Tyree Pink Lemonade browned out, no polyp extension on branches

[javisaman]

Hi All,


My tank is 75g with a 20g sump. It's been up and running for over 3 years, but there was a major crash over a year ago (killing 95% of my coral and all of my fish). I've been keeping LPS and zoas fine for some time and I've added SPS a couple of months ago. The SPS so far have been doing well except for pink lemonade. All corals start on a frag rack at the bottom of the tank and move up over the course of weeks. Right now the pink lemonade is 3/4 up the rock work and about 1/2 height in the tank. The lights are about 20" from the top of the coral (13" from the water surface). There has been a little bit of encrusting and a little bit of poly extension around the base, but otherwise, the coral is pretty bland and brown. I have no fish!

The lights are 3 x XR15 G4 pros, 4 x ATI T5 (2 x Coral Blue +, 2 x actinic). The lights run around 35% LED for 8 hours, and T5 for 4.5 hours. I have 2 x Maxspect Gyres 230s on the backwall for flow and an Ecotech MP40QD on the side.

The relevant parameters are:
Alk: 9.3 dKH
Calc: 440 ppm
Magnesium: 1290 ppm
Phosphate: 0.07 ppm
Nitrate: 4 ppm

I've had red bugs in a previous tank 10 years ago and I do remember what they look like. I don't see any bugs/pods or anything moving on the frag. I've attached the macro. What you are seeing is the shaded side facing the front glass.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Assure you haven’t experienced:
Elevated phosphate
Elevated salinity
Alk spike
Low calcium
Change in water flow
Pests such as flatworms

 

[javisaman]

1. Could be. Phosphates do move around from 0.03-.09. Never measured anything higher than 0.09 though
2. Salinity is high at 1.027
3. There was a .5 Alk spike when I removed all coralline algae from the glass. Went from 165ppm to 179 ppm alkalinity.
4. I think calcium has been stable. Around 420-450
5. Definite possibility. I moved the coral from the frag rack to the rockwork so definitely a different flow pattern.
6. I hope not! Haven't seen any flatworms. That light patch looks worse in the picture than it really is, just a little pale.

 

[Apotack]

The pink lemonade I have likes a lot of water movement and a lot of light.

 

[SPS2020]

Are the other SPS Acropora or ???
Any PAR measurements?
Does the T5 time overlap the LED time (i.e., 8 hours total or 12.5 hours total)?
Fish are friends, not food!

 

[javisaman]

So it's been a while, but I'd like to post an update in case it benefits someone else. I was able to get it color up with some patience.

First I put it low and center in the tank and made sure my alkalinity stayed a solid 7.5 -7.8 dKh. I tried to keep my phosphates "elevated" to around 0.07 - 0.15 and nitrates between 7-10ppm. I still don't have any fish.

Sorry, it's not the best picture (behind a rock now). But you can see some nice coloration (it's a lot more yellow, less green than the picture) and has decent polyp extension and good encrusting. Still doesn't grow vertically at all.