Hammers bleaching, acan not healthy

[IE Reefer]

Hey everyone,

I've been having these hammers and acan for nearly a year, and they haven't been doing so well. The neon-green hammer started to bleach towards the end of the fall, the blue/green hammer I just noticed started to bleach, and acan hasn't been looking as fluffy for about a month or so (for some reason, its feeding tentacles only come out at night, not sure that this might be a cause of starvation or something else, and it only looks somewhat poofy when the lights come on). Initially, I was target feeding my corals Benepets every other day, but up until the beginning of December, I started to broadcast the tank ~5ml of reef energy AB+ every day. My DT is 29g (~37g total volume) and is a year and eight months old. My parameters are as follows: Salinity 1.028 (trying to lower to 1.025), Temp 76-78°F, pH 7.8 (planning how to increase to at least 8.0), Alk 8.3dKH, Nitrate 4.42ppm, Phos 0.25ppm, Cal 425ppm, Mag 1470ppm (need to decrease to 1350ppm). I'm assuming that the cause might be the elements that I need to increase/decrease, but since the rest of my corals look healthy (one Ricordea that I've been keeping for the same amount of time kind of shrunk a bit, but is still fairly healthy looking), I'm still scratching my head for a conclusion.

Below are some images of the bleaching corals. Please let me know if the images are too difficult to see so I can make some adjustments.

 

[LordofCinder]

Salinity is high, tank seems a little on the colder side, and phos nitrate are super high.

 

[PeterC99]

How old is your setup?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Get acan off sandbed and elevate slightly as sand can irritate them. For hammer, the things that will make them unhappy is :
Low Calcium
too much flow
High salinity
Insufficient light- They need light for primary food source which is zooxanthellae
High phosphate above .04
Feed also- for both corals mentioned - mysis shrimp 1-2X weekly

 

[IE Reefer]

How old is your setup?

~ year and 8 months old

 

[IE Reefer]

Salinity is high, tank seems a little on the colder side, and phos nitrate are super high.

I checked my salinity a couple of days before adding 5g of RO water... and now it's at 1.029ppm, to note I haven't been putting any saltwater into my tank, only RO.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I checked my salinity a couple of days before adding 5g of RO water... and now it's at 1.029ppm, to note I haven't been putting any saltwater into my tank, only RO.

Salt is too high and as mentioned will cause issues. It could have risen from evaporation but before assuming its cotrrect, calibrate your salt tester

 

[Dom]

How many gallons total (Display and Sump)?

 

[IE Reefer]

Get acan off sandbed and elevate slightly as sand can irritate them. For hammer, the things that will make them unhappy is :
Low Calcium
too much flow
Insufficient light- They need light for primary food source which is zooxanthellae
High phosphate above .04
Feed also- for both corals mentioned - mysis shrimp 1-2X weekly

On my 29g DT I'm running 2x AI Primes with this schedule

I have been attempting to feed the corals shrimp, but either the hermit crabs will bet to it or the fish swimming near it will nock it away from its mouth. Any solution to that?

Also, how could I increase my phosphates? NeoPhos? or something else?

 

[IE Reefer]

How many gallons total (Display and Sump)?

~37g, I bought the sump from a secondhand dealer so I am unsure of the correct volume, but when I first filled up the sump, it took around 7-8g so I assumed it was around that.

 

[frizzayyyyreef]

Salt is too high and as mentioned will cause issues. It could have risen from evaporation but before assuming its cotrrect, calibrate your salt tester

How? I run my tank 1.027 lps corals can live fine I think sps not so much

 

[IE Reefer]

Salt is too high and as mentioned will cause issues. It could have risen from evaporation but before assuming its cotrrect, calibrate your salt tester

For some reason, I try to add only RO for top-offs when my pump is running dry, but for whatever reason, my refractometer is only reading 1.028-030.

 

[frizzayyyyreef]

For some reason, I try to add only RO for top-offs when my pump is running dry, but for whatever reason, my refractometer is only reading 1.028-030.

030 that might be high but even then isn’t the Red Sea like 1.032 or something like the saltiest place ever

 

[vetteguy53081]

030 that might be high but even then isn’t the Red Sea like 1.032 or something like the saltiest place ever

If you follow red sea mix instruction, should be at 1.025-1.026 at 1/2 cup per gallon

 

[vetteguy53081]

How? I run my tank 1.027 lps corals can live fine I think sps not so much

recommended is 34-35 ppt for last 3 decades. Ive been running 1.025 for near 30 years- used to run at 1.024
At 1.025- I get these results:

 

[frizzayyyyreef]

recommended is 34-35 ppt for last 3 decades. Ive been running 1.025 for near 30 years- used to run at 1.024
At 1.025- I get these results:

View attachment 2478936View attachment 2478937View attachment 2478938

Well I’ll say your way works way better then god dang I’m lowering mine lol

 

[frizzayyyyreef]

recommended is 34-35 ppt for last 3 decades. Ive been running 1.025 for near 30 years- used to run at 1.024
At 1.025- I get these results:

View attachment 2478936View attachment 2478937View attachment 2478938

Kinda cool I got that same hammer just frag size yours is huge

 

[IE Reefer]

I made a video of why I have done so far:
Just calibrated my refractometer and it now says that my salinity is 1.025 which is a complete relief.

 

[IE Reefer]

Bump

 

[MaxTremors]

As others have mentioned, some of your parameters are too high/low. The salinity being the one that stands out most. If you added 5g of RO to a 37g tank and after you were at 1.029, you were likely at 1.035 or higher (no idea how that could happen other than topping off with saltwater or making a huge mixing mistake when doing a water change).

Other than that, just wanted to mention that RedSea AB+ is not an alternative to actually feeding your corals, think of it more like a multi-vitamin than actual food. I use it and quite like it, but it’s no substitute for feeding your LPS corals. LPS like acans need to be fed frequently with some meaty foods like mysis or brine (feed your fish until they’ve had their fill and then when you feed your corals, turn off all the pumps and watch to fend off any hermits or fish).