Time to dose Nitrates!

Chrisss · Jan 25, 2016

Hmmm one of my Acros are bleaching from the bottom? Any ideas? Nitrates are a little higher they are at 4ppm+ so I turned skimmer on for whole day. Other corals seem fine. This acro I've had for a long time the left side is new and the right side was the frag. I put in GFO 2 days ago and I just noticed it. Could that have been the issue?

Both of these corals I got over a year ago so they arn't use to these huge changes in higher nutrientes and lighting. The other corals that I bought a week ago and a few months ago seem to be fine. The sunset monti is encrusting

Its the coral in the middle. The monti has also been bleaching worse.

twilliard · Jan 25, 2016

With adding your gfo what is your po4 at?

Chrisss · Jan 25, 2016

I get a reading of 0.1 but I see algae on the glass and backwall. And I use to go without cleaning the front glass for a week now I have to do it like every 4 days. So there definitely something there probably algae eating it. So it could be more then it reads

Chrisss · Jan 25, 2016

Should I bump up the GFO? I only added half the recommend dosage to try and increase phosphates since they were at 0.0 for a long time

twilliard · Jan 25, 2016

I keep my po4 down to .014 I am not a gfo user so cant tell how much to run

Chrisss · Jan 25, 2016

twilliard said:
I keep my po4 down to .014 I am not a gfo user so cant tell how much to run

Yeah I really don't know why it start bleaching. I raised my lights up a little. I did add a Aquablue special in replace of my Atinic so I'm now thinking that was that cause. I'm planning on upgrading lights this week or next so we will see what happens. All the new corals I bought are still on sand bed so I wont raise them until I get the new lights.

Lenny_S · Jan 25, 2016

Chrisss said:
Yeah I really don't know why it start bleaching. I raised my lights up a little. I did add a Aquablue special in replace of my Atinic so I'm now thinking that was that cause. I'm planning on upgrading lights this week or next so we will see what happens. All the new corals I bought are still on sand bed so I wont raise them until I get the new lights.

Chris, I think lighting issues cause bleaching from the tips down, not the bottom up in most cases, so I think that lightning is less likely.
I noticed on 1/15 you posted a PO4 reading of 0.08 and today 0.1 after adding GFO. Is that right or is 0.1 just a typo?

Chrisss · Jan 25, 2016

Lenny_S said:
Chris, I think lighting issues cause bleaching from the tips down, not the bottom up in most cases, so I think that lightning is less likely.
I noticed on 1/15 you posted a PO4 reading of 0.08 and today 0.1 after adding GFO. Is that right or is 0.1 just a typo?

0.08 was when I took out GFO. And started Dosing Nitrates. But today I took another reading of 0.10 and Added GFO 2 days ago since I saw my glass getting dirty quicker than usual. I've been feeding almost double then I usually feed so nutrients defiantly went up.

RedneckReefer68 · Jan 25, 2016

Every time I have ran gfo I have gotten recession at the base. Even if I ran 1/4 of recommended dosage. I will no longer touch the stuff.

Chrisss · Jan 25, 2016

RedneckReefer68 said:
Every time I have ran gfo I have gotten recession at the base. Even if I ran 1/4 of recommended dosage. I will no longer touch the stuff.

Was also thinking that. So maybe just remove it? So bleaching at the base is a nutrient problem while Lighting is bleaching at the tips am I correct?

Lenny_S · Jan 25, 2016

It's not always that cut and dry, but for the most part that is what I've seen or heard of. Of course lighting is not the only thing that can cause bleaching at the tips just as nutrient issues aren't the only thing that can cause bleaching at the base.
And I have heard more than a few folks having issues shortly after adding fresh GFO. There must be something with it, although I use it without issues.

Chrisss · Jan 25, 2016

Lenny_S said:
It's not always that cut and dry, but for the most part that is what I've seen or heard of. Of course lighting is not the only thing that can cause bleaching at the tips just as nutrient issues aren't the only thing that can cause bleaching at the base.
And I have heard more than a few folks having issues shortly after adding fresh GFO. There must be something with it, although I use it without issues.

Hmmm should I just take the GFO out or just leave it? I mean I can just clean the glass more that's not an issue

Lenny_S · Jan 25, 2016

Chrisss said:
Hmmm should I just take the GFO out or just leave it? I mean I can just clean the glass more that's not an issue

I think if your corals were heading in a positive direction and then started bleaching after adding the GFO, I'd yank it out.
Seems like you changed a couple of things at the same time. I'd also suggest just change one thing and wait a good while to see if it made an improvement or not. Unless the tank is crashing, you're better off being systematic.

Chrisss · Jan 25, 2016

Lenny_S said:
I think if your corals were heading in a positive direction and then started bleaching after adding the GFO, I'd yank it out.
Seems like you changed a couple of things at the same time. I'd also suggest just change one thing and wait a good while to see if it made an improvement or not. Unless the tank is crashing, you're better off being systematic.

Alright I pulled the GFO. Brought the lights back down where they where and did a water change. Hopefully that helps :mad: SPS so annoying >.> but the challenge is fun!

Lenny_S · Jan 25, 2016

Chrisss said:
Alright I pulled the GFO. Brought the lights back down where they where and did a water change. Hopefully that helps :mad: SPS so annoying >.> but the challenge is fun!

I agree, the challenge is fun. Best of luck and keep us posted.

watchguy123 · Jan 25, 2016

twilliard said:
I would try the GFO

twilliard said:
I keep my po4 down to .014 I am not a gfo user so cant tell how much to run

????

twilliard · Jan 25, 2016

watchguy123 said:
????

Is there a question behind that

Chrisss · Jan 25, 2016

twilliard said:
Is there a question behind that

I think he thought you used GFO, by that statement

SteelerMike · Jan 28, 2016

Are there any potential dangers to dosing nitrates? I ask because I have had 2 events in my tank now where I began to have issues in my tank and the only 2 things I did differently was dose nitrates and run carbon mixed with some phosgaurd. It almost looks like burnt tips but it happens on spots other than the tips as well. Is it possible that when you dose the nitrates they rise and then get consumed quickly and then they rise again with the next dose causing issues with the corals? Here are a few pics. Sorry for the quality:

Chrisss · Jan 28, 2016

SteelerMike said:
Are there any potential dangers to dosing nitrates? I ask because I have had 2 events in my tank now where I began to have issues in my tank and the only 2 things I did differently was dose nitrates and run carbon mixed with some phosgaurd. It almost looks like burnt tips but it happens on spots other than the tips as well. Is it possible that when you dose the nitrates they rise and then get consumed quickly and then they rise again with the next dose causing issues with the corals? Here are a few pics. Sorry for the quality:

What are your nitrates reading compared to your phosphate? How much are you dosing and what brand are you dosing? Usually "from what I read" nitrates don't play a huge role in bleaching corals. Unless unheard levels. However, phosphate removal does play a role in corals bleaching. My experience just had corals bleach from the base from adding fresh GFO. I bet it could happen at the tips also. Also what brand carbon are you using? And did you rinse it before adding?