Bleaching Walt Disney?

[VR28man]

So, I’ve kept this Walt Disney about 8 inched under 1 ATI coral plus and 1 blue plus T5s. A few days ago I also added a canister filter running GFO and Seachem Purigen in about the amount they recommend. I’ve also properly configured in the last week a mistakenly configured ATS that is running decent now. (My former cyano problem has gone away). Will test nitrate and phosphates in a few hours. ETA: i’ve also done some rearranging of the corals in the thing; I moved the WD next to a A spathulata and A microclados/shortcake that are doing well getting a lot of flow.

I noticed as of yesterday that much of a skin has gone white during the day. This might’ve happened earlier, and I just didn’t notice, but I think even if it did it’s definitely become more extreme in the past few days. Polyp extension has been consistently good for the past 2 to 3 months, and it’s grown and encrusted from the time I got it as a frag. in the end, I move the WD back to where it originally was. The only other ciral that’s bleaching is the tip of a green slimer.

Would people guess this is because of changes in water chemistry, or do you think it’s just too much light for the WD?

 

[bked180]

It could be the GFO stripping too much nutrients out of the water. Every time I run gfo my sps get pale. Did you by any chance just replace the bulbs?

 

[VR28man]

It could be the GFO stripping too much nutrients out of the water. Every time I run gfo my sps get pale. Did you by any chance just replace the bulbs?

no, no changes in the bulbs.

yeah, I’ve heard that. Depending on what the numbers are later, I might cut out some of the GFO

 

[TX_Punisher]

Start very slowly with gfo. I’m about to start running it again myself and will be very conservative to start with.

 

[dadnjesse]

Stop the GFO that stuff strips too much too fast. So many people come on here and say their SPS are dying and mention using GFO.

 

[bked180]

Looking at your pics again did you recently move it off a rock up onto a frag rack?

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Do you know what PAR it's under? I have one of my colonies under 500+ PAR with no problem.

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

What was your phosphate level that made you decide to run GFO?

 

[VR28man]

PO4 formerly was at 0.22 or so (hanna, 3 weeks ago). Nitrate at 6-7 (salifert, 3 days ago). alkalinity 8.2 (hanna, a week ago)

just tested all. PO4 was 0.18 and 0.16 (two tests. Remember the filter has been running for about four days). Nitrate was a solid 5.

But alk was supposedly 6.7, two tests. I don’t believe it honestly, end it may just be an error because it’s two in the morning and I’m exhausted. I’ve been dosing the same every day this week, and there’s no evidence that any other corals are really bleaching. Overall they look fine.

I will be busy all day tomorrow, but will do another alk test tomorrow night. I may also take the water to an LFS Saturday.

thanks all for the suggestions. I thought it was the GFO reducing phosphates, but it seems that something weird is going on here.

more to follow!


ETA: The frag has been in the same place for the past few months. I moved it slightly to a place with more (ie lots of) flow a few days ago - no change in distance to light - but it’s now back where I originally had it (good flow).

 

[VR28man]

Do you know what PAR it's under? I have one of my colonies under 500+ PAR with no problem.

I believe the PAR of two ati t5s at such a depth is about 250 to 300

really nice green wd, btw.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

I believe the PAR of two ati t5s at such a depth is about 250 to 300

really nice green wd, btw.

LOL I like the "green" comment.. not sure what you mean by that (although I think I know) but my pic is by far the most accurate in this post so far of a WD under daylight. I could post a pic under blues, but your eyes would melt... . Nice "blue" one you got!

Your PO4 is too elevated, get it down below .1 and get PAR up closer to 400 and you'll be good.

 

[SeaDweller]

LOL I like the "green" comment.. not sure what you mean by that (although I think I know) but my pic is by far the most accurate in this post so far of a WD under daylight. I could post a pic under blues, but your eyes would melt... . Nice blue one you got!

Your PO4 is too elevated, get it down below .1 and get PAR up closer to 400 and you'll be good.

Looks like a properly colored WD to me too...

 

[nereefpat]

1 ATI coral plus and 1 blue plus T5s.

Light bar of some kind as well, or am I crazy?

 

[jda]

Low P is not a problem for acropora... lowering too fast can be. That is not too much light, so do not worry about that. Sometimes moves can do this. Sometimes using too much media/chemicals can do this. Sometimes, doing both can do this. If it is alive and does not get worse, then don't sweat it.

In the future, know you exact ppb of phosphorous (use a Hannah Ultra Low) both before, directly after and then 24 hours after using any phosphate media. If used slow enough, there is no issue, but you do not want a swing like from 100 to 20 to 95.. that can be bad (I just made that up). Going from 100 to 90 then back up to 95 is OK... which is the same end result, just applied more slowly.

