SPS turned white and brown

[coraline79]

I had to go to Dallas on Friday night, because my grandfather was dying, and I just split. I called my bro inlaw to have him top off the sump every other day, but that is all he did. I also had just messed witht the timer try to reduced the amount of time the lights were on.

Well, I returned last night after the funeral to find that my light seemed to have stayed on the entire time possibly. Now I have lost a ton of color on my rock, and my SPS are basically brown and white.

Am I screwed or will things return to normal after some normal lighting and dosing? I did a 10% water change last night just for the sake of it(i just did one last tuesday).

[coraline79]

Ok, not sure what happened with light to be exact, but the entire tank was lined in some sort of algea like film, kindo of brown.

[ErikH]

The borwn ones may bounce back but the white ones probably bleached, and that's just not good. They expellled the algae from their bodies on which they feed on (zooxanthellae) and that usually stems from a rise in temps, poor water quality, or overexposure to light via a lights time on, or in relation to the distance from the bulb. It's possible that is the brown covering that you are seeing in the tank.

[RayAllen]

yikes, understand why you had to split in a hurry. Sorry for you loss in the family. Id strongly insist on buying a Auto Top Off. The way I see it is; I do not want anyone else unless knowledgeable feeding, toping off or simply doing anything to my tank. You never know what can happen from overflows, contaminating the tank by having something on their hands etc.... I have had a timer malfunction on me before and I had my lights on 24/7 and had a huge algae outbreak. You may want to invest in a Sutomatic feeder for while you are gone as well. So anytime in the future you know you are leaving Dot your I's and Cross your T's.

[RayAllen]

Im not sure you can give them to much light, but dont you have 800watts on a 55g. That may have come into play as well.

[Bill S]

Sounds more like a heat issue rather than light - although it certainly is possible to sunburn your coral.

As Erik said, the white ones are probably toast.

[coraline79]

I appreciate all the feed back. I don't know what did it, but they are looking pretty bad. Good thing I posted the pics before they crapped out. Now I have something to remember them by. The slimer looks dead. It is basically white, the other have some brown in them, no green, and the edges are white. Everything else in the tank was looking ok. Zoas, shrooms, xenia, 2 leathers. As far as a temp thing, I think it is pretty regulated, unless it got really cold while I was gone. I have a window unit just for this tank set on 78.

I will definitely be in the market for an ATO next friday when I get paid + I think next time I have to go out of town, I will need to ask someone with the forum to come by at least once while I am gone for that long. I just new this was going to happen. Thanks guys.

[coraline79]

Im not sure you can give them to much light, but dont you have 800watts on a 55g. That may have come into play as well.

No I have 156 watts of t5 over my 30 long.

[RayAllen]

sorry, just checking all the bases to help you figure out whats going on.

[coraline79]

Looks like I am getting some color back on the green slimer. It was very white, but all the polyps are green. The monti caps are still brown, but the one lower in the tank looks to be getting some green in it. Who knows, maybe they will make it.

[tropicana]

Im the one with 800w over a 55g :)

[coraline79]

seems like everythings color seems to be coming back, but my rock and coraline are very washhed out looking.

[ErikH]

You must have had some nasty swing go on. Keep doing water changes???

[coraline79]

Honestly, I don't know what it was. Like I have mentioned. I do 10-12 day water changes, my numbers are all within spec, went and got a calcium test kit, calcium is good, alk is on the low end, but it is consistent. The only thing that I have had trouble with is the heat. I think it got pretty high while I was gone. It killed my arrow crab but everything else suprisingly is thriving. I am just happy my sps are re coloring. Right now my temp swing is 77-80. not to bad. And 77 is only since these cool mornings have come about(my tank is in the garage, and I haven't had the heater or air on out there this week).