Would an upward swing in ALK from 8 to 12 turn a set of lobos or favia white?

[ReefKeeper666]

So I have a set of lobos and favia that are white in spots. I bought and started a new tank recently and transferd fish and corals from a temp tank to the new tank. The only means I had to do this was some Home Depot buckets and a pump to drip acclimate. All fish are fine. About 48 hours late the lobos have turned white on some spots and don’t look as colorful. It’s been 2 weeks. Lobos are no better or no worse. Now I’m starting to see the same with the favia, about 3 days ago. when testing my water phosphates and alk were high. Phosphates are now at 0.10 down from 0.16. Alk due to coral pro salt is staying at 12dkh. I just realized that the last reading I took from the temp tank had the Alk at 8dkh. Is this the likely culprit? Other corals in tank are Xenia, Blastos, Kenya tree, cinnamon rolls, ricordia and all look happy.

 

[KrisReef]

Seems likely.
What is a "cinnamon roll"?

 

[HB AL]

Yup

 

[ReefKeeper666]

Seems likely.
What is a "cinnamon roll"?

They are softies. Have a stem and open up to a large brown red like circle at the end. When upset retract inside their stem.

 

[dk2nt9]

Overheating, toxins or too strong light in the tank with almost no phosphates and nitrates are more likely causes than high alkalinity. They could contract, shrivel, but not bleach.

 

[ReefKeeper666]

Overheating, toxins or too strong light in the tank with almost no phosphates and nitrates are more likely causes than high alkalinity. They could contract, shrivel, but not bleach.

Ok so I doubt it’s over heating. My tanks thermometer says 77 degrees. I also happen to have a laser thermometer from my work tools. I checked the waters surface in a few spots and the laser thermometer is also saying 76.3 to 77 degrees.
Toxins? From what possibly? It’s a new tank with new live sand and established rock from my old tank.
I doubt my light is too strong. I have 1 AI 32 HD over the tank. I know they are strong lights. So to start the tank I have the whites at 0, green and red at 1 pct and and the blues and UVs in the 35 pct range. On top of this it’s running a 30 day acclimation ramp up.
You are saying no/low phosphates and nitrates. But using Hanna testers 0.1 is still high for phosphates and my nitrates being around 3.5 is a lil low but optimal is 1-5ppm for most stony corals so I’m in range. Is there perhaps an issue with the light being too intense at the lower settings with the phos/nitrate numbers I have?

 

[casey012293]

High alkalinity without appropriately higher nutrients will cause coral burning.

 

[Arego]

I've jumped from 9.5 to 11.3 accidentally in 2 days, it took 4 or 5 days for it to come down naturally. No losses or color changes, mixed.

 

[ReefKeeper666]

High alkalinity without appropriately higher nutrients will cause coral burning.

The coral pro salt does have higher nutrients. But If the nutrients were lower and in balance in the other tank is the upswing of the parameters causing the corals to turn white possibly?

 

[SlugSnorter]

So I have a set of lobos and favia that are white in spots. I bought and started a new tank recently and transferd fish and corals from a temp tank to the new tank. The only means I had to do this was some Home Depot buckets and a pump to drip acclimate. All fish are fine. About 48 hours late the lobos have turned white on some spots and don’t look as colorful. It’s been 2 weeks. Lobos are no better or no worse. Now I’m starting to see the same with the favia, about 3 days ago. when testing my water phosphates and alk were high. Phosphates are now at 0.10 down from 0.16. Alk due to coral pro salt is staying at 12dkh. I just realized that the last reading I took from the temp tank had the Alk at 8dkh. Is this the likely culprit? Other corals in tank are Xenia, Blastos, Kenya tree, cinnamon rolls, ricordia and all look happy.

yes, they could have bleached from rapid alk swing. Corals hate, hate, hate large swings especially with Alk or PH. How did alk swing like that?

 

[ReefKeeper666]

yes, they could have bleached from rapid alk swing. Corals hate, hate, hate large swings especially with Alk or PH. How did alk swing like that?

