No Coral Growth & Continuous Monti Bleaching...…...Is it my lighting?

[Eike]

Hi guys,
I have had my AquaOne 275 for over 3 years now so not exactly a beginner as such but over these 3 years i have struggled constantly, so though i would post in the beginners section since i need to try and get back to basics! I have recently gone from a Nem only tank back to a mixed reef since i missed the variety of colours, shapes and forms available. My end game is to keep a wide variety of zoas, birdsnests and montis. Nothing too fancy or complicated right?!?!? Wrong!! Every plating monti (standard green variety) has bleached or browned out after a couple of weeks, zoas that have been in the tank for months are not growing with the exception of my Utter Chaos which has had 5 pups for months and they are not opening. I recently introduced a Seriatopora, placed him towards the top after a couple of weeks acclimatising and in a few days he started bleaching. The only thing that is growing well is my Ultra Green GSP. After years of trial and error, mostly errors and ALOT of research on forums and youtube I am still no closer to finding out why i am unsuccessful with some of the most easier to keep corals. My flow is good, water quality and parameters good! I have long suspected that it maybe my lighting?!?

I am running the earlier verion of the Hydra 52 (Non HD, No AI Director). It is mounted 10inches off the water surface. The tank is 65cm x 65cm x 65cm AquaOne 275 cube. Obviously i do not have the controllability the the Director or the HD offers, i can only set the specrum percentages and i was typically running blues between 80-%-90%, white at around 40%, violet and UV around 30% and 0% red and green. Photo period was 12 hours, 4 hours ramp up, 4 hours peak, 4 hour ramp down. I have read that these LED`s are pretty powerful so i am wondering whether i was giving too much light to the corals I am keeping? I have since reduced the percentages down, blue 60%, violet 605, UV 60%, white 10%, red & green 0%. I have changed the spectrum to utilize the ones that the corals actually absorb blues, violets, UV.

My parameters are below:
Temp - 25 degrees C (stable)
Salinity - 1.025 (stable)
KH - 11
CA - within the 450 range
Mag - 1450
N03 - 6ppm
P04 - 0.06
PH - Between 8.3 & 8.4

Tank dimensions - AquaOne275 - 60cm x 60cm x 60cm

Lighting - Hydra 52 mounted 10inches above water surface
blue 60%
Dblue60%
White 10%
UV 60%
Violet 60%
Red 0%
Green 0%

Dosing:
NOPOX dose 5ml daily
Coral A&B Plus feed daily

Water changes 20% bi weekly using Red Sea Coral Salt Pro

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!

Thanks

Eike

 

[intricate_reefer]

What are your parameters alk, cal, mag, no3, po4? Are they stable?

 

[James M]

What are your parameters alk, cal, mag, no3, po4? Are they stable?

It’s in the thread

 

[intricate_reefer]

It’s in the thread

lol I'm so sorry, I really need to go to bed. Parameters look good and I don't see any problems. A lot of people shoot for a little lower alk but it shouldn't be a problem. What are you using to measure salinity? Do you calibrate it often?

 

[GabeM]

I don't think it is your light as it is only 135W max over 70 gallons. I run 210W over 50 gallons with no issues.

I do not see anything about ICP testing, what are your latest results? SPS can be more sensitive to heavy metals.

 

[Eike]

lol I'm so sorry, I really need to go to bed. Parameters look good and I don't see any problems. A lot of people shoot for a little lower alk but it shouldn't be a problem. What are you using to measure salinity? Do you calibrate it often?

I use a Red Sea Reef refractometer. I check its calibrated every time I use it

 

[Eike]

I don't think it is your light as it is only 135W max over 70 gallons. I run 210W over 50 gallons with no issues.

I do not see anything about ICP testing, what are your latest results? SPS can be more sensitive to heavy metals.

i have not done an ICP test as yet

 

[SMSREEF]

I use a Red Sea Reef refractometer. I check its calibrated every time I use it

What do you calibrate it with?
RODI water or 35 ppm calibration solution?

 

[Eike]

What do you calibrate it with?
RODI water or 35 ppm calibration solution?

I used to calibrate with a solution, but recently RODI

 

[SMSREEF]

That may be the problem. I was doing that (calibrating with RODI) and took some water to LFS and my salinity was way way high.

I would get your water double checked.

 

[vetteguy53081]

While lighting can have an impact, things that will cause this are:

high or low salinity
High alk
Low calcium
Excess or lack of water flow
High temperature
Red bugs or nudibranch

- moderate lighting and water flow and maintain Steady levels of alk-mag-ca as well as verifying salinity in range of 1.024-1.026 and temperature range 77-79

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I had a very similar issue when I ran my alkalinity in the 9-11 dKH range. Adding trace elements and aminos/carbohydrates helped with coloration, but the growth took off when I lowered my alkalinity to around 8 dKH. All of my Montipora species responded nearly immediately.

The "bleaching" can come from high alkalinity when the skeleton literally outgrows the overlying tissue, created a bleached appearance. I don't think the issue is lighting, although the lighting can play a part with how bright the coloration manifests itself. Also, I was quite concerned about lowering the alkalinity, but the tank seemed to take the drop in alkalinity FAR better than I expected as well as much better than increases in alkalinity.

