Need your help again please before it's too late!

[Bhun456]

Well the algae/whatever it is that was so bad a few weeks back is now starting to subside and I've now to the point of much worse problems ! Bad problems ! Experiencing STN on a few acros and now even my stylophora which has been through hell and back with me for over a year and never even acted like it wanted to STN but now has started. Only thing I can figure is maybe where I've been running so much gfo its either made the water too clean stripping all the P04 or has irritated the SPS to the brink of death. I just replaced my lighting last Friday from a 4x39 (part-time 6x39) watt odyssea t5 light to an ATI Sunpower 6*39 watt. I hung it 14" off the tank to start with and just lowered it to 12" off the water after 1 full week on Friday and only running daylight for around 6-7 hours. I'm still experiencing some film type algae on some of the LR and on walls of the tank too. It like peels off in strips and so i'm guessing I still have phosphates and am running a 1/4 cup of phosban along with a 1/4 cup of DFS pelleted carbon. Any help with what I need to do to get my tank back in line would be greatly appreciated. Idk what I would do without it! Thank you!

Tank Stats ;

76 temp very steady
7.6-8.0 dkh roughly
410 calcium
1280 mag
??? Phos (test says 0 but im sure higher)
0 Nitrates

[Bhun456]

This is what started the mess I'm in!

http://http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/t621/bhun456/Mobile%20Uploads/Screenshot_2014-02-12-18-03-58_zpsdjf6sf05.png (http://s1317.photobucket.com/user/bhun456/media/Mobile%20Uploads/Screenshot_2014-02-12-18-03-58_zpsdjf6sf05.png.html)

[Bhun456]

My once beautiful purple tip acro , now with white blotches ! Do you think thats light shock/bleaching or STN or starving? Been feeding every other day

http://i1317.photobucket.com/albums/t621/bhun456/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-03-09%2018.29.46_zpsw11otm47.jpg (http://s1317.photobucket.com/user/bhun456/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-03-09%2018.29.46_zpsw11otm47.jpg.html)

[crissie]

The first thing you should do is move your lights back up. Corals take time to adjust and a 2" drop is way too much for them to handle. You shouldn't be dropping them any more than half and inch at a time.

[Bhun456]

They all are kinda losing their color a little, some more than others, but just not as vibrant as they were 2 months ago. Do you think this is due to lack of P04 or due to an abundance of P04? I just don't know if I should pull the GFO or keep running it.

[crissie]

If the white blotches are mostly where the coral receives the most light then you can be pretty sure it's bleaching.

[crissie]

It's hard to say, to be honest it could be either or neither of them.

[Bhun456]

The white blotches are on the underside of branches, they would receive less light. That's what is confusing me and making me think well is it getting enough light, too much, keeps you guessing I suppose. I moved my light back up to 13" above water line. Thanks

[Bhun456]

My other light was just 4-5" off the waterline but we all know what kind of par those odyssea lights put out but I will say it actually did a good job with most sps I couldn't believe it, some of the most colorful acros I had were a product of that light.

[Bhun456]

I just ended up removing my GFO, gonna try to leave it out for a few days to see if that helps. I'm hoping that I've just been using way too much and replacing it too often. Worst case scenario the PO4 will increase and algae will get a little worse, or so I hope that's worst case :)

[Bhun456]

anyone else have any ideas ?

[kevin_e]

Parameters?

Alk
Salinity
temperature

[Bhun456]

76 temp very steady
7.6-8.0 dkh roughly
410 calcium
1280 mag
??? Phos (test says 0 but im sure higher)
0 Nitrates

[kevin_e]

Were those recently tested or just what they typically are? Makes a big difference in diagnosis.

[Dapg8gt]

What p04 test are you using? If your truly at 0 that's some if not most of the problem imo. That combined with blasting them with 5x (guess) light is too much for them to handle. The light could be the reason for bleaching but the light colors along with rtn leads me to believe it's the lack of nutrients also.