I had a temporary tank running in parents house. When I set the tank up the alk was around 8, either my dad (when I was out of town for work) or I were manually dosing the nutrients to maintain. The new tank having all new water the alk for coral pro salt is 12. So they were moved from a tank that was maintained at 8 to a tank that is running at 12.

 

[casey012293]

The coral pro salt does have higher nutrients. But If the nutrients were lower and in balance in the other tank is the upswing of the parameters causing the corals to turn white possibly?

From my understanding an Alk swing like that would cause the skeleton to precipitate faster than the coral can cover and the stretched skin burns much easier. Tanks growing corals at higher alkalinity typically keep nutrients like nitrate and phosphate slightly higher than normal to allow more uptake, not the trace elements like in salt.

Other reasons for whitening could be increased water temperature or big swing in nitrate or phosphate.

 

[ReefKeeper666]

From my understanding an Alk swing like that would cause the skeleton to precipitate faster than the coral can cover and the stretched skin burns much easier. Tanks growing corals at higher alkalinity typically keep nutrients like nitrate and phosphate slightly higher than normal to allow more uptake, not the trace elements like in salt.

Other reasons for whitening could be increased water temperature or big swing in nitrate or phosphate.

Well If the parameters from the temporary tank to new tank are different across the board, obviously because they are two different tanks. The other few corals in the tank are all fine. soft corals and Blastos which are lps. In fact blastos are nice and fluffy looking. So I’m trying to figure out what is bothering the favia and lobos. I did a water change last night. Levels today are:
salinity: 1.026
temp: 77 deg.
Ph: 8.0
ammonia: 0
nitrite0.25( wondering why that’s elevated was at 0 last week after water change)
nitrates: 4.10
alkalinity: 11.5
calcium:450
magnesium: 1350
phosphates 0.9

light is an AI 32 HD
UV:45 %
violet:65%
royal: 30%
green: 1%
red: 1%
moonlight: 0
cool white: 2%
lights are on a 30 day ramp up cycle to those numbers and are just over 2 weeks in.

 

[X-37B]

Sounds like alk shock to me.
Going from 8-12 could certainly be the issue. I would not change alk by more than 1 dkh a week.
I went from 7 to 8 recently and did it over a period of 2 weeks just to be safe.
Sps, lps, and all corals like stability.
Some corals can take it some cant.
Its always good to check the alk from lfs too as most in my area run 10ish and I run 8.

 

[ReefKeeper666]

Sounds like alk shock to me.
Going from 8-12 could certainly be the issue. I would not change alk by more than 1 dkh a week.
I went from 7 to 8 recently and did it over a period of 2 weeks just to be safe.
Sps, lps, and all corals like stability.
Some corals can take it some cant.
Its always good to check the alk from lfs too as most in my area run 10ish and I run 8.

So that brings a good question. If the guy I buy from or plan too in the futures alk is 8 and my tank is let’s say a 10. What’s the best way to acclimate that new coral?

 

[X-37B]

So that brings a good question. If the guy I buy from or plan too in the futures alk is 8 and my tank is let’s say a 10. What’s the best way to acclimate that new coral?

Well that is a good question!
You can drip acclimate the bag like you do fish for a few hours.
It would be better than just putting it in.
For me I have found going from higher alk like most lfs of 9-10ish to 7-8 which I run my tank at is easier on corals.
No need to adjust has been my experience.

For me I see no advantage of running alk higher than 8 which is my current target. I ran 7 for a few years and now like the small buffer of 8 vs 7.

Remember average ocean alk is 6.7-7.

 

[ReefKeeper666]

Well that is a good question!
You can drip acclimate the bag like you do fish for a few hours.
It would be better than just putting it in.
For me I have found going from higher alk like most lfs of 9-10ish to 7-8 which I run my tank at is easier on corals.
No need to adjust has been my experience.

For me I see no advantage of running alk higher than 8 which is my current target. I ran 7 for a few years and now like the small buffer of 8 vs 7.

Remember average ocean alk is 6.7-7.

I’m going to shoot for 8 as well. I think I’ll just let it naturally come down and wait a while before adding coral.