How do you control your alkalinity? Water changes alone?

By the way, my Seriatopora and acropora took off like rockets once I got my alkalinity dialed in around 8 dKH. FWIW

 

[Eike]

While lighting can have an impact, things that will cause this are:

high or low salinity
High alk
Low calcium
Excess or lack of water flow
High temperature
Red bugs or nudibranch

- moderate lighting and water flow and maintain Steady levels of alk-mag-ca as well as verifying salinity in range of 1.024-1.026 and temperature range 77-79

Interesting points...……..with a process of elimination I would say double check salinity with proper solution not RODI and maybe lower my Alk? Flow is good, temperature is 77 and stable, no signs of pests

 

[vetteguy53081]

Interesting points...……..with a process of elimination I would say double check salinity with proper solution not RODI and maybe lower my Alk? Flow is good, temperature is 77 and stable, no signs of pests

Yes and if in doubt as to test accuracy, take a nice water sample to a trusted LFS and have them test water for you and to compare and verify readings with yours

 

[Eike]

I had a very similar issue when I ran my alkalinity in the 9-11 dKH range. Adding trace elements and aminos/carbohydrates helped with coloration, but the growth took off when I lowered my alkalinity to around 8 dKH. All of my Montipora species responded nearly immediately.

The "bleaching" can come from high alkalinity when the skeleton literally outgrows the overlying tissue, created a bleached appearance. I don't think the issue is lighting, although the lighting can play a part with how bright the coloration manifests itself. Also, I was quite concerned about lowering the alkalinity, but the tank seemed to take the drop in alkalinity FAR better than I expected as well as much better than increases in alkalinity.

How do you control your alkalinity? Water changes alone?

By the way, my Seriatopora and acropora took off like rockets once I got my alkalinity dialed in around 8 dKH. FWIW

Some definate food for thought! I have never considered lowering Alk to 8 or 9 although i have noticed that the majority of reefers do keep their levels around those values. I was following the Red Sea Reef recipe for a mixed reef tank and even my LFS told me i should be running at 11dkh. I supplement Alk with dosing daily to keep it stable at 11dkh

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Some definate food for thought! I have never considered lowering Alk to 8 or 9 although i have noticed that the majority of reefers do keep their levels around those values. I was following the Red Sea Reef recipe for a mixed reef tank and even my LFS told me i should be running at 11dkh. I supplement Alk with dosing daily to keep it stable at 11dkh

Awesome. If you dose, then adjusting the alkalinity lower and keeping it stable should be fairly straightforward. I found that lowering the alkalinity was painless compared to what I feared, and the tank responded favorably. I have a purple stylophora that did not grow fast that is now growing so fast I'm going to have to figure out what to do with it! And, just so you know, I made the change about 8 months ago, but the impact was easy to see within the first month or so.

FWIW, I keep my salinity at 1.026, measured with a Milwaukee refractometer that I calibrate with distilled water before each use. I do think that checking the salinity is worth the effort, just in case.

 

[Eike]

Awesome. If you dose, then adjusting the alkalinity lower and keeping it stable should be fairly straightforward. I found that lowering the alkalinity was painless compared to what I feared, and the tank responded favorably. I have a purple stylophora that did not grow fast that is now growing so fast I'm going to have to figure out what to do with it! And, just so you know, I made the change about 8 months ago, but the impact was easy to see within the first month or so.

FWIW, I keep my salinity at 1.026, measured with a Milwaukee refractometer that I calibrate with distilled water before each use. I do think that checking the salinity is worth the effort, just in case.

My Alk drops naturally around 1dkh every 5 days or so which is interesting since there is nothing in the tank that is really sucking it up. So I will stop dosing and let it fall naturally. My worry would be that if the alk falls, will the Ca not rise over recommended levels? I have a purple Stylo and Monti digitata forest fire on the way! that worrying me now!

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

My Alk drops naturally around 1dkh every 5 days or so which is interesting since there is nothing in the tank that is really sucking it up. So I will stop dosing and let it fall naturally. My worry would be that if the alk falls, will the Ca not rise over recommended levels? I have a purple Stylo and Monti digitata forest fire on the way! that worrying me now!

Until I dropped my alkalinity, my calcium always ran over "recommended levels". It would routinely be between 450-500 ppm. Now, I have to work hard to keep it at 425 ppm because the corals are growing so fast I've never found the montipora, seriatopora, or stylophora to be overly sensitive to high calcium levels.

 

[Eike]

Until I dropped my alkalinity, my calcium always ran over "recommended levels". It would routinely be between 450-500 ppm. Now, I have to work hard to keep it at 425 ppm because the corals are growing so fast I've never found the montipora, seriatopora, or stylophora to be overly sensitive to high calcium levels.

Ok......so recalibrated and retested salinity with distilled water instead of RODI. Its sitting pretty at a solid 1.025. So my salinity isn't the issue!

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Ok......so recalibrated and retested salinity with distilled water instead of RODI. Its sitting pretty at a solid 1.025. So my salinity isn't the issue!

That's good. In my experience, as long as the salinity is between 1.024-1.028 and is consistent, the corals don't seem to mind. I suppose that makes sense since the salinity in the ocean can vary greatly depending on how much rain a particular area sees at any given time.