ICP results - any reason for coral bleaching?

[kblazewicz]

Hi,

I'm having problems with my corals. I already lost 3 Pavona colonies, many softies became pale or even white. I thought it might be due to too low nutrients because I had undetectable PO4 and NO3. I've been dosing Na3PO4 and NaNO3 and increased feeding for some time and I keep PO4 at 0.06-0.1 ppm and NO3 at 5-10 ppm for few months now, so I don't think this is the issue. What changed though is amount of algae, green hair algae and cyano are everywhere and I have to clean the glass daily.

Here are my ICP results:

Biggest issues I see here are aluminum contamination, almost 6x the norm and some serious iodine deficiency. Could it be the cause of my issues?

I keep my tank at fairly constant 25°C, pH 8.0-8.3 (I use CO2 scrubber, otherwise it drops to 7.6 at night).

What could be the cause of such level of Al? AquaforestLab suggests RO water, but only metal part in my filter is check-valve after the membrane, could it be the source of Al? I also use these check-valves after my dosing pump because otherwise fluids flow down to containers. Maybe a contamination in salts I use for dosing? I'm using sodium bicarbonate (baked), calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and reef mineral salt, all from Aquaforest.

I guess I should buy some Iodine additive and start dosing to reach >0.55 ppm.

 

[ScottR]

Hi,

I'm having problems with my corals. I already lost 3 Pavona colonies, many softies became pale or even white. I thought it might be due to too low nutrients because I had undetectable PO4 and NO3. I've been dosing Na3PO4 and NaNO3 and increased feeding for some time and I keep PO4 at 0.06-0.1 ppm and NO3 at 5-10 ppm for few months now, so I don't think this is the issue. What changed though is amount of algae, green hair algae and cyano are everywhere and I have to clean the glass daily.

Here are my ICP results:

Biggest issues I see here are aluminum contamination, almost 6x the norm and some serious iodine deficiency. Could it be the cause of my issues?

I keep my tank at fairly constant 25°C, pH 8.0-8.3 (I use CO2 scrubber, otherwise it drops to 7.6 at night).

What could be the cause of such level of Al? AquaforestLab suggests RO water, but only metal part in my filter is check-valve after the membrane, could it be the source of Al? I also use these check-valves after my dosing pump because otherwise fluids flow down to containers. Maybe a contamination in salts I use for dosing? I'm using sodium bicarbonate (baked), calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and reef mineral salt, all from Aquaforest.

I guess I should buy some Iodine additive and start dosing to reach >0.55 ppm.

Aluminum can come from many sources like your salt or products like phosguard (aluminum oxide I think). It can build up over time. Your level wouldn’t lead me to believe that aluminum is the culprit as there are other factors such as lighting, flow, bacteria, etc.

 

[Stigigemla]

I would rise the Iodine (I) and potassium (K). They are both essential and has a lot to do with the colors.
Not expanding softies could be lack of organic food. I suggest you to feed your fishes more and add some herbivores to fight the algae. The most effective as I see it are urchins. From the tanks I have seen it looks like the best coral growth is when You feed so much that the dosing of N and P is unnecessary.
Low light can be a problem for the softies too. What light and and lighting schedule do You have?

 

[kblazewicz]

Its a small tank, 75 liters. It has one AI Prime 16 HD, and below is my lighting schedule. Its modified David Saxby's schedule, I changed it to start a little earlier and reduced the brightness to 90% (for some time I had it at 110%, but I reduced it to 90% because of all the algae).

This is how it looks right now:

I have Jebao DCS-1200 pump running on full speed and one Jebao RW-4 running at speed 4/10. Tank has a skimmer, I also use activated carbon.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The aluminum is not the issue. ITs too low for it to be a problem.

I agree with bringing up the potassium, and iodine dosing is a fine experiment which may or may not be useful.

 

[kblazewicz]

Thanks! Do you think lack of potassium might be causing my issues with corals? I'm out of ideas what is wrong with this tank.

For dosing, I can buy some potassium iodide and I have some potassium chloride, is it ok?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks! Do you think lack of potassium might be causing my issues with corals? I'm out of ideas what is wrong with this tank.

For dosing, I can buy some potassium iodide and I have some potassium chloride, is it ok?

Potassium iodide is a bad choice as it will boost iodide way more than potassium and send iodide through the roof.

Potassium chloride is the best choice.

It's worth a try. Don't know if it is the issue or not.

 

[anthonygf]

Hi,

I'm having problems with my corals. I already lost 3 Pavona colonies, many softies became pale or even white. I thought it might be due to too low nutrients because I had undetectable PO4 and NO3. I've been dosing Na3PO4 and NaNO3 and increased feeding for some time and I keep PO4 at 0.06-0.1 ppm and NO3 at 5-10 ppm for few months now, so I don't think this is the issue. What changed though is amount of algae, green hair algae and cyano are everywhere and I have to clean the glass daily.