 

[VR28man]

Looks like a properly colored WD to me too...

Glad to hear that! A month ago I was concerned that mine was too green.....

Light bar of some kind as well, or am I crazy?

Yup. Superglued this onto the T5 fixture.

30" ReefBar Pro Actinic Blue 445 nm Aquarium LED Light 30 x 3W Bridgelux LED reef saltwater salt water

30" ReefBar Pro Actinic Blue 445 nm Aquarium LED Light 30 x 3W Bridgelux LED For saltwater coral reef

www.21ledusa.com

Low P is not a problem for acropora... lowering too fast can be. That is not too much light, so do not worry about that. Sometimes moves can do this. Sometimes using too much media/chemicals can do this. Sometimes, doing both can do this. If it is alive and does not get worse, then don't sweat it.

In the future, know you exact ppb of phosphorous (use a Hannah Ultra Low) both before, directly after and then 24 hours after using any phosphate media. If used slow enough, there is no issue, but you do not want a swing like from 100 to 20 to 95.. that can be bad (I just made that up). Going from 100 to 90 then back up to 95 is OK... which is the same end result, just applied more slowly.

Thanks! I'll stay frosty and just watch this for now. I don't think it lowered PO4 too fast, though....0.21 on new years; though I did not measure PO4 (as you noted) before running GFO, after a few days we went down to 0.15-0.18 (within the Hanna's margin of error, I believe). Not to drastic, I think.

Anyway, I got an alkalinity reading of 6.22 today. Again, I don't believe it - I have been dosing the same for two months, have seen nothing odd in the tank beyond what I mentioned above. I will bring it by my LFS tomorrow.

 

[Rukk]

I think it is possible that your issue could have come about from dropping phosphate too fast. Unfortunately, I have personal experience with this. Some corals may be affected and bleach while others may not, usually some days after the drop.

The bleached corals may or may not recover, hope yours recover.

 

[Technewb]

I used gfo once and it bleached/pale all my corals in my 750xxl. I only used 1/4 of what was in the instructions. Took it off and majority of the corals recovered. Never touched gfo again. I still have a whole jug of gfo sitting on the shelf. I believe gfo should only be used on reef tank that are 3yrs+.

 

[ca1ore]

Do you know what PAR it's under? I have one of my colonies under 500+ PAR with no problem.

Fine looking WD. That’s what mine looked like until my mobile fragging machine (aka, hippo tang) knocked a green slimer branch onto it. Slimer was fine, of course , WD toast.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Fine looking WD. That’s what mine looked like until my mobile fragging machine (aka, hippo tang) knocked a green slimer branch onto it. Slimer was fine, of course , WD toast.

Thank you sir. That sucks about yours... the cheaper ones always seem to win those battles...

 

[VR28man]

Fine looking WD. That’s what mine looked like until my mobile fragging machine (aka, hippo tang) knocked a green slimer branch onto it. Slimer was fine, of course , WD toast.

Good to know. Right next to my WD is a GS!!!! ;Bucktooth




Drifting the thread from "SPS" to "Reef Chemistry/Tank Strangeness" subforum.......

Rather than take a sample to my lfs, I mixed up a gallon of new saltwater and got a reasonable result (8.2 kh, from the Hanna colormiter, using freshly made Red Sea salt). Therefore, my KH has taken a big hit.

I then redid my aquarium water and got 6.5 (a bit higher than yesterday night's 6.2), about two hours after I did my usual daily dose (3.5ml Tropic Marin All-for-Reef, should bring things up .5 kh a day, though according to Dr. Balling in a delayed fashion because it's bacteria based vice a direct insertion of alkalinity. I've never done experiments, but my suspicion is that it may take well over a day for a big shift to fully play out). Calcium is 420-450.

Looking at my records, I was at 8.2 a week ago, right before I installed the cannister filter with lots of seachem matrix, purigen, and Seachem Phosguard - the last is what I've been referring to GFO though it's not strictly branded GFO, it still has the same basic effect). So, from then until now, I've lost .5kh/day, my daily dose.

There are two hypotheses:
a) something has made my bottle of AFR inert (leaning against this because of the Ca results

b) the cannister filter+all the other stuff has upset my water chemistry so that the tank consumes about 2x the alk what it consumed before.

Unfortunately, since the tank's KH was basically stable previously, I only did alkalinity checks once every two weeks or so (and yes it was mostly stable within the margin of error for the Hanna, and I never saw weirdness from my acros). I haven't measured Ca in a long time - and bringing out the salifert kit I now remember why - its precision and margin for test procedure error are for the dogs.

Anyway, I added 8ml (about 1 KH worth) about 20 minutes ago. See how things are tonight.

Either way, since things are no longer stable, I'll have to watch my alk and other paramaters more carefully for tne next few weeks.