Corals fading and bleaching

jandlms

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Newly started tank about six months ago. I started adding corals a few months ago after cycling and running dark per BRS. Two damsels, a sailfin blenny, a tail spot blenny, and a watchman goby plus a whole lot of snails are the only livestock. Cheeto section tumbling in the sump in addition to a pretty well stocked refugium. No skimmer Yet.
Some, not all, of my corals are fading and bleaching. One mushroom of several different types. A couple of zoos from seven or eight types. My one Goni frag. About half of the montipora frags but not the one lone Acropora frag. Seems pretty random and inconsistent. The corals come from half a dozen sources and were all dipped before going into the display.
Parameters have been pretty consistant since cycling. Today phosphate reads zero. Nitrate between zero and five depending on how I look at the stupid API color chart but certainly not excessive. Salinity moves between 1.024 and 1.025. pH 7.9 but I haven’t tried to artificially raise it yet. Calcium 400 and Alkalinity 7dKh.
No coralline algae growth as of yet.
The only things that jump out at me are the alkalinity being a trifle low and the pH being a bit problematic. Maybe phosphate too low?
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Pump up the alkalinity? Start a skimmer to boost pH? Feed more to nudge phosphate? Add reef buffer to raise pH and alkalinity?
 

Lavey29

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Bottomed out phosphates and nitrates will cause bad things to happen in your tank and corals like LPS will slowly die off. Your alk is a little low also. Nitrates 5 to 10. Phosphates. 08 and alk 8 to 8.4.
 

muzikalmatt

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There's a lot to digest here, but first off I would recommend getting some better test kits so you can have a better idea of your nutrient levels. API test kits are notoriously inaccurate. If you're on a budget I'd recommend Salifert test kits. If you can splurge, I'd pick up the Hannah ULR Phosphate checker and the Hannah HR Nitrate checker. Both are great, simple to use and give you very accurate readings.

With that said, at first glance I would guess your corals are starved of nutrients. Having nitrates and phosphates bottom out is not good for corals. They need them for growth and coloration. You can try feeding your fish more heavily to try and boost the nutrients or you can dial back your filtration by reducing the lighting schedule on your refugium.

Also, stability is key for your water parameters. Even mild swings in temperature, salinity and alkalinity can have significant detrimental effects on more sensitive corals like gonis and some LPS. Are you using a temperature controller or an Auto Top Off to keep your salinity and temperature in range? With your alkalinity being at the bottom end at 7 dKH, do you know if it ever dips below that during the week?

As far as your other questions, I definitely would not recommend adding a skimmer as your nutrients are already too low, and definitely do NOT use a reef buffer. There are other ways to boost pH, but to be honest, that's the least of your worries right now.
 
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