Sps frags beginning to bleach

[chedog83]

Good morning everyone,

I am new to reef 2 reef and this is my first post so hopefully I get it right. I have a 72 gallon bow front mixed reef tank with a 20 gallon sump/refugium. I have had it going since about January so it’s been about 7 months. I have lots of Zoa for soft corals and some lps such as acans, candy cane, a frog spa wan and a newly added hammer colony. I dip all my coral in red seas X and a slight bit of are as an extra measure before adding to the tank. I also have quite a bit of sps frags that I either traded for or purchased which have been doing great. Lots of growth not only on the plug but vertical growth.after I added this new hammer(which I dipped) I noticed my birdsnest and a few other started to deteriorate and show signs of bleaching. I checked my parameters every day(don’t judge) as part of a morning routine. I check alk, calcium, ph daily.
magnesium, phosphate and nitrate about once a week. I have had no major swings and my parameters stay right round 8.4dkh, 435 calcium and 8.4 ph. After I noticed the issue my Mg was 1240, phosphate at .1 and nitrates at 0.
As part of routine I also feed/spot feed my fish and coral with a mixture of mysis, coral aminos, reef chili and reef roids. I dose all under recommended dosing because I do it so often. I also dose reef ab+ and restore.
As mentioned everything seemed to be booming then the bleaching start so I am a bit lost. I can’t tell if my birdsnest has pests or if my eyes are playing tricks on me because I’m looking for something. What I think I see are small black strips on the surface. I posted a few pictures to see if somebody can identify or let me know it is not the problem.

 

[chedog83]

Quick note:

didn’t cross my mind while posting this so a small back story. As I have been saving up to get my first doser I started to “blind” dose my daily dose without testing parameters following what I believe is my consumption.there was a two to three day window about two weeks ago that my DKH went from the norm of 8.4 DKH to between 9.1-9.2. I ended up doing a water change and ended up stabilizing back to 8.4. Is that enough of a swing to cause the sudden regression.

In addition I have found some small regression in my Hollywood stunner which seemed to be crushing it..

 

[billyocean]

The zero nitrates is what would concern me first. Alk swing is within what it can swing in a day..so that shouldn't be the issue. The zero nitrate and high phosphate is likely starving the coral depending on how long its been zero. IME your nitrates should never be lower than phosphate. .1 po4 is pretty high with zero n03.

 

[chedog83]

The zero nitrates is what would concern me first. Alk swing is within what it can swing in a day..so that shouldn't be the issue. The zero nitrate and high phosphate is likely starving the coral depending on how long its been zero. IME your nitrates should never be lower than phosphate. .1 po4 is pretty high with zero n03.

Thank you kindly for the response.

rather than start dosing nitrates could I try pulling a bit of charro out of the fuge? I have never harvested as it didn’t ever pose an issue before. Also I change my socks every two days and they don’t always seem super dirty. Could I try doing those a bit less often?

 

[billyocean]

I personally dose neonitro to keep my no3 up. If you have never trimmed your macro then it could be maxed out and not growing....this is going to be something some else could answer better than me. There are plenty of people here that know way more than I do, But I would focus on getting those nitrates of ASAP

 

[chedog83]

The zero nitrates is what would concern me first. Alk swing is within what it can swing in a day..so that shouldn't be the issue. The zero nitrate and high phosphate is likely starving the coral depending on how long its been zero. IME your nitrates should never be lower than phosphate. .1 po4 is pretty high with zero n03.

Hello again,

Could these also be some methods to help adjust?
Adjusting skimmer wet to dry?
No more pellets only frozen food? I currently do both. I read the pellets tend to have more phosphate than nitrate?
Lighting refuge? Could I cut back on time lights are active for the fuge?

many thanks,

 

[billyocean]

I run socks and rock in my sump..no skimmer and no fuge so im not the best advice on that. Have a skimmer but never have hooked it up..no need. From what I hear pellets are higher in phos, I feed frozen. I'm sure there's a way to increase nitrates other than neonitro but that's all I've used and can speak on. I'm sure someone with more of that area of knowledge could help more than I can. Wish there was more experience I had to help guide!