I'm a beginner salt water hobbyist and I've had this Hollywood Stunner Chalice in my 10G fluval evo tank for about a month and a half and I noticed it started bleaching around the edges, noticed a few white spots over the top and also the bottom is entire white. I've seen other bleaching chalices images, but I haven't found anything that looks like the behavior mine is having. My parameters are:
Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.1
Amonia 0 ppm (API)
Nitrites 0 ppm (API)
Nitrates 5 ppm (API)
Phosphate: 0.25 ppm (API)
Alkalinity: 8 dKH (API)
Calcium: 460 ppm (API)
Magnesium: 1380 (Salifert)
Note: nitrates have been constantly dropping to 0 while phosphates have been at ~0.25, so I dose nitrates and vodka to try to remove phosphates and algae. Although the vodka has done wonders and the algae is gone, the phosphates still won't go below .25. I also had a GFO bag in there but after reading that it might be the cause of the coral bleaching, I removed it yesterday.
I also dose Part A&B to keep the Ca & Mg up. I target fed the corals with reef roids and phytoplankton.
I also have the light intensity low ( 30%), and the chalice is located at the bottom of the rock, but not in the shade, so I can't image the light intensity being the issue.
Anyone have any thoughts? The image below shows what the coral looked like yesterday (left) compared to 6 weeks ago when I first got it (right). I've read in some places that it could be new growth, but to me it seems like it's shrinking instead of growing. I first noticed the white edges about 3 weeks ago.
Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.1
Amonia 0 ppm (API)
Nitrites 0 ppm (API)
Nitrates 5 ppm (API)
Phosphate: 0.25 ppm (API)
Alkalinity: 8 dKH (API)
Calcium: 460 ppm (API)
Magnesium: 1380 (Salifert)
Note: nitrates have been constantly dropping to 0 while phosphates have been at ~0.25, so I dose nitrates and vodka to try to remove phosphates and algae. Although the vodka has done wonders and the algae is gone, the phosphates still won't go below .25. I also had a GFO bag in there but after reading that it might be the cause of the coral bleaching, I removed it yesterday.
I also dose Part A&B to keep the Ca & Mg up. I target fed the corals with reef roids and phytoplankton.
I also have the light intensity low ( 30%), and the chalice is located at the bottom of the rock, but not in the shade, so I can't image the light intensity being the issue.
Anyone have any thoughts? The image below shows what the coral looked like yesterday (left) compared to 6 weeks ago when I first got it (right). I've read in some places that it could be new growth, but to me it seems like it's shrinking instead of growing. I first noticed the white edges about 3 weeks ago.