What's going on?

[BIGBIRD123]

Well, I got up this morning to find most of my SPS bleached-out or they actually look RTN'd. I checked parimeters last night.

Nitrates - 0
Phosphates - 0.1
Alk - 4.8
Ca - 475
dKH - 13.8
Salinity - 1.024
ph - 8.3

I don't know what's up or what to do. Any one have any clues? I believe that I have lost 4 or 5 colonies and about 10 good frags. Trying to figure out how to save what's left.

HELP ME PLEASE!

Steve

[GaryP]

Did you do anything to your tank yesterday or the previous few days? Add chemicals or anything else? What about temperature in the last few days, did it get hot? Did you recently change bulbs?

[GaryP]

Phosphates are definitely issue here but I've never heard of .1 ppm phosphates causing bleaching unless they were overgrown with hair algae as a result of the phosphates.

Has there been a death of something in the tank recently?

[BIGBIRD123]

I have never had hair algae. I added a fuge last month. As I told you Gary, I added about 2g a lime-water two days ago. No new bulbs, skimmer and temps stay around 78 degrees. I have to keep a heater on to keep it at that temp. I had a Foxface die recently but was there at the last quiver to remove him. Could flow be a problem? In my fuge, I have had an explosion of growth in my macros. I never do feel like I have enough flow.

[NaCl_H2O]

Did you test dKH or PH after ading the limewater? If it has been 2 days and your dKH is now 13.8, it may have spiked VERY high along with PH much higher than 8.3?

Did you add a limewater slurry, or just the clear liquid? Over what period of time did you add the 2g of limewater?

[BIGBIRD123]

I tested two days later. This is the first time I had a test that was worth a sh*t. I used others before. My ph stays at 8.2 - 8.3 every day without my Ca reactor running ( I have a monitor). I add 2-3g of Limewater all at once to my sump opposite side of the pump and I have been doing this for the last year with no ill effects. I only use the clear part of the mixture. You see, I had never (I can't say never because I used crappy test kits before with bad results, with the kit not the tank) tested my tank and had no problems with anything before. I have been wanting to get a few GOOD test kits (Salifert) and just see how everything was. Three days ago, I noticed a little RTN'n on one of my colonies, so, I decided to test. I tested last night and this is what I got up to today. It just seems so sudden. I've not really did anything diofferent than usual.

Steve

[NaCl_H2O]

Hum, I think I'm stumped too? Did you test Ammonia & Nitrite too? More flow might help general health, but don't think that would cause "sudden" changes. Your increased Macro growth is not a good indication, maybe your Phosphates are much higher than is showing? Phosphate test kits suck - all of them!

Maybe try a Phosphate sponge?

[gjuarez]

So you put in the limewater all in at once? i have heard that it is supposed to be dripped at night to keep the ph from rising. Is this correct or not Gary?

[NaCl_H2O]

In general, it should be added slowly, but slowly depends on the volume of your tank. 2g all at once in a 135 sounds like too much to me, but Steve said he has been doing this for some time now.

If my calc is right, Limewater = 12.5 PH, 2g added to his 135 (say 100g of water) at PH = 8.3 would raise the PH of the tank by 0.1, but the PH rise in the sump and inlet areas to the tank could get much higher momentarily.

[gjuarez]

yeah it is minimal Steve, but the change is very rapid not gradually. You think that may play a factor?

[NaCl_H2O]

You think that may play a factor?

Maybe, but I "accidentally" dumped (My top off pump stuck "On") a huge amount of Kalkwater into my tanks once and drove the PH up to 8.6+ in a matter of minutes. I caught it and dosed some Vinegar to get it under control ... no obvious ill effects except one fish bit the dust.

[gjuarez]

Oh, ok. I thought it would play a bigger role. I am still confused about what might have happened to bigbird's tank.

[GaryP]

I have never heard of anyone slugging Kalk like that in a tank. Its not something I would recommend for a couple of reasons. Sometimes stresses are additive and this time the sudden changes in water chemistry on top of some other unidentified factor may have been enough to cause the bleaching. It could also been that this method was stressing the corals a little every time and this time was enough to do permanent damage.

I'm surprised that adding Kalk like this hasn't caused your return pump to scale up or cause a blizzard. Scale formation occurs more rapidly at high pH.

Give your corals time, just because they are bleached doesn't mean they are dead. They may come back. Bleaching is the process by which the corals expel their zoanthellae algae. All it takes is for one polyp to remain alive for it to recover and grow back.

[gjuarez]

I was thinking the same thing Gary. I am very careful when I dose Kalkwasser and I make sure that I drip it slowly. I do it at night when the ph drops a little. As I had stated before, I too believe that this could have been the cause of the rtn.

[BIGBIRD123]

I run carbon and Fritz phosphate remover in my sump, in the baffle just before the return side. It may sound strange but I have been doing this for a year and the 2g of limewater never even raises my ph. I re-calibrate my ph monitor every two months, so I know it's accurate.

[gjuarez]

Did you anything in the past week that you dont normally do? Did a family member spray deodorant or something that may have gotten into the aquarium?

[mathias]

carpet cleaner? like the deodorizer powder.........

[BIGBIRD123]

I have a set routine and my kids are older and "value" where they reside.

BIGBIRD123 World Order Dictionary of definitions: value (noun): 1.STAY AWAY FROM THE TANK!

[NaCl_H2O]

BIGBIRD123 World Order Dictionary of definitions: value (noun): 1.STAY AWAY FROM THE TANK!

lol ... From discussions above I think the two best guesses are PH/Alk spike from Limewater or Phosphates?

Unless you have been talking to Joshua and you tried dosing Milk ;)

BTW - What Kalkwasser powder are you using?

[BIGBIRD123]

Mrs Wages

[GaryP]

I think it may have just finally caught up with you.