Bleaching Coral

[neogenix]

So, Picked up a few frags, of that bunch 2 of them seem to be bleeching, one seems to be loosing color, outside of lighting changes, what could be causing this?

[neogenix]

Water check -

Nitrates - 0
Nitrites - 0
Amonia - 0
Salinity - 1.023
Magnesium - 1450 (or maybe a bit more, have to really learn to use this tropic marin test kit better)
Calcium - ~ 300

Feeding twice a week with Coral Frenzy.

[Gseclipse02]

what kind of coral? were did u place them?

[hobogato]

salinity may be a little low - especially if they are sps. also, calcium definitely needs to come up. what is your alkalinity?

[ACE]

Is it bleaching from the bottom or the top? If it is from the bottom, 9 times out of 10 it is caused by higher temperatures

[neogenix]

what kind of coral? were did u place them?

Acro, around 2/3 of the way up through, two of the pieces seem to be doing fine (green tip and green birds nest) they seem to even be growing! The others were that far up, but figured that originally it may be too much light so pushed them down to the sand bed.


salinity may be a little low - especially if they are sps. also, calcium definitely needs to come up. what is your alkalinity?

Yup, SPS. I'll bring the salinity up a little today and then the rest tomorrow. Do you guys suggest 1.025? Not sure on Alk, will test later (with PH)


Is it bleaching from the bottom or the top? If it is from the bottom, 9 times out of 10 it is caused by higher temperatures

It's from the top seemingly, but originally they seemed to be growing (growth tips and all) and now they seem to be loosing color and what have you, honestly *nothing* has changed in the tank outside of the water level dropping as usual.

I'm planning my weekendly water change. I've bumped the dose of calc up a little but i'll retest every day and see what the numbers end up being later this week. Even though the whole frags are bleaching, is it possible for them to recover?

[neogenix]

Alk - around 5.5 (did two tests, got varied results, could've just been that I'm challenged with the dropper)
PH - Around 8.2
Salinity Re-Check - 1.023

Also, I dose with ESV 2 part, 15ML each part for my 60G total system volume, and was dosing the magnesium until it tested as high as it is now.

[neogenix]

Also, what's a good target number for all of these values?

[hobogato]

Alk - around 5.5

is this in meq/l or dKh? if it is dKh, it is really low, and if it is meq/l, it is a bit high (which might explain the burned tips on the sps)

[neogenix]

It's meq/l, what's the best way to bring it down? Just plain old water changes?

[neogenix]

They're hiding out at stangchris's house, he said they're already looking better. The odd thing is the other two seem to be happy.. :|

[hobogato]

it should come down on its own, but you can do a few small water changes over the next few days to help it along.

[Big_Pun]

sps is so touchy i have one or 2 pieces that have browned out a lil, sometimes they bounce back, i just think its due to swings in your system since its still new. once it matures i believe it will stable out, you shouldnt need to dose yet either ide just do water changes and wait till you start to really fill the tank with coral

[neogenix]

Yup yup, doing a 20% over this week... so that should hopefully help me even it out.

[ErikH]

Keep your alk and ca inline and from there your only other major causes are pest, temp, flow, and lighting. It will get way too easy. :)

[Big_Pun]

Keep your alk and ca inline and from there your only other major causes are pest, temp, flow, and lighting. It will get way too easy. :)

SPS Made Easy by Erik H, lol, but ur right i just dose according to bottle, and thats it i havent tested my levels since i started hmmm

[neogenix]

Keep your alk and ca inline and from there your only other major causes are pest, temp, flow, and lighting. It will get way too easy. :)

yeah, time will get it worked out for me, I'm sure. Everything looks quite chipper after my 15% change over the last week or so.


SPS Made Easy by Erik H, lol, but ur right i just dose according to bottle, and thats it i havent tested my levels since i started hmmm

Yup, yup, just time and patience ;)