Quote:
Originally posted by lcheesman
I'm not running bare bottom no, and shelburn61 mentions stirring a shallow sand bed. I think lack of nutrients may be a problem..my water is always christal clear and blue. Wahat about yours shelburn61?
The process of paling takes about 2 weeks, 4 weeks really quite pale.
When I use polyfilters or lots of carbon or a bit of ozone the corals get even paler. Literally within a few days it worsens.
Do you find this shelburn61?
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My problems started 2-3 months ago after treating with Interceptor. Red bugs are gone, but I had a substantial algae bloom from the pod dieoff. Water changes took care of some STN issues and most of the algae.
The prime example of my problem was a 2.5" ORA blue tort frag I got after the above problems subsided. I initially kept it on the bottom to acclimate and it began to lighten immediately. It came to me an intense midnight blue/purple and is now mostly white with blue coralites. It has recieved good flow throughout. PE is the best of any coral and it continues to look healthy and grow slowly. I can see zooxanthelae lines in the tissue so it has not completely bleached, but it refuses to regain color
I really doubt lack of nutrients is the problem for me. Before the problems started, I had literally 0 algae growth. Coraline growth was an algae bloom for me. Now I have a brown, fuzzy slime (I guess its diatoms?) covering the rocks and glass, and chaeto grows much better than ever in the fuge.
lcheeseman,
I do not run ozone or any chemical fitration except carbon. I actually run more carbon now, but I haven't noticed a difference. If these things make the problem worse for you it might point to a excessive light or UV or a bad bulb as clarifying the water would amplify these problems.
The only improvements so far came when I switched out my 6-month-old XM 175w. I switched to a 250w Coralvue 10k and things improved a little. Some corals have responded better than others. The improvement might have come from the shortened photoperiod during the bulb switch, but I think it was the bulb itself.
I didn't see which brand bulb you use?
Tank specs (see below also):
Water parameters are all good, w/ nutrients testing at 0 by salifert.
Temp: 78.5-80, pH 8.1-8.2
Flow is decent, but could be better (working on that).
Photoperiod:12hrs actinic, 8hrs MH.
Topoff run through DIY kalk reactor with pickling lime.