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HELP!!!! SPS Bleaching

E

Elcammer

Everytime I put new piece of SPS it bleaches from bottom up. Does anybody have a solution? Nitrates a little high at 0.5 and P04 is neglible have phosreactor. DSC05018.jpg:sour::sour:

Thanks

Rob
 
Sobo's Reef

Sobo's Reef

How are you acclimating them? What kind of lights are you running? Placement of coral?

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
All good questions above. Also where are you getting the SPS? What is your alk?
 
E

Elcammer

Switch from high intensity LED to T5 Coralife, Alkalinity between 9-10, both brain coral that is on bottom and the picture one which is placed mid height in the aquarium are bleaching
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

+1 above, toss the pictured coral. It's beyond fragging and it will breed bacteria that will assault any others that may be stressed.
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

You need to think about the parameters that the new colony was taken from....going from an alk of 7-8 to 9-10 can be a killer for some varieties.
 
Sobo's Reef

Sobo's Reef

6 to 7 alk is actually low. You should be around 8 atleast IMO for sps. How many watts is your T5 fixture? Are you light acclimating them? Drip acclimating? All major factors and why would you switch from LED to T5? That's almost like downgrading lol

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

Is there still flesh on the bottom or did it stn? If there is still flesh I would just lower it in the tank and let it adjust until it starts to color up, then I'd start to move it up until you reach your desired spot.

Bleaching can be from such a large variety of issues that I would give it time before chucking it. I've seen and had many of bleached(not stn/rtn) sps come back after bleaching, just as long as there is still flesh and not just skeleton.
 
Xavier613

Xavier613

Where are you getting these corals from? Is it the same place? Are they freshly brought in or grown in a tank?
How long is it in your tank on average before you start to see it dying off?
What are your water parameters?
Are these in low or high flow areas?
Is it always the same spot in the tank?


There are probably a hundred different factors so when you get some time, please be as detailed as possible to paint as best a picture for us as you can, that way we can rule out certain fsctors and narrow it down to give you advice to work from.
 
E

Elcammer

All coral is drip acculated and dipped prior to entering tank. The bleaching on brain took almost 2 months to start and the other pictured took a month. What causes it and is there anything to add to kill bacteria if that is what it is?
 
E

Elcammer

See picturesDSC05018.jpgDSC05019.jpgDSC05021.jpg Ph is around 8, alkanlanity 9, Ca 440, Add alkanlanity and trace element booster. Place various location around tank.
 
Xavier613

Xavier613

Might be more enough light, how many bulbs are in the t5 fixture, and is it an individual reflector or one big sheet for a reflector
 
dan_k

dan_k

A sail fin a hippo a trigger oh my you said you are running a phosreactor but what is your po4 at?
It looks you have a 150-180 gallon tank with that size tank you would need at least an 8 bulb fixture
 
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