Live rock bleaching is this a thing?!??

[Christopher Davis]

Hey guys serious question what in the world is going on with my live rock?! About a month ago now I switched over to ATI BULBS t5HO, and ever sense my live rock has gotten progressively more white... is my coraline algae dieing? I have had this tank running for 7 years and have never experienced this... tank is very stable with no changes. I can't wrap my head around this...

The first two pictures are what I'm talking about compared to the last picture under coralife t5HO with healthy color...

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I belive you are getting a lot more Par with the new fixture. SOme call that light shock. Ive done it too.
Fwiw, under higher par Its been my observation that the purple coralline wont grow.
On the bright side it now doesnt eat into the available cal and alk.

 

[Christopher Davis]

Makes sense, how did you go about solving the problem or did you just wait for it to resolve?

 

[Rick.45cal]

I belive you are getting a lot more Par with the new fixture. SOme call that light shock. Ive done it too.
Fwiw, under higher par Its been my observation that the purple coralline wont grow.
On the bright side it now doesnt eat into the available cal and alk.

+1

You've probably increased the PAR substantially and the coralline that was used to lower light, is dying back in the bright areas. It's ok, it will come back, it will take time, but the coralline that favors higher light environments will take over. Coralline algae seems to favor lower PAR levels. My tank has gone through a similar phase when I upgraded to an ATI powermodule with 8 T5's. It went from a semi shady tank, to one sitting in the sun at the equator! The coralline receeded but now has nearly covered everything again, it's even starting to cover areas at the top of the rock structure that receive in excess of 800 PAR!

I was looking today, It's been a little over a week since I started continuous automatic water changes and my coralline has gone CRAZY in that time (corals too). It's really blows my mind. It won't be long and my rock/tank will be covered. It has also changed from light pink to a deeper darker pink, we will see if we get any purple to show up.

My suspicion is @saltyfilmfolks is completely accurate and the dark purple coralline is likely a characteristic that takes advantage of lower light scenarios.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Makes sense, how did you go about solving the problem or did you just wait for it to resolve?

no. I just have very little purple coralline and very large sps. But my sump is covered in purple.
Check out some high par SPS tanks.

And yes I was pretty freaked out too, I thought I nuked the tank. 3 months later I had to sell corals because they got too big.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Coralline algae seems to favor lower PAR levels.

Ill add, my other colors of coralline,dark reds, are fine. And tasty if you ask my Urchin.:mad:

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The coralline receeded but now has nearly covered everything again, it's even starting to cover areas at the top of the rock structure that receive in excess of 800 PAR!

The Purple has grown back for you?

 

[Rick.45cal]

The Purple has grown back for you?

No, though ALL of it has changed color in the last week. I am interested to see what happens to see if any of it turns purple. I don't see any right now, I think I am likely mostly only going to have bright pink. It makes me think I need some different sticks, the pink ones are starting to get lost. Lol. (They are still little nubs, they need to hurry up and turn into colonies)

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

No, though ALL of it has changed color in the last week. I am interested to see what happens to see if any of it turns purple. I don't see any right now, I think I am likely mostly only going to have bright pink. It makes me think I need some different sticks, the pink ones are starting to get lost. Lol. (They are still little nubs, they need to hurry up and turn into colonies)

how long ago was the change.

For the OP too, at the same time I changed lights,I had a large increase in nutrints in the system, and may have helped me avoid bleaching probs.

 

[Rick.45cal]

The Purple has grown back for you?

Totally off topic, but artist/photographer/physiology nugget here, your perception of the color purple is unique to you. It isn't a color that can be created using our photo receptors so your brain "invents" the color based on the confusing signal it's sent by the photoreceptors in your eyes. This is totally true, unless you are a genetic mosaic (female) and have a rare recessive gene, then you are one of the few and only humans who can actually perceive the color purple. Pretty cool right?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Totally off topic, but artist/photographer/physiology nugget here, your perception of the color purple is unique to you. It isn't a color that can be created using our photo receptors so your brain "invents" the color based on the confusing signal it's sent by the photoreceptors in your eyes. This is totally true, unless you are a genetic mosaic (female) and have a rare recessive gene, then you are one of the few and only humans who can actually perceive the color purple. Pretty cool right?

Nerd.
And yes it is cool.
another nerd

 

[Rick.45cal]

Color and growth change has been only since starting to continuously change 10% of my water volume.

After changing the lights the thing that seems to really kick my coralline growth back into gear was raising my Mg to over 1500 ppm. My tank has been running somewhere around 1530-1550ppm Mg. This is when coralline growth really gained momentum under the new lights. Plus I started running detectable nutrients.

The combination of those things, coupled with the nice fresh, elements dripping in with the new seawater constantly has caused EVERYTHING to really go crazy. Coralline especially.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Nerd.
And yes it is cool.
another nerd

Haha, I definitely resemble that remark! Nerds are good! Dweebs... now that's whole other story!

 

[Christopher Davis]

Check out some high par SPS tanks.

And yes I was pretty freaked out too, I thought I nuked the tank. 3 months later I had to sell corals because they got too big.[/QUOTE]

Well Here is a comparison in the growth im seeing in my slimer colonie...before and after pic a little over one month! So maybe not all bad?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So maybe not all bad?

Not a bad trade IMO.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Check out some high par SPS tanks.

And yes I was pretty freaked out too, I thought I nuked the tank. 3 months later I had to sell corals because they got too big.

Well Here is a comparison in the growth im seeing in my slimer colonie...before and after pic a little over one month! So maybe not all bad?

[/QUOTE]

The ATI lights are well worth the trade IMO. I have no complainst with my experiece.

 

[Christopher Davis]

The ATI lights are well worth the trade IMO.

Definitely yes! With growth like that I'm a believer.