Trouble with acropora and sps corals

[Esquire805]

So my corals are turning white today my Hanna checkers came in and wow my calcium is 373 phosphorus is blinking 200 and my alk says 20 I have pictures what do I do I did a 5 gallon water change put seem to make corals mad. Is the white from the alk or something else I dip everything with revive see no eggs or worms.

 

[Kitarro]

I’d first be wanting to know what size tank as well as what salt you’re using. After that are you dosing anything for alk? 20.0 is astronomically high as personally my tank hovers at 8.2 and at work ours stay at 9 dkh. For that the bleaching is definitely coming from the alk but I’d be curious to know what your nitrate and nitrites are as well.

 

[Waters]

If those numbers are correct (aside from the Ca), then it definitely explains the RTN/STN in your coral. A 5 gallon water change isn't that much...unless you tank is on the small side. Are you dosing anything to maintain ALK? Do you have other test kits to verify those results?

 

[ksfulk]

It would help to have some basic tank information and a shot of the corals in question. 20dKH is likely the direct cause of your issues, but there's likely some other issues as well. How big is your tank, what type of lighting do you have, whats your nutrient management system, how old is your system, what dosing scheme/regiment are you using???

 

[DancingShark]

From his previous post looks like a 10g.

 

[Esquire805]

I’d first be wanting to know what size tank as well as what salt you’re using. After that are you dosing anything for alk? 20.0 is astronomically high as personally my tank hovers at 8.2 and at work ours stay at 9 dkh. For that the bleaching is definitely coming from the alk but I’d be curious to know what your nitrate and nitrites are as well.

Instant ocean and I have a 40 g plus 20 gallon refugium nitrates 10. I was dosing baking soda because of low ph but I know that's why it's high

 

[Esquire805]

If those numbers are correct (aside from the Ca), then it definitely explains the RTN/STN in your coral. A 5 gallon water change isn't that much...unless you tank is on the small side. Are you dosing anything to maintain ALK? Do you have other test kits to verify those results?

Yes I tried salifert and it was off the charts for alk

 

[Esquire805]

From his previous post looks like a 10g.

No a boy 60g in all

 

[Esquire805]

It would help to have some basic tank information and a shot of the corals in question. 20dKH is likely the direct cause of your issues, but there's likely some other issues as well. How big is your tank, what type of lighting do you have, whats your nutrient management system, how old is your system, what dosing scheme/regiment are you using???

Sb lights Wi-Fi I have phosguard and chemipureblue and macroalgae and maintenance

 

[Esquire805]

From his previous post looks like a 10g.

Nope I have many tanks

 

[Esquire805]

My tank is 3 years but put in new rocks

 

[29bonsaireef]

Aside from the really high Alk. If you're growing lots of macro algae they can deplete nutrients quickly.

 

[Esquire805]

Aside from the really high Alk. If you're growing lots of macro algae they can deplete nutrients quickly.

So should I dose calcium nitrate

 

[29bonsaireef]

I would test first. If you're nutrients are low I would just bump up the feedings and maybe dose some aminos. I had a huge chunk of macro algae growing off a powerhead. I'm not sure what type it was but it was growing super fast and I noticed nutrients dropping much faster in a weeks time then it would before the algae took off.

 

[ReefAddiction34]

I would first stop dosing baking soda (no brainer there). Next, start doing small water changes over the next few days to gradually bring your alk down and calcium up. I’d probably stay away from dosing anything else for right now In an attempt to correct the problem... it may just cause more issues. Good luck, keep us posted.

 

[Esquire805]

I would test first. If you're nutrients are low I would just bump up the feedings and maybe dose some aminos. I had a huge chunk of macro algae growing off a powerhead. I'm not sure what type it was but it was growing super fast and I noticed nutrients dropping much faster in a weeks time then it would before the algae took off.

I have acro power it seems to boost things up

 

[Esquire805]

I would first stop dosing baking soda (no brainer there). Next, start doing small water changes over the next few days to gradually bring your alk down and calcium up. I’d probably stay away from dosing anything else for right now In an attempt to correct the problem... it may just cause more issues. Good luck, keep us posted.

So with water changes won't the new salt mix just put more alk in. I did a high change before I'm at .25 salinity

 

[ReefAddiction34]

So with water changes won't the new salt mix just put more alk in. I did a high change before I'm at .25 salinity

Depends on your salt, but most salts do not mix to a dKH greater than 12 or so. If your salt mixes to a dKH of 8 or 9 and your current dKH is 20.... the water changes will bring down your alk as long as your not dosing anymore baking soda or alk additive. Check your salt to see what alk it mixes to with a salinity of 1.025

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Yeah, your water is way off. Have you had your water tested by your LFS to confirm those readings? If not, I would, just to make sure that you aren't doing anything wrong. If those readings are correct, you need to bring down both your Alk and your phosphates. If your phosphorus is reading 200, your phosphates are 0.6ppm or higher. It's hard to tell since you maxed out the scale. What are your nitrates? I wouldn't do anything with increasing feedings until you know those. Increasing feedings will raise phosphates as well, and you don't need that.

As far as bringing down your Alk, you need to do a lot of 10% water changes to bring it down slowly. Depending on what Alk your new saltwater mixes at, it could take a couple of weeks of water changes to bring it down to acceptable ranges.

 

[29bonsaireef]

Is the tank in question the one in your profile pic? If so that's a lot of macros.. the corals and algae will be battling for the same nutrients and most times the algae will win. If nutrients are gone the coral growth will slow dramatically, and if you dose for Cal/Alk your numbers could get out of whack from the stop in growth. I would do a WC and start keeping track of nutrients as often as Alk. Acro Power is a decent product ime, just don't over do it.