First acro frag problem :(

[Gavin Noy]

Good morning all. So i have one acro frag, had it about 2 weeks in my 52l evo. This week it has rapidly started turning white at the tips. Ill list my parameters and setup with a photo. I test everything twice a week. I do 1liter water changes every other day to try ank keep stability. The acro is a purple bonsai.

AI prime 16 HD light ran about 40%
Nero 3 power head flow set to 30%
tank 6 months old

1.026
cal- 420
mag 1440
nitrates 5
phos 0.08
alk 11.5

Photos of the tank just before lights out last night and the acro this morning about 30 mins ago.

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

Alk is high.i would try & lower that slowly to 8-9 range

 

[ryanjohn1]

Agreed that alk is a tad high. But sometimes the tiniest bit of white at the tip of sps is new growth.

 

[twentyleagues]

In this case I would agree with @ryanjohn1. The white is only on the tips of growth, its on most all of them. RTN and STN look a little different, if it was being burnt it probably would be only on the top tip. Keep an eye on it but I think you are good.

 

[Reefering1]

But alk burn occurs at tips(new growth) with high dkh. Would be easy to lower frag in tank, to reduce light while it shows stress, meanwhile taking a week or 2 to lower dkh

 

[Gavin Noy]

Iv only had the AI prime 3 days so i think i could have burnt the tips possibly? I increased the cool white intensity yesterday. I will definitely lower the acro in the tank for a bit just incase. I thought acros loved high light intensity and assumed it would be fine at 50%. Would love it to be new growth. I am currently lowering my alk slowly by doing water changes with water alk of 10kh.

How long do acros take to show signs of recovery because the last thing i want to do is kill it with low lighting.

 

[twentyleagues]

But alk burn occurs at tips(new growth) with high dkh. Would be easy to lower frag in tank, to reduce light while it shows stress, meanwhile taking a week or 2 to lower dkh

Yeah this is true too. I dont know what that frag is so unsure what its growth looks like. Typically sps dont like high alk, 8-10 would be better. I am not an sps guy, I've had them, quite a few different kinds in the past and i did good with them but I am not good at telling you what they are from structure. I've had blue ones that look like that and the first new growth would be white, with the polyp still being the correct color. Looking closer at the pic the tips look "dry" cant tell if that is pic quality or not which could be cause for concern.

 

[twentyleagues]

Iv only had the AI prime 3 days so i think i could have burnt the tips possibly? I increased the cool white intensity yesterday. I will definitely lower the acro in the tank for a bit just incase. I thought acros loved high light intensity and assumed it would be fine at 50%. Would love it to be new growth. I am currently lowering my alk slowly by doing water changes with water alk of 10kh.

How long do acros take to show signs of recovery because the last thing i want to do is kill it with low lighting.

I dont think its the light. Its only the tips if it were the light more would be damaged. Lowering the frag to less light would slow growth and reduce stress. Thats what @Reefering1 was saying.

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

Iv only had the AI prime 3 days so i think i could have burnt the tips possibly? I increased the cool white intensity yesterday. I will definitely lower the acro in the tank for a bit just incase. I thought acros loved high light intensity and assumed it would be fine at 50%. Would love it to be new growth. I am currently lowering my alk slowly by doing water changes with water alk of 10kh.

How long do acros take to show signs of recovery because the last thing i want to do is kill it with low lighting.

I've never personally bleached an acro & my par is around 350 where they are now.
I have badly bleached a Monti in same light.
I tend to run things on Bluer end with a hight white peak for 4 hours & that seemed to resolve issues.
LED are powerful.
I'm in no way an SPS expert & others with way more knowledge will be able to help in more detail.

 

[twentyleagues]

If I remember correctly in higher alk tank you need higher lighting and higher nutrients. At least thats how I remember it from years ago. I had a reefer buddy that was a huge stick guy he was very skilled at it. He kept his alk higher and that was his way. He had a 4' 100g tank with 2 400w mh and 6 T5s and so many anthias that he fed 4-5 times a day. Simply gorgeous tank.

 

[Gavin Noy]

This is how it looked before i fitted the AI light. The only change in the last 3 days is i have moved it closer to the power head by about 4 inches and fitted a new light.

 

[Reefering1]

New frags need time to adjust to their new environment. It is common to put them low for weeks, even a month or 2 before moving up. Turning brown from low light is better than turning white then dying.

If I remember correctly in higher alk tank you need higher lighting and higher nutrients. At least thats how I remember it from years ago. I had a reefer buddy that was a huge stick guy he was very skilled at it. He kept his alk higher and that was his way. He had a 4' 100g tank with 2 400w mh and 6 T5s and so many anthias that he fed 4-5 times a day. Simply gorgeous tank.

High flow also

 

[twentyleagues]

This is how it looked before i fitted the AI light. The only change in the last 3 days is i have moved it closer to the power head by about 4 inches and fitted a new light.

in this case i'd say alk/nutrients is the issue.

 

[twentyleagues]

New frags need time to adjust to their new environment. It is common to put them low for weeks, even a month or 2 before moving up. Turning brown from low light is better than turning white then dying.

High flow also

oh yeah. How'd I forget that.

 

[Gavin Noy]

New frags need time to adjust to their new environment. It is common to put them low for weeks, even a month or 2 before moving up. Turning brown from low light is better than turning white then dying.

High flow also

Could it be the intense flow? Does that seem more likely?

 

[Gavin Noy]

in this case i'd say alk/nutrients is the issue.

Im going to do all the tests again today something could be off.

 

[twentyleagues]

Could it be the intense flow? Does that seem more likely?

Not with acro at least it wouldnt look like that.

 

[Reefering1]

Could it be the intense flow? Does that seem more likely?

No. They can handle all the indirect flow you can give them. If too much too direct it will peel the skin, not burn the tips

 

[twentyleagues]

I hate to recommend chemicals but look into lowering your alk with acid. Just be careful you dont want swings of to great a number. I think the water change route is better but you will also lower your already low nutrients. Which is why I said that.

 

[Gavin Noy]

Just like to say thank you to you all for your help.