Bleaching Acros   6/7/08
Hi guys,
<Mmm, and gals>
I have a 90g reef, the setup is: The tank has been up a year, it has 110-125lbs of live rock, an outer orbit 2x150w halide with actinic t5's, pH is at 8.2, Alk is at 9dkh, calc 410-450, nitrates 0, nitrites 0, a 30g fuge with a PhosBan reactor,
<... might be removing too much...>
 protein skimmer and calc reactor, the fuge has some GARF grunge
<... just old broken up rock...>
in it, as for livestock, I have a few tangs, a couple damsels, a maroon clown, and assorted crabs/snails, and now to the problem, my sps are all bleaching, no matter the placement in the tank they bleach, and I can't figure out why they are doing this, I tried placing them on the bottom of the tank so they can get accustomed to the lighting, and that didn't work so I tried moving them up a bit and that didn't work either, you guys are the experts, what do you think I should do? I'm stumped.
Thanks, Rob
<... something/s not right here... How long has this tank been up, running... What is new? Water quality supplement use? Addition of livestock-wise? Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/CnidIndex2.htm
the second to bottom tray... on SPS... Acroporids in part., health/disease. Bob Fenner>
 

Help with SPS - 05/01/08 Good morning Crew. <<Evening now…hello Andy, Eric here>> I hope you're all doing well. <<Speaking for myself, yes…thank you>> I hope you can help me. <<I shall try>> I have recently started to focus on SPS corals and am experiencing some problems with a few of my additions. I have a 110g display (48" x 30" x 18"). Lighting is 2x250W HQI (12,500K and 14,000K--I'm currently experimenting with bulbs, but haven't made any changes during the time that these problems arose). <<Okay>> I employ a 30g refugium with Chaetomorpha (reverse daylight cycle), about 12lbs of LR, and a 5" DSB. <<Excellent>> My Chaeto grows very well--I thin it every 2 weeks. <<Mmm, yes…is doing as it is intended…but continuous vigorous growth may indicate an "excess" of organic compounds. Merely an observation…>> Circulation is 2 x Koralia 3s and 2 x MaxiJet 1200s, plus a Little Giant 1,325 gph return pump. Filtration is via a wet-dry filter and a Coralife Super Skimmer that pulls about a cup of dark green skimmate every 2 days or so. <<Hmm, hard to gauge this output (I do not think much of these skimmers)>> I run carbon in the sump that I change out every other week, and I also run a bag of PhosBan in the sump that I change out every month or so. My numbers are as follows: specific gravity is 1.0265; ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are 0 ppm; pH is a steady 8.3; calcium is 450 ppm; magnesium is 1,125 ppm (a little low--I'm working on this with Brightwell Aquatics Magnesium-P); phosphate is somewhere between 0-.015 ppm (Salifert test kit--these are difficult to read); and alkalinity is 3.5 mEq./L. All mixing/top-off water is RO/DI with a TDS of 0 ppm. My tank inhabitants are (I'll leave out the fish, since I don't think these problems are fish-related): <<I see>> SPS: 1 very nice purple Acro millepora; 1 frag Acropora that my LFS calls "Marshall Island Acro"; 2 frags purple tipped Acro (don't know the name…problem coral--see attached pic "Acro bleaching.jpg"); 1 very nice piece of Montipora capricornis or Merulina ampliata (WWM Crew thinks it's a Monti cap, but others on Reef Central think its Merulina--it does have 1" sweeper tentacles at night--see attached pic "monticap 2.jpg"); <<Note the thin valleys spreading fanwise from the center…I think this might be Merulina scabricula>> 1 medium Montipora capricornis (problem coral); 1 branching Acro (again. . . ); and 1 neon green tipped Acro (again . . . see attached pic "neon acro.jpg"). All the SPS are placed in the upper half of my tank, about 20" from bulb to coral. <<If they weren't "acclimated" to this placement under the lighting, this may well be the/part of the issue>> LPS: 2 Trachyphyllia (maroon and neon green); 1 nice piece (5 polyps) Caulastrea; and 3-4 polyps Blastomussa merleti that I had given up for dead but have started to take off. Softies: 2 very nice and thriving Capnella; 1 very nice and thriving Dendronephthya; 15 or so various Corallimorphs placed throughout the lower portions of my tank away from LPS and SPS (several green and purple Rhodactis, one Ricordea, several Green Hairy). <<Some quite noxious neighbors to the Acroporids>> I realize that the Corallimorphs are not compatible with the SPS and LPS. <<Depending on "ratios"…it can be managed>> They were my first inverts, and I plan to sell/give new polyps away as they split. Okay, so here are my problems. Most of my SPS are doing very well, show full coloration and full polyp extension, and are growing. I feed them every 3 or so nights with Eric Borneman's famous fish food and DT's Oyster Eggs. <<I am a big proponent of feeding your inverts well (and vertebrate life too!), but you must also take steps to allow for the added nutrients to the system…and broadcast feeding corals adds a LOT of nutrients. I see you employ carbon and PhosBan, but I would also suggest adding the use of Poly-Filter with these…preferably in a small canister filter. I also think your skimmer is not performing as needed and your tank and its inhabitants would greatly benefit from an upgrade to a quality piece of gear>> The two Marshall Island Acro frags, the polyps of which are fully extended at night, did something very strange when I introduced them to my display. I drip acclimated them in my sump for 2.5 hours. They were a deep maroon color, with a fully encrusted, emerald green base. I placed them in semi-shaded areas of the tank to minimize any light shock (they were under 400W SE 20,000K bulbs at the LFS and 108W of 10,000K HO T5s in my QT) with plans to slowly move them into full light over time. <<Ah…very good>> Within 30 minutes of placing them in my display, however, the emerald green bases completely faded and portions of the frag turned a bland cream color. <<A reaction to your water chemistry and/or noxious chemicals from the soft corals/Corallimorpharians>> I spoke with my LFS and it said that this quick fading was really unusual, but I assure you it did happen. <<I believe you>> As I said, these frags do have completely extended polyps at night and seem to be regaining the maroon color they originally had, but I am wondering why this happened and what I might do in the future to prevent this from happening. <<Mmm…is hard to say for sure…but my thought is, a reaction to allelopathy>> The attached picture shows you what these corals look like now. <<Yes, I see>> My LFS said it could be subtle differences in alkalinity between the LFS system and my tanks, <<Would need to be more than "subtle" I think…and even then, not likely with good/slow acclimation as you describe>> but this even did not happen in QT so I am leaning towards a conclusion that it is somehow related to my lighting (although I haven't ruled out possible allelopathy, but with carbon, good spacing and the fact that my other SPS are doing well, I don't know about this). <<Could be any or all these things…differing species collected from differing niches of the reef can react…well…differently. There is also the chance these specimens were "already damaged" before you acquired them>> The second problem is with one of the Monti caps. I've noticed over the past few days that it is slowly bleaching from the base up. It is green and cupped, and I lose about 1/16" of color per 24 hours. <<A bad sign>> The edges appear to show signs of growth, but obviously something is amiss. <<Indeed…fragging the healthy portion away from the base is likely in order here>> If you need a picture, I will send one but I hope/think my description of the problem should suffice. <<It does>> The other Monti cap is doing great, has developed deeper, brighter coloring and has grown about 1/2" since I got it about 1.5 months ago. I was considering whether an iodine dip using a coral dip product by Brightwell Aquatics might help, but have read mixed feelings about such dips here on WWM. <<Can be beneficial as a prophylactic treatment…but also has some risk, in my opinion>> Any thoughts on what is going on with these corals? <<As stated>> Thanks so much. Andy <<Happy to assist. EricR>>