SPS keep bleaching. Help!

[Reefing102]

I’ll just throw my two cents in as well. And ask some questions that remain unanswered.

Do you have big Alk swings?
Whats your PH running?
What’s your temp?

Do you have the ability to measure PAR with a newer meter? My first guess is your par is significantly off. If I’m understanding the chart below from Appogee, blue LED error is almost 15% which for yours equates to around 20-50+ par difference. Seems insignificant, but depending how it’s measured, the variance could be larger.

My second guess is your parameters just aren’t stable enough (maintained with dosing or similar)

 

[aaron186]

I’ll just throw my two cents in as well. And ask some questions that remain unanswered.

Do you have big Alk swings?
Whats your PH running?
What’s your temp?

Do you have the ability to measure PAR with a newer meter? My first guess is your par is significantly off. If I’m understanding the chart below from Appogee, blue LED error is almost 15% which for yours equates to around 20-50+ par difference. Seems insignificant, but depending how it’s measured, the variance could be larger.

My second guess is your parameters just aren’t stable enough (maintained with dosing or similar)

Alk is measured at various times of day with a Hanna checker and always between 8.4 to 8.6.

I have an apex on the tank and pH is 8.0-8.1 during the day and 7.9 at night. I have a scrubber and fuge on tank.

Temp is managed with INKBIRD with apex backup. Able to keep it within 0.5 degrees. Set to 78 to 78.5. It was more stable this way than 77.5 to 78 with my lights adding some heat. Its pretty stable now and has been for a while.

I know the meter isn’t accurate but I would assume a par difference of 20-50 would be insignificant and wouldn’t kill my corals that fast.

 

[Spare time]

Im not really sure the difference to be honest

Bleaching means the polyps are still there and extended but are transluscent/white. Tissue necrosis results in just the skeleton being left.


Also the fact that people are replying without knowing which of those two is the problem is concerning since they can mean very different things.

 

[aaron186]

So I had a guy from my LFS come to my house to take a look at my tank. His assessment was that my tank is too clean. My nitrates were 3 and my phos is 0.05. He suggested I reduce my autowater changes (previously 10% a week or 1.4 gal per day) to a 5% weekly change and to turn my UV off at night. He also suggests dosing nitrates is this doesn’t help

Does this seem like a reasonable approach?

I’m also dosing bacteria currently

 

[Spare time]

So I had a guy from my LFS come to my house to take a look at my tank. His assessment was that my tank is too clean. My nitrates were 3 and my phos is 0.05. He suggested I reduce my autowater changes (previously 10% a week or 1.4 gal per day) to a 5% weekly change and to turn my UV off at night. He also suggests dosing nitrates is this doesn’t help

Does this seem like a reasonable approach?

I’m also dosing bacteria currently

What bacteria are you dosing? How much/often do you feed the fish? You could dose aminos for the low nitrate if the fish are getting enough and you don't want to raise phosphate. Also what test kit was used?

 

[aaron186]

What bacteria are you dosing? How much/often do you feed the fish? You could dose aminos for the low nitrate if the fish are getting enough and you don't want to raise phosphate. Also what test kit was used?

Dr Tim’s eco balance for now. It was the fastest shipping one from Amazon that looked like it would suit my needs. Might look into some more bespoke options later. My fish are fed 7x per day for 1.5 mins from an avast marine plank using their jerky. It’s equivalent to about 3.5 cubes per day. Hannah checker. It matched whatever kit the LFS used too

 

[Spare time]

Dr Tim’s eco balance for now. It was the fastest shipping one from Amazon that looked like it would suit my needs. Might look into some more bespoke options later. My fish are fed 7x per day for 1.5 mins from an avast marine plank using their jerky. It’s equivalent to about 3.5 cubes per day. Hannah checker. It matched whatever kit the LFS used too

Wow that is a lot of feeding for 3ppm nitrate. Imagine the corals are getting enough nitrogen but you can add amino acids to see if that helps.

 

[aaron186]

Wow that is a lot of feeding for 3ppm nitrate. Imagine the corals are getting enough nitrogen but you can add amino acids to see if that helps.

No I’ve been adding them. It hasn’t. At least what I’m dosing of 10 ml per night

 

[Spare time]

No I’ve been adding them. It hasn’t. At least what I’m dosing of 10 ml per night

Maybe add some during the day? Have you figured out if the corals are bleaching or having tissue necrosis?

 

[aaron186]

Maybe add some during the day? Have you figured out if the corals are bleaching or having tissue necrosis?

Both actually. There’s a few frags that are bleached and or pale. The rest of them are necrosis and dead

 

[Spare time]

Both actually. There’s a few frags that are bleached and or pale. The rest of them are necrosis and dead

Hmm ok. Maybe try upping the aminos. Are a lot of corals pale in color?