hannah checker is on the way so I can be sure. Thanks again.