White areas on sps

[blufin]

So over the past month or so, I have noticed several of my acros have developed white areas on them. I don't see exposed skeleton but it looks as if the tissue is dead/dying. These areas are showing up on various species and are located in odd but similar places. They are not on the tips, but seem to be lower on the coral, near the base or in crevices. My Pink Panther has these spots, Millis and the TDF. My parameters are as follows:
Salinity-1.025
Dkh-8.6
Ca-450
No3-0
Po4-0
Mg-1260
Ph-8.2
Temp-78

Lighting: 2x250w mh, 20k Radiums, approx 6 months old
2x54w t5 blue plus and 2x54w aqua blue special.
90 gallon
Mp40 for circulation
Fuge with cheato

I recently changed out a mh lamp, but this issue started before that change. I understand that zero no3 and po4 are not ideal, but it is impossible to raise them as I'm running a plenum system that keeps them at zero, even with daily feeding of the fish, daily acro power and daily oyster feast. There have been no significant changes recently and I have also noticed some decline in overall color of the corals.
If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them.
Thanks.

 

[Russ*Acro]

How long has the system been going? If its been running for years with 0 n/p and was always alright before then I wouldn't say that's the problem, unless the levels have dropped more recently without your knowledge. If its new i'd say that's most likely the problem. Inspect closely make sure there's no bugs. Any tank i've ran ULNS with something pulling out n/p ive had pale white colors. Took all that offline and see immediate changes. You said you just changed out old bulbs, its possible the par was really low if the bulbs were totally shot and that could be the problem. If I were you i'd find a par meter and a water sample to send in to triton. Good luck !

 

[Tahoe61]

Consider letting the alk drift down if your running a N/P low system.

 

[Russ*Acro]

Good catch! alk is a bit high for ulns

 

[blufin]

The system has been up for about 2 years now. The white spots showed up 1-2 months ago, well before the mh bulb change. The system has always been zero n/p, not on purpose, but just because of the type of sump i'm running. When I first set it up, I had several problems that contributed to rtn/ stn, once those problems were solved, the corals seemed to flourish. Now this.
If i was running a ulns with alk that's too high, wouldn't I see burnt tips, instead of further down the coral?
I'm not running gfo and was going without my skimmer for the past few months, because i had low n/p. I just turned the skimmer back on a week ago to see what would happen.

My tdf and sexy corals OP look so bad, if I had it fragged and in a shop, you would not consider buying them. OP is pale and colorless and so it tdf.

I'll let the alk slowly start coming down and see what happens

 

[Diesel]

Besides the ALK, you have to get the PO4 come up, I rub ULNS and my ALK is 7.8 and PO4 is 0.03 give an take but most times yes.
Feeding twice a week some AA (amino acids) isn't bad either for color and don't forget to check your K.
Potassium is in ULNS a element that will run low very fast.

 

[zemuss]

Where does K need to be at?
PO4 is undetectable with what test?
8.6 is high for a UNLS? How about 8.1?

 

[blufin]

Besides the ALK, you have to get the PO4 come up, I rub ULNS and my ALK is 7.8 and PO4 is 0.03 give an take but most times yes.
Feeding twice a week some AA (amino acids) isn't bad either for color and don't forget to check your K.
Potassium is in ULNS a element that will run low very fast.

How do I get the po4 up? I do @10cc per day of Acro Power and daily oyster feast?
I've never checked Potassium

 

[blufin]

Where does K need to be at?
PO4 is undetectable with what test?
8.6 is high for a UNLS? How about 8.1?

Salifert po4 test kit.
I was shooting for a higher dkh, but settled for 8.6.

 

[Diesel]

How do I get the po4 up? I do @10cc per day of Acro Power and daily oyster feast?
I've never checked Potassium

You can connect your skimmer to a timer in that case what's in your water stays in your water.
How's the overall look of the tank?

 

[zemuss]

Where should K be?