I'd follow what was stated above make sure you raise your lights back up and you may need to cut back on your photo period for a while and slowly bring it up to where you were. You made a lot of changes to the chemistry and light on the tank in a short period of time and the corals need to adapt and have some nutrients to do it. Just my opinion but I would drop the gfo for a bit and cut my photo period and slowly acclimate it all back. Going from high p04 to 0 is detrimental to sensitive sps and coral in general.

[kevin_e]

Going from high p04 to 0 is detrimental to sensitive sps and coral in general.

It also amplifies the intensity of light (removes particles that would help reflect lighting), which could lead to bleaching as well.

[Bhun456]

The test were all done yesterday excluding the magnesium, ok thanks I will cut the photoperiod back to 6 hours daylight and 8 actinic (2 blue plus) rather than 7.5 and 10 actinic would that be ok? I've been spot feeding the sps some kent coral accel that has AAs in it along with a couple ml of reef plus and just started saturday feeding my fish a little more also so hopefully everything will get balanced back out to where it was before. I raised the lights back up to 13" also. Thanks

[Bhun456]

The P04 test used was just a cheap API double checked with a Seachem test also, both showed 0 but I'm going to order a hanna checker but I've always heard its near impossible to get an accurate phos level via some test

[Bhun456]

There is some fresh algae still growing so I don't think the test are accurate really. Does anyone think the stn and white blotches on sps could be a result of high phosphates? Usually they brown out corals but the loss of color could be due to stn possibly? Idk

[mluz]

My two cents.

Ive been keeping sps for a while with the same results you are getting. In December of last year I upgraded my lighting to led. Lost a few more corals. Then I got fed up, and stopped testing, grew some algae, bought a powder brown tang. Meanwhile I started to notice my corals coloring up.

I think I was running nutrients too low, when I changed lights the corals tried to grow but did not have enough food. Try to raise your nutrients a bit and see how they respond. It may a month to see some results.

[Bhun456]

My two cents.

Ive been keeping sps for a while with the same results you are getting. In December of last year I upgraded my lighting to led. Lost a few more corals. Then I got fed up, and stopped testing, grew some algae, bought a powder brown tang. Meanwhile I started to notice my corals coloring up.

I think I was running nutrients too low, when I changed lights the corals tried to grow but did not have enough food. Try to raise your nutrients a bit and see how they respond. It may a month to see some results.

OK I just pulled the gfo last night and I've still got a lot of algae in my tank and like 99.9% sure I have pretty high phosphate levels guessing anyway, I'm really torn between what to do between running small amounts GFO or not running any and risking my corals die due to super high phosphate levels. Have no idea what to do!!!

[Bhun456]

What p04 test are you using? If your truly at 0 that's some if not most of the problem imo. That combined with blasting them with 5x (guess) light is too much for them to handle. The light could be the reason for bleaching but the light colors along with rtn leads me to believe it's the lack of nutrients also.

I'd follow what was stated above make sure you raise your lights back up and you may need to cut back on your photo period for a while and slowly bring it up to where you were. You made a lot of changes to the chemistry and light on the tank in a short period of time and the corals need to adapt and have some nutrients to do it. Just my opinion but I would drop the gfo for a bit and cut my photo period and slowly acclimate it all back. Going from high p04 to 0 is detrimental to sensitive sps and coral in general.

Due to all the new algae growth I'm still experiencing I really think its a false 0 and its still up there a little. Do you think I should leave gfo out and just let the algae grow a little an just continue to skim and do my weekly WC's? The algae I'm experiencing is like a green film thats lime green on the glass and covering some LR. Thanks for your help!!!

[Bhun456]

Well phosphates must be pretty high because within 48 hours of removing the gfo I've already got a lot of new algae growth and its spreading to places it wasn't in before like on the frag disks too.

[Bhun456]

So I just put some gfo & carbon mix into an aqua clear 70 and going to let it run slowly.