Trying SPS, bleached white overnight / 2 days

[Reef of Fillory]

Good morning,

Noticed yesterday that there seemed to be more white on my new SPS than there was when I got it [growth tips I was assuming].

Today, half of the stick is white and completely dead. One of my other SPS which never took well to my tank [was a rich green color, turned dark green and now is 80% white and bare].

I am at work now, but realized I probably should have removed both of them.

Levels:
ALK: 195 ppm
CAL: 370 ppm
Phosphate: .02 ppm
Mag: 1450 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm

I just adjusted down my refugium light to help bring nutrient levels up [phosphate]

Tank is a 13.5 gallon EVO with two misbar percula clownfish, a BTA and some softies/chalices, acans, zoas etc.


I will post pictures shortly - I still saw poly extension on the white portions of the top SPS yesterday, my lights don't turn on before I leave for the day but there was not as much white yesterday.


Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated!

This was right after getting the coral [1 day later] - you can see the color of the tall skinny one, and on the right side of the picture you can see the small, stubby one in the rocks -not very clearly though]

Here's with the whites on, you can see both corals in question

Here's another similar to the first one, but with whites on

Here's a picture of the coral this morning with no lights on. two sprouts on the base are completely white, and the tips are turning white towards the main stalk

 

[ihavecrabs]

They look like growth to me. Third picture still looks like it has polyps out. Can you confirm?

How is your salinity and temp? Any swings in those or alkalinity?

Also, do you know what parameters these came in from? Specifically Alk, NO3, and PO4?

#reefsquad for more eyes

If the base has gone white, it is typically a sign of an alkalinity swing. If the tank this guy came from was 7-8dkh and you are currently around 10-11dkh, I would expect to see this.

 

[Crabs McJones]

The bottom left branch looks like its whiting out. Generally with new growth its on the tips of the acro. What light do you have this under? Generally if this is RTN its caused by alk swings. I agree with @ihavecrabs going from a 7 to 8DKH tank to an 10 to 11 dkh can be quite a shock.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Salinity is rock solid at 1.026, I have an ATO on the tank so that doesn't change.

I keep the temperature at 78.5 and it swings by about +- .2

I moved my old tank over to this smaller tank about 3 weeks ago, Alk has been steady between 9.5 and 10.5 [kalk in ATO] Nitrates in my old tank were always undetectable, but i've gotten them up to 5 over the past 3 weeks. Phosphate has been consistently between .02 and .05

Edit: I misunderstood the question here, I believe my source runs a 9-9.5 DKH alkalinity


I was thinking growth as well, but the bottom left branch of the main SPS i'm showing was not white before this morning.

The small SPS [not sure what type it is] was dark green until a day or two ago, and it's now 80-90% white.

My light is an AI Prime HD+ which I have in acclimation mode:

Lighting has been acclimating to full blast, could the lighting have increased too quickly, and bleached them out?

 

[Reef of Fillory]

I did not notice whether or not the polyps were out this morning [lights were not on yet] but I can say for sure that polyps were out last night. I have turned off my ATO for now and plan on manually topping off [no kalk addition] just in case the high alk and nutrient levels are the cause.

Literally everything else in the tank is happy, open and full, even though I realize they aren't as picky as SPS

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Did you coral dip? What method did you use? I agree Alk may have had something to do with this.

 

[evoreefer1320]

Since your tank is only 13.5 gallon i would think a alk swing is the problem. jumping a full point of dkh is enough for some coral to stn. What are you using to supplement the alk/ca? Also have you used gfo? Iknow that can cause a alk swing and cause stn to.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Did you coral dip? What method did you use? I agree Alk may have had something to do with this.

I did not dip this coral, typically I dip everything in a Bayer Complete solution [until milky] for 10 minutes, then shake in clean saltwater, let sit for 5-10 more minutes, then into the tank


I've dipped all of the coral i've received from this source, and have never had anything fall off/come out of the corals. Can't say that for other sources though

 

[29bonsaireef]

Looks like a bit of RTN on the branches. How old is the tank? Sand, glass, and back look a little too clean imo. Sometimes stable parameters still aren't enough for SPS, especially acros. They really need a mature tank to do best.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Since your tank is only 13.5 gallon i would think a alk swing is the problem. jumping a full point of dkh is enough for some coral to stn. What are you using to supplement the alk/ca? Also have you used gfo? Iknow that can cause a alk swing and cause stn to.

No GFO I solely rely on the refugium to keep my nutrient levels where I want them. I've been monitoring the ALK while using kalk in my topoff [never used kalk until this tank]. It's been going from 175 ppm to 195 ppm, so 9.9-10.9.

I mixed up the kalk with less than 1 tsp [or tbsp - can't remember] per gallon and water change with IO - is it likely that the high ALK is my problem?


Since i'm supplementing major parameters via kalk and periodic dosing, should I got for a more mild salt mix for water changes? Like Tropic Marin Pro?

