Wade Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Not sure what my issue is. Anytime I add a healthy colorful acro frag to my tank it bleaches within a week or so. It continues to live and even grow, but loses it's color. I can see polyp extension. Other SPS thrive (birdsnest, stylo, pocilopra, Monti caps and digi) and are very colorful. I thought it was my light (Reefbreeders Photon series) since i had the blues at only 70%, but I've been increasing the intensity over the past few weeks and today I'll make the jump from 90 to 100%. The whites only max out at 40% I believe. I've also added a single T5 strip with an ATI Coral Plus bulb about 3 weeks ago. My other SPS have colored up even more since adding this supplemental light, but not the Acros. I run the T5 six hours a day and my LEDs are on a sun rise/sun set ramp with the peak staying on for about 4 hours. My parameters are as follows: salinity (a little low but I'm bringing it up slowly): ~1.023-1.024; pH: 8.2; Alk: 9.2 dKh; Ca: 350 (bringing it up to 450 slowly); Mg: 1250; temp 79; phosphate and nitrate undetectable. It's a 72g bow front and my coral stock is as follows (see picture): ORA green birds nest - about a 6-8 inch round colony Pocillopora - 4-6 round colony Montipora digi - about a 6-8 inch colony stylopora - 3-4 inch colony anacropora - 3-4 inch colony turbunaria - 6-8 inch colony Monti caps - green and red 2 small chalice Potato chip pavona - 3-4 inch colony fuzzy/hairy pavona (I think) (pink/purple) - 3-4 inch colony elephant eye - 2 inch small jack o lantern leptoseris war coral - 6-8 inch colony meteor shower - 8 inch+ and expanding various LPS and zoa/palys colonies My fish stock is: 1 clown 1 bristletooth tang 1 blue chromis 1 starry blenny 1 convict blenny 1 six-line wrasse 1 mandarin Do you see anything that's not not copacetic? Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 I'd lower the intensity of the lights and possibly feed your fish more. Generally Bleaching means too much light or not enough food. Darkening means high Nutrients STN/RTN is ALK issues, or a combo of the above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 (edited) Hmmmm. i thought acros had higher light demands than most SPS corals? They're placed at the same level as the birds nest and Stylo which are doing great. I did cut back on the feeding because I was having algae issues which is no on the decline. I could start feeding Coral Frenzy again though. My impression was that coral really don't need to be fed, that they get all they need from the zooxanthellae algae. Should I just lower them in the tank? Edited September 11, 2015 by Wade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Sounds like too much light to me. Not enough to bleach it instantly, but over time it can't keep up and eventually will expel its zooxanthellae. Too few nutrients usually causes pastel coloring but they won't bleach completely unless they are subjected to a very rapid change in my experience. Separate note, any seriatopora and similar coral, pocillopora, stylos, etc., are extremely bad at adapting to changes in lighting. Some can take more than a year to adapt to changes so any major changes can be too much for them to handle. In my tank at least, they are notorious for looking fine for weeks or months and bleaching or RTN'ing out of the blue with no environment changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 so instead of increasing the light as I just did (thinking that the acros needed more) I should maybe go back down to 80% blue for a few weeks and see how it goes? how about length of time at max peak and the time frame I'm running the T5? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 so instead of increasing the light as I just did (thinking that the acros needed more) I should maybe go back down to 80% blue for a few weeks and see how it goes? how about length of time at max peak and the time frame I'm running the T5? When introducing corals to your tank you can either place them low in the tank and move them higher over time (days, weeks) to acclimate them or you can adjust your lights down and then slowly ramp them up. They can get "sunburned" just like we can. With most lights, LEDs in particular, it's easier and less stressful to do it programatically with lighting rather than having to constantly disturb them in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Reefer Posted September 11, 2015 Share Posted September 11, 2015 Stress causes Acros to loose color (bleach) Stress during shipping. Sudden rises in temperature to over 84 degrees F. Light shock or the too rapid switch from one type of lighting to another without giving the coral enough tim to acclimate itself to this new lighting Too much light Not acclimating the coral for long enough Stress due to wrong tank water quality. Sudden over use of GAC for too long or in too large a quantity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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