Need asn Experts advise

pwoller · 06-02-2008, 01:00 PM

I bought 2 corals that both bleached out, one right away and the other a couple of days later. One was a staghorn coral and the other a grandulosa. At first I thought it was maybe somesort of hitch hicker so I did the lugos dip on them. Since that didnt work it got me thinking that maybe it was a water chemistry problem, although none of my other sps corals are dying. So here are the water chemistry stats:
78 degrees
SG 1.025
PH 8
Amminia 0
Calcium tested over 450 twice
nitrite .05
Nitrate 0
Alk 2.0
This was all done with a red sea testing kit. I rececently switched from Agramilk to Bionic as a buffer and calcium additive. Any thoughts on what could be the problem with these 2 corals or my water chemistry. Both of the corals came from the same tank and were added at the same time. Could the high calcium of shocked them? Anything else seem abnormal and what should I do about it. As of right now some of the starhorn is bone white and other parts still have a light green color to it.

KOgle · 06-02-2008, 01:10 PM

You calcium is fine but your alk is a little low. Also your tank shouldn't have any detectable nitrites. How long has it been running? What is your magnesium at?

pwoller · 06-02-2008, 01:19 PM

I just moved and took the contents of a 20 long frag tank to a 29. So the sand LR and refugium are all around 6 months old. I dont have a MG test kit. I'm thinking of getting a new test kit all together. Any suggestions?

Phayes · 06-02-2008, 02:25 PM

Due to it being SPS, my first thought, even before chemistry, would be lighting.

When your moving SPS from one tank to another, you really need to attempt to match the lighting from one tank to another, at least initially while the coral acclimates. If you had MH's in the frag tank, and decided to put them under PCs or T5's in your new tank, I would certainly expect the corals to begin bleaching. If you went from MH's in one tank to MH's in another tank, just make sure that the coral is at the same height in the tank, at least until they are looking happy.

And yes, as you already realize, your alk is low :p

pwoller · 06-02-2008, 04:21 PM

How should I go about raising it?

coral reefer · 06-02-2008, 04:59 PM

Lighting variances!!!!!

pwoller · 06-02-2008, 05:24 PM

Both of the corals that are struggling were under MH and are still under MH. They both came after the move and from the same place. I'm wondering if they either came with a problem or something like that. Just strange that 2 corals from the same place and even tank start bleaching in a tank with many other sps corals that are doing fine.

ollie51 · 06-02-2008, 07:00 PM

welcome to the world of sps , ive had quite a few do the same thing over the past couple of years.acros are so touchy when you disturb them , moving, ect but once rtn sets in its only a matter of time best to frag and try to salvage what you can where these coral cultured to start? wild caught can sometimes not do well w/moving as well as cultured

antonym518 · 06-02-2008, 07:06 PM

yeah, the alk is low. I always keep mine at least at 7-9. I think that alk is very important in sps care, so may have something to do with it. I use seachems liqiud alk raiser, it works wonders. I would next think that it was lighting. But I went from mh, with my sps, into t5ho and they took off. Colored up and grew likecrazy. Get the alk up and good luck I would frag whatever isn't bleach.