 

[blufin]

The overall look of the tank is good. I've got good pe, but a lot of corals have not colored up or have lost color over the past few months. Putting the skimmer on a timer is easy, I just don't know if low nutrients is my problem. I had the skimmer off for the past few months and that is when my problem started. I think that whatever is causing the white spots is also causing the loss of color

 

[Touring]

Where should K be?

400 ish

 

[Touring]

The overall look of the tank is good. I've got good pe, but a lot of corals have not colored up or have lost color over the past few months. Putting the skimmer on a timer is easy, I just don't know if low nutrients is my problem. I had the skimmer off for the past few months and that is when my problem started. I think that whatever is causing the white spots is also causing the loss of color

touch on what diesel said again by the overall look of your tank.

Are you cleaning the glass every 3 days, Are you getting a film? Whats your skimmer looking like? how often are your water changes because if not many then I am going to say your potassium is in the 340's maybe lower.

When I finally received my red sea kit my k was 325!. I was only doing a 10% water change a week. so I was never really maintaining it. It was slowly getting depleted weekly. I noticed my corals becoming pale and losing color. brought my k up and after a month everything looks good.

Just remember if your corals look bad today try to think of something that went wrong 3 weeks to a month ago.

Get a potassium kit!!! lol good luck

 

[Diesel]

Where should K be?

As T said close to 390/400.

 

[blufin]

touch on what diesel said again by the overall look of your tank.

Are you cleaning the glass every 3 days, Are you getting a film? Whats your skimmer looking like? how often are your water changes because if not many then I am going to say your potassium is in the 340's maybe lower.

When I finally received my red sea kit my k was 325!. I was only doing a 10% water change a week. so I was never really maintaining it. It was slowly getting depleted weekly. I noticed my corals becoming pale and losing color. brought my k up and after a month everything looks good.

Just remember if your corals look bad today try to think of something that went wrong 3 weeks to a month ago.

Get a potassium kit!!! lol good luck

I clean the glass about once a week, maybe 5 days, although there is a lite haze after 3. It is usually a light greenish haze. Some heavy areas produce enough for the sailfin tang to follow the magnet and eat it as it comes off. I've had the skimmer on for about 10 days or so now and the skimmate is very dark. Appears to be about 3-4 finger widths, maybe 2 cups worth. I do a 5 gallon a week water change(90g tank).
I will get a K test kit asap and see what that says. Could an Alk drop be responsible for this dying tissue and loss of color? My alk has been at 8.6-8.9 for the past year and todays test said 7.7 not sure how that happened.

 

[Diesel]

I clean the glass about once a week, maybe 5 days, although there is a lite haze after 3. It is usually a light greenish haze. Some heavy areas produce enough for the sailfin tang to follow the magnet and eat it as it comes off. I've had the skimmer on for about 10 days or so now and the skimmate is very dark. Appears to be about 3-4 finger widths, maybe 2 cups worth. I do a 5 gallon a week water change(90g tank).
I will get a K test kit asap and see what that says. Could an Alk drop be responsible for this dying tissue and loss of color? My alk has been at 8.6-8.9 for the past year and todays test said 7.7 not sure how that happened.

Too much of a ALK drop, test again.
Not saying if that's the result of your white spots.
Btw, did you dip your corals to test for pest?

 

[blufin]

I did the alk test 3 times. Last test was a month ago. I wanna say the spots started before that, but I could be mistaken. Unfortunately, all corals are encrusted, so dipping them now is impossible. They were dipped prior to going in tank

 

[blufin]

Test kit went bad?

 

[afamousjohnson]

Unfortunately, all corals are encrusted, so dipping them now is impossible. They were dipped prior to going in tank

Never impossible - just something most folks would rather not do. If it persists tho you may rethink as fragging will be your last resort in saving a piece depending on how much you love um. It's odd that it's happening in spots not located directly at the base of the coral or up on the tips but rather in the central coral area - that would have me thinking a pest prob. Look at night too in case you have some crazy acro eating night time something that got in.