Are my tips bleaching?

proskier101 · Dec 16, 2014

I have just started getting into sps corals.

I have a 40b running 4 39w T5 bulbs.

The 2 actinic bulbs are in the front and the 2 10k bulbs are in the back and a glass lid. I also have a Coral plus ati bulb coming in thursday that will be replacing one of these.

I just picked these up last saturday. The tips on the birds nest are the ones i notice the most since then, the green stag seems to be a little whiter at the tips too.

Could a 4 bulb set up be too intense? I though it would have been too weak.

Green Stag

The birds nest

Sorry for the crappy pics, my phone can only do so much.

Few issues I think:

1) The birdsnest is in the back of the tank, directly under the 2 10K bulbs. i would say 4" behind the actinc bulbs.
2) Light time- honestly on for 13 hours. . .
3)he is about 4" below the waters surface

Calcium is high roughly 480
Nitrate-0
ammonia-0
water temp-80

no dosing or anything as of yet.

any ideas?

proskier101 · Dec 16, 2014

pic of the whole tank. birds nest is about 5-6 from the top of the water i guess.

proskier101 · Dec 16, 2014

maxxin69 · Dec 16, 2014

Tips are bleached on both. Move them down. The birdsnest tends to like lower lighting conditions. However they are pretty browned out so I would check your alk or mg. Calcium that high with no dosing usually means something is out of whack. Another question is how much flow do you have in the tank? Stags love high light and flow so that might be another reason why it seemed browned out.

Vpham · Dec 16, 2014

I would put em lower on sandbed for atleast a week or 2 to acclimate.

Pete polyp · Dec 16, 2014

What's your alkalinity? High alk can burn tips. It looks like you have some algae issues, probably from phosphate. I don't really think the light is to blame for this one.

proskier101 · Dec 16, 2014

the flow is pretty good in both ares.

KH is at 107.4ppm

mg...unsure. dont have that kit yet

proskier101 · Dec 16, 2014

Vpham said:
I would put em lower on sandbed for atleast a week or 2 to acclimate.

guilty on this. . i did not acclimate. They came from Metal halide/led tank that was super bright. I didn't think they needed it moving down in intensity.

Pete polyp · Dec 16, 2014

proskier101 said:
the flow is pretty good in both ares.

KH is at 107.4ppm

mg...unsure. dont have that kit yet

So your alkalinity is 6dkh?? That's extremely low...

proskier101 · Dec 16, 2014

Pete polyp said:
So your alkalinity is 6dkh?? That's extremely low...

Just buffereed it. Will report back tomorrow with levels. The test kit showed normal sea water is close to that level.

JBNY · Dec 17, 2014

It's hard to tell from those pics, but I don't think the tips looked bleached at all. The axial corallites (the tips) on SPS will turn a lighter color, anything from white to blue or pink, as the coral is growing. If the corals came from a good tank with strong lighting I would expect the tips to be white like that even if it were in your tnak for a number of days with poor lighting.

But that Alk is too low, I would get it up to 8-9 dkH, 150 or ppm.

proskier101 · Dec 17, 2014

Buffered last night, dkh is now at 8. Or 143.2 ppm.

Also moved the biohazard acro and birds nest more to the front and on the sandbed. Ill try for a better pic

proskier101 · Dec 17, 2014

not much better pic.

JBNY · Dec 17, 2014

That doesn't look bleached at all.

Mstanker · Dec 17, 2014

I can tell you that my sump with sand use to look like your whole tank. I put some chemiclear and waited 48hrs then done a 25g water change in a 40g b. Also running a GFO reactor and that has really made a difference in my tank. Corals & water quality look 100%+. If you have a sump i also placed a filter sock on the tank to help filter left over.

I bought a blue acro 2 months ago and lost it due to what i want to believe as water quality being poor.

proskier101 · Dec 17, 2014

Mstanker said:
I can tell you that my sump with sand use to look like your whole tank. I put some chemiclear and waited 48hrs then done a 25g water change in a 40g b. Also running a GFO reactor and that has really made a difference in my tank. Corals & water quality look 100%+. If you have a sump i also placed a filter sock on the tank to help filter left over.

I bought a blue acro 2 months ago and lost it due to what i want to believe as water quality being poor.

Lack of color was due to lights. I just put a blue plus in the light and removed 1 10K

so from back to front I have:
Actinic
10K
blue plus
actinic

and the Birds nest is bright green now and the stag is too. So the brown color was due to the 2 10K lights. I have a coral plus coming in tomorrow to replace the 10K.

As far as filtration. aquaclear 50 on the back. thats all.

The birds nest may have been lighting he has his polyps out now that I moved him.(maybe due to the buffering too)
The stag still has the white tips. his polyps are out too where he is green. I cant tell if its new growth or from light intensity.