Tbh i'm new to the water change game - I did 2 water changes on my previous tank over 1.5 years

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Looks like a bit of RTN on the branches. How old is the tank? Sand, glass, and back look a little too clean imo. Sometimes stable parameters still aren't enough for SPS, especially acros. They really need a mature tank to do best.

This particular tank is 3 weeks old, everything [except the sand] was pulled from my old tank which itself was transferred from my 75 gallon, overall ~1.5 years old. The rock came from the base of my previous structure [light deprived - coraline has just started to take hold]


Edit: I have never gotten great coraline growth on my rock, but it grows like mad on my glass. This time it seems to be growing over the rock, thankfully

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Coraline growth is a good sign your tank is ready for sps. I'm going to chalk this one up to ALK shock. Kalk will work fine once you find the sweet spot and stability. you may not really need any for a while. I'd test ALK daily until you see it start dropping then add some kalk. Stability is key. Also your water change water needs to be close to your tank water so you don't swing the alk, or just nothing more than a 10% water change if it doesn't.

 

[Fyveonit]

Age means a lot, I took some acro frags from a friend about the same time as you (3 weeks after cycle). They did the same...let your reef mature for a few months.

Monitor the frag, some of mine pulled through...if it still has polyps showing on it keep it where it is as it "likes" where it is, but was stressed.

Keeping a 13.5 Gal stable once things are growing and eating Alk / Calcium is going to be fun.

Stick to LPS, Birdsnests, Montis etc until it has some age / stability in a few months....Give it time SPS needs stability over any other "number" in the reef

My reef is going on 1.5 yrs now and Monti / Acros a plenty! ..Adding a pic of my Rainbow Wilsoni Brain as well just b/c

 

[evoreefer1320]

When you say you use kalk in your top off do you use a doser to drip it in? Or do you have a auto top off that dumps it in? In a tank that size you will get a alk spike + ph spike if you just put in in a normal ato. Most coral would be fine sps not so much though.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

Thanks eve

When you say you use kalk in your top off do you use a doser to drip it in? Or do you have a auto top off that dumps it in? In a tank that size you will get a alk spike + ph spike if you just put in in a normal ato. Most coral would be fine sps not so much though.

It is in an ATO, not dripped - I do have the sensors very close together so it comes on multiple times a day and deposits a small amount of water. I don't have a way to drip it in [no space to put a container above the tank] and no controller to control a dosing head.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Sometimes stable parameters still aren't enough for SPS, especially acros. They really need a mature tank to do best.

Age means a lot, I took some acro frags from a friend about the same time as you (3 weeks after cycle). They did the same...let your reef mature for a few months.

I will challenge the statement on age of the tank. While it may make it easier (using the term "easier" relatively as SPS are hardly easy) to keep SPS in a well established tank, it is possible to keep them in a system that is not matured.

Rigorous and vigilant testing, observation, and control of parameters is essential at the early stages of a system.

Experience helps a lot and isn't always enough.

What I will agree on is that of you don't want to risk a bunch of $$$ on frags, definitely wait for the system to mature and balance [emoji4]

 

[Anirban]

First don't freak out and start changing a lot of things together. SPS are sensitive and they love balance so just dont change a lot of things altogether. First lower down the Alk a bit or increase your nutrients. Lower down the light intensity to 50%. Then wait. Once the system stabilize with new parameters then you can play a bit. High Alk with high light intensity can create alot of damage to SPS. Generally if your nutrients are up the damage is less.

 

[evoreefer1320]

If you could find a way to put it on a doser i think that would help. It would keep everything a lot more stable and in a tank that size its a hard thing to do. You could even test your alk before that auto top off comes on and then test it after to see what kind of alk swing you get.

 

[Reef of Fillory]

First don't freak out and start changing a lot of things together. SPS are sensitive and they love balance so just dont change a lot of things altogether. First lower down the Alk a bit or increase your nutrients. Lower down the light intensity to 50%. Then wait. Once the system stabilize with new parameters then you can play a bit. High Alk with high light intensity can create alot of damage to SPS. Generally if your nutrients are up the damage is less.

What nutrient levels might you suggest with an ALK in the 10 DKH range?

Sitting at .02 ppm phosphate [I have always overfed, but still have low phosphate levels]
and 5 ppm Nitrate [Salifert] - I had to dose Nitrate [stump remover] on my last tank so this is a nice change, but I have liked the 3-5 range

 

[Reef of Fillory]

If you could find a way to put it on a doser i think that would help. It would keep everything a lot more stable and in a tank that size its a hard thing to do. You could even test your alk before that auto top off comes on and then test it after to see what kind of alk swing you get.

I'll give that a shot tonight, for now the ATO is turned off until I figure it out, i'll manually top off.

I don't think there's a doser that doesn't require a controller, that will add in kalk/ATO slowly enough? [one that isn't real expensive at least]
And if I were to buy a "fancy" doser, i'd probably just go with 2-part