Help with a few questions

[ddpham]

I have a few questions with my 6 months SPS tank.

Tank - 73ish US gallons with a 40 breeder sump
Salinity 1.026
Po4 - Waiting for Hannah Checker to come in
Mag- Waiting for Salifert kit to come in
Cal- 410 API test kit
Alk- 9 Salifert
nitrate-0 salifert

Dosing- 10 mil ALK of 2 part and 10 mil of Ca of 2 part

Light- 39w x 6 ATI and 2 39xcree bars of white and atinic LED for supplement

Flow- 2 mp40w vortechs turn on at random mode 3/4 of the power and a tunze nano wavebox
Return- Eheim 1260
Skimmer - Itech 200
Eheim 1250 is split with a phosban 150 reactor running carbon and GFO bulk reef supply reactor

FIsh- 4 purple firefishs, 2.5 inches yellow tank, mystery wrasse.

Feed- once a day and only 1/3 a cube of spirulina.



1) I bought 2 frag packs of sps last month and it was doing great until lately. A few of my sps is bleaching. Growth and polyps extension are still there. I used to run ATI fixture 8 hours a day and recently dialed it back to 4 hours a day to help with bleaching. Do I need to do anything else or dose any iodine? i heard iodine help with bleaching.
2) My pearlberry tort is stripping flesh but not RTN or STN, just a lot of slime and it looks like a really ugly millie. I believe that frag acted the way it did because it was closest to the vortech compared to the other frags. But I put that tort frag 10 inches away from the vortech. I thought vortechs don't give out direct flows. Is there any supplement that will help heal this sps?
3) Do i need to dial down or turn up my vortech? Right now, it is at 3/4 of the maximum power. My tank is pretty wide open (not a lot of rocks), so is there such thing is too much flow?
4) I received a 10 inch branch of fire and ice enchinata for my birthday last week, the stalk is pretty thick. I laid it down on a rock instead of gluing it vertically since my tank is a semi shallow tank. I don't wan it to grow out of the water in a couple of years. I also noticed the meat of the sps is not as meaty as it was when it was with the guy that gave it to me. Do i need to worry?

I will get more pictures when my macro lens come in. As of now, I only have my 35mm and 85mm and 135mm prime.

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[Saulsa]

What is your temp? Have you double checked it with a second thermometer?

Secondly i would also test your water with another kit from another reefer or your Lfs just to be sure on their accuracy. If all is well then maybe feeding a little less, more often would help with the bleaching.

Carbon and GFO? If yes then how much?

 

[Schreff]

Do you have a skimmer?

 

[ddpham]

sorry forgot to include,

Itech200 skimming semi wet,

reefkeeper with ph at 8.1 give or take and temparture at 79 to 80 through out the day.

 

[ddpham]

Saulsa- I will double check with the second temperature tomorrow. Oh by the way I keep my house running at 73F through out the day and i have 1 250W titanium heater setting it at 79.

 

[Troylee]

Personally I think it's your lighting man... The LEDs actually they are more powerful than most think... Back off the lighting for a little while then ramp it up slowly... I don't see anything else really wrong ie: flow, params, etc..

 

[ddpham]

Thank you Troylee. I did lowered all the frags as close to the sand bed as possible, and i did change out new bulbs when i got these frags too. So maybe is a combo of new bullbs and 8 hours of on time.

 

[Troylee]

Back off to like 6 then ramp it a hour every 2 weeks...