Here are my ICP results:

Biggest issues I see here are aluminum contamination, almost 6x the norm and some serious iodine deficiency. Could it be the cause of my issues?

I keep my tank at fairly constant 25°C, pH 8.0-8.3 (I use CO2 scrubber, otherwise it drops to 7.6 at night).

What could be the cause of such level of Al? AquaforestLab suggests RO water, but only metal part in my filter is check-valve after the membrane, could it be the source of Al? I also use these check-valves after my dosing pump because otherwise fluids flow down to containers. Maybe a contamination in salts I use for dosing? I'm using sodium bicarbonate (baked), calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and reef mineral salt, all from Aquaforest.

I guess I should buy some Iodine additive and start dosing to reach >0.55 ppm.

I don't think the aluminum is your problem.
For a little over a year my aluminum has been on the rise, it is ten times higher than your results and have no problems. All my corals and a year old clam are doing fine. Not sure why but I stopped using the Sea lab replenish blocks and many water changes to see if it will improve. I will know next month on my next ICP test.

 

[ScottB]

Your tank is pretty densely populated. I am going to go with some coral warfare being likely your issue. I see a few potential culprits in your picture that could be throwing off some stingers.

You could try running some carbon. Work on spacing a bit. Better yet, get a larger tank.

 

[kblazewicz]

Potassium iodide is a bad choice as it will boost iodide way more than potassium and send iodide through the roof.

That's for sure, I'd use potassium iodide for idodine, potassium added with this salt would be negligible.

Your tank is pretty densely populated. I am going to go with some coral warfare being likely your issue. I see a few potential culprits in your picture that could be throwing off some stingers.

You could try running some carbon. Work on spacing a bit. Better yet, get a larger tank.

I'm aware its dense in there, but with previous owner this tank looked amazing and colors where full and beautiful, things started to go sideways after I moved the tank and threw it off balance apparently. Only thing I changed is that I threw away the sand, its bare-bottom now.

Big anemone on the top just split recently and I have to sell one half. It is stinging other corals, but I doubt it has any effect on zoas in the bottom.

I'm running carbon, I change it every 4 weeks.

Bigger tank is definitely on my wish-list, but this stuff is so expensive

 

[ScottB]

That's for sure, I'd use potassium iodide for idodine, potassium added with this salt would be negligible.



I'm aware its dense in there, but with previous owner this tank looked amazing and colors where full and beautiful, things started to go sideways after I moved the tank and threw it off balance apparently. Only thing I changed is that I threw away the sand, its bare-bottom now.

Big anemone on the top just split recently and I have to sell one half. It is stinging other corals, but I doubt it has any effect on zoas in the bottom.

I'm running carbon, I change it every 4 weeks.

Bigger tank is definitely on my wish-list, but this stuff is so expensive

Removing the sand bed does cause a shift in the water chemistry & biology but it will likely settle out over time.

 

[blasterman]

I dose lugals for iodine. 1 drop in a 20gal every week is fine. I don't do water changes and don't have a lot of LPS and this does keep my potassium on the higher side...500'ish, but if you are doing water changes this should moderate. Water changes replenish iodine a bit because it's a contaminant in commercial salt mixes.

However, I've not found lack of iodine hurts softies. It makes them stay small, but lack of it doesn't kill them. A drop of lugols certainly won't hurt anything and if it's indeed the problem things will improve within days. Lots of iodine grows zoas and shrooms like steroids. I've had utter chaos grow bigger than quarters with heavy iodine dosing, but Randy would slap me silly if he saw my K levels

The problem here is that algae. Dude, I had that same crap in one of my tanks and it's that dense turf algae that seems to feed on nitrate. Phosphate levels don't seem to affect it. UV doesn't affect it. Ozone doesn't affect it. Vibrant didn't phase it. My 5watt blue laser barely burns it.

Turbos and snails won't touch it. Turbos will wreak most hair algae and diatoms, but they won't touch this. Not tried a lawnmower blenny, but I'm opposed to getting livestock to solve a temporary problem.

What does kill it is peroxide. If you want to trash that garbage and can pull rock out of your tank I strongly suggest doing this. Pull a chunk of rock, and use a wire brush to remove as much of the thicker stuff as you can. Then use a pipette or straw to drip some regular hydrogen peroxide on the algae spots while avoiding coral. Soak it good. If some gets on coral it will irritate for a few days, but not do any real harm. The trick then is to let the peroxide sit there for about 4 minutes. If you put the rock immediately back in the tank it barely affects it. Letting it sit for about 4-5minutes in the air is the magic sauce. This doesn't bother the coral at all, but after 2-3 days the algae will start to turn white and die.

 

[Stigigemla]

A potassium level of 500 is very near the poisonous level for fishes.
In my experience Iodine connects to the color of many corals but I cant say for certain that it affects their health or growth.