Red Brain Coral turning white

I added a red open brain to my 90 gallon about a week and a half ago. It opens every night so i think that it is healthy, but one half of it seems to be fading to white. I have it on the sand (20.5" Tall Tank) and my lighting is 250W x 2 + 56W X 2 T5 Acintic. Is it possible that it is getting too much light?

Other parameters are:
Amonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
Phos: 0
Alkalinity 3.5 meq/l
calcium: 380
Magnesium: 1250
PH: 7.9-8.1
Temperature: 80 F

I have not tried target feeding it as yet. I am really concerned that I might be loosing it! What should I do?

 

It's possible it's too much light, how far off the tank are your lights? 250w is actually quite a bit for a 20" tall tank depending on the reflector. Although you must not have a standard 90 gallon because those are more like 24" tall.

How long after you added it to the tank did you notice it starting to whiten? Is it directly under a light or is it off to the side of the reflector? There are huge changes in light output depending on placement especially with MH.

Also your calcium and magnesium are on the border of being too low which might cause some problems. 360 calcium is where calcification for most corals starts to be inhibited, if your test kit is a little off or something you could run into problems with that but I'm not sure it would cause bleaching. Either way I would raise your magnesium to 1300+ and calcium to 400+.

Also if it's extending feeder tentacles at night I would feed it, not too much but until it gets settled in and starts looking better at least.

 

I had a problem with an open brain of mine when my parameters were down around yours.
Does it's feeder tentacles come out at might??

 

I will try to raise my parameters and see if it helps. I noticed the whitening a few days after i introduced it into my aquarium. The lights are 8" of the surface and the brain is not directly under a light but off to the front of the aquarium and in line with the light. Last night I moved it to the center of the aquarium so that it was in between the two lights and kept it toward the front of the aquarium. Is this a better place for it? My tank is a custom 90 so it is not the normal dimensions.

Last night I also tried to feed it with some shrimp and it opened up really nice with all of it's feeder tentacles out, even the bleaching side. Before the lights turned off though it was another story. The good side looks great, but the side loosing color was very close to its skeleton and i could actually see white skeleton in a two small spots.

Chuckdee is this what was happening to you?

I hope that i don't lose this coral.

 

Definitely sounds like it's a light issue - your water parameters are fine, so dont begin trying to jack them up and cause problems.

Most LFS's keep their coral under T5's or PC's.. (except for some of them), so I would imagine that your coral came out of a tank that was probably being lit with something of this nature (It is a matter of cost for fish stores to run cheaper lights). 250w MH's are pretty extreme for a 90 gallon, and is likely causing this coral to bleach.

You really have a couple options. Drop your MH daylight run time to a fraction of what you have it at now (if your running it for 6 hours a day, drop it down to 2-3 and continue running your actinics for the same ~12 hours a day)... as you see your brain coral start to regain its color (or at least stop losing it), you can slowly increase your MH run time- a little bit more every few days.

Or what your best option is- would be to either raise your MH's up about a foot higher if possible and then slowly bring them back down to where they are now. (You could also use a mesh screen and sit it a few inches above your brain coral so that it only receives partial lighting).

But IMO- its definitely a lighting issue- and has nothing to do with your water parameters.

 

Thanks Phayes. The lights are in an enclosed canopy so i dont think that i can raise them so i think I will adjust my photperiod which is at 8 hrs on the MH lights right now. Do you think that adjusting my photperiod will affect my other coral?

I am also currently designing a new system for an upgrade. The area of the new aquarium will be 56" X 22", but i have not decided on a height as yet. I was thinking 22" high. Do you think that this will be a good height for the 250W lights or should I go higher?

Thanks for the help!!!

 

Definitely a lighting issue to me as well... I have a stylophora coral that got completely bleached a couple months ago from too much light. I have since gotten a new stylophora coral which remains it's emerald green color under 250W X 2 MH's I now run them 3-4 hours a day and the rest of the day, it's fed by natural sunlight. All seems to be doing fine.

Like the other suggestions, cut down your MH's run time to about three hours a day.

 

I think the standard 24" always works well, however with 250w lighting, you could have good light penetration to over 30" deep.
Your other corals will have no problem adapting to a decrease in the lighting for the time being. Just ensure that you continue to run your actinics as per your normal schedule.

 

Ok well I will build the new tank to 24" which will hopefully be the right depth for the 250's. i cant go much higher due to room restrictions.

When I get home i will lower my photoperiod, I hope that much more damage is not done today as i do not get home untill late tonight!

Thanks for all the input guys i really appreciate the feedback.

 

Hey Peiloy, I am running 150MH + 2 x 32w PC's. My brain was 18" away from the lights (on the sand bed). I had the brain for about 2 years healthy, at that position. I believe my brain started bleaching because my parameters went south. My Cal, Alk, and Mag were close to your range. My Cal at its lowest was 340-360. Me working 16hr days took its toll on my reef. After I noticed the bleaching was bad, I noted that the tentacles were no longer open at night. It took serveral months until just recently, the tissues started to seperate from the skeleton. Even though my parameters are optimal.. I lost the coral . A day or two before the tissue started coming apart, I noticed at night and in the day the tissue was closer then normal to the skeleton. Before that, the brain would open up in the day time even though it's poylp was bleached.. Post some pics if possible, and I'll do the same..