Corals Not Doing So Well

[1Matthew]

Hi All, I have a 90 gallon tank and have noticed some coral that aren’t doing so well. The first guy is a bowerbanki, which I have had for a while. It looked great at first, until I switched my lights and it looks very shrunken with skeleton exposed. Originally, I had 2 AI Prime HDs but switched to 2 Radion XR15 Blues. After that guy, I have some sort of sps, which I cannot name that seemed to get bleached and almost looks dead. Looked good before the light change but looks super dull now. This was the first sps I got, but my monti frags look good. I also have a trachyphillia that sits at the bottom of the tank. It used to look super puffy but doesn’t puff out nearly as much. When I think of trachy I think puffy but this guy ain’t. No skeleton exposed, just doesn’t look as good as before. Other than that, there is one torch which looks super healthy with its extended tentacles, but at night I can see virtually no white tissue, only brown skeleton, which seems odd to me as all other torches of mine have a thick white tissue band. I also have an acan lord which used to be puffy but after the light switch it looks more closed up, still no skeleton showing. I have plenty of pieces that look great in the tank, just odd some don’t look so well.

I’ll post some photos and my levels which I checked this weekend

Calcium: 405
Alk: 7
Mag: 1300
Phosphate: 0.08
Nitrate: 18.2

I added some alkalinity powder to try and raise it as my normal levels are around 8.0 and dosed a little calcium

 

[Outlaw Corals]

It could definitely be from changing your lights. What % did you have the UV set at on your old lights and what is the UV set that now?

 

[AstroCoral]

I have a couple suggestions:

If you’re suspecting a lighting issue then I would probably be renting or buying a par meter if I were you. The human eye cannot tell the intensity of light to any meaningful degree due to accommodation.

Are you adding alkalinity powder directly to the tank or are you mixing it separately with water and then adding it once dissolved? You should be doing the latter, not the former.

You shouldn’t be raising alkalinity by an entire point in a single day, stability is much better than a specific number (up to a certain degree). I try not to let my alkalinity vary by more than 0.2 in a given day and try to maintain that small variability for the entire week.

The first and third coral look to have some tissue left, the second one doesn’t look like any living tissue remains.

 

[1Matthew]

The second one surprisingly has some neon green spots on it. The third one I will get a photo of when it opens up. I am not raising alkalinity by a whole point, I do what you suggested. I have to check what my lighting levels are at and I should probably rent a park meter from my local shop

 

[AstroCoral]

The second one surprisingly has some neon green spots on it. The third one I will get a photo of when it opens up. I am not raising alkalinity by a whole point, I do what you suggested. I have to check what my lighting levels are at and I should probably rent a park meter from my local shop

Sounds good. I would just continue to test alkalinity daily then and I would definitely consider renting a par meter.

 

[MrGisonni]

Lighting changes are stressful. If things continue to go south lower the intensity. Your big 3 ( alk,ca, mag) are a little low. Are you dosing? I use All for Reef and it keeps my big 3 stable in my 30 mixed reef

 

[1Matthew]

Sounds good. I would just continue to test alkalinity daily then and I would definitely consider renting a par meter.

Here’s the funny thing whatever that sps is, the back of it is about 6 inches from the power head and that is the part with color, the front of it looks dead while the back has some color. Also, what should I be aiming my alk to be at, I have always done 8.0

 

[Rugops]

Hmm. I would suggest raising Mg to 1500. You can dose 100 ml a day. It doesn't hurt anything and I have noticed that everything looks more puffy and extended than when I was at 1300.

 

[MrGisonni]

Natural seawater has a DkH generally between 7-8. The natural seawater I get locally in Miami measures 7.6 DkH. If you are stable at 8 that's great. Make only small changes based on consumption.

 

[Rugops]

Natural seawater has a DkH generally between 7-8. The natural seawater I get locally in Miami measures 7.6 DkH. If you are stable at 8 that's great. Make only small changes based on consumption.

I agree with this. You could try to raise dkH and see if maybe that could be the issue which is unlikely but its worth a shot.

 

[1Matthew]

I need to retest calcium and alk today and I’ll post the results as we did just dose. Magnesium should also be dosed.

 

[1Matthew]

Calcium: 435
Alk: 8.15, I think this was dosed over a couple of days.
Lights running 60%, I think my AIs I toned them down a bit but not sure exact percentage