problem with my corals and lighting

[Jarrett]

so i have had my 75 going probably 3 months now. transferred all my corals to the new tank and a totally new lighting system. they went from 2 bulb t5 to 6 bulb t5. and i never acclimated them to light (rookie mistake didn't know i had to) so now 3 months later the corals i originally had look like they are getting smaller and smaller and starting to turn white. after christmas i plan on switching all my bulbs to blue because right now the white seems really strong. i keep my white lights on from 12 to 7 and my actinics from 11 to 8. i want to reduce the whites from 12 - 5 so they aren't exposed to that much bright lighting. is this smart or the right thing to do? will this hurt or damage my other corals that are doing fine?

 

[CHEMCHEF]

Buy some window screen and start with a couple of layers on the top of the tank and every few days remove a layer till your down to one then none.
Vioa Acclimated!!

 

[Jarrett]

well its been 3 months arleady i think acclimating them now is pretty pointless. its really just what could i do to help them out. seems like im burning them. its really mainly my duncan which i know is a low light coral but hes already on the bottom

 

[KathyC]

Can you post a any pics of what the tank looked like with the old lights vs how the corals look now?
If not, juts a few pics of the corals that are currently having issues?

It would be odd for them to not react to the new lighting for 3 months. Had you incinerated them with too much light a few months ago, they likely should be long dead by now, so perhaps there is another issue at play?

Pics would be most helpful

 

[Jarrett]

its possible kathy it was just a shot in the dark cause all my other corals seem pretty good but they are all higher light corals so i don't think the move bothered them. but the Duncan's have gotten smaller and smaller since they've been in their and their tips look a little whitish to me. if the light would of done them in a long time ago then i think your right this isn't my problem. i am going to keep an eye on them and see whats going on. i do have a rogue emerald crab in my tank right now trying to get him out. but haven't caught him near my Duncan's yet.

 

[Jarrett]

possibly my tank is to clean for them? i put a new skimmer on my tank about a month ago
and its pulling gunk out constantly and i am still decently lightly stocked with only 5 fish

 

[Awibrandy]

Have you tested your parameters lately? If you have; please post the results as well as what test kit you used, and the expiration dates.

 

[Jarrett]

nitrate - 0
nitrite - 0
ammonia - 0
ph - 8.0
phosphates - .25 ( always has said this since day 1 i have even checekd differant water with my test kit and always comes out same color i think something is wrong with this kit)

and i use api test kits which i am aware are not the most accurate. just dont have $ for the good stuff

 

[Awibrandy]

Have you tested for; alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, also what is your salinity & temp?

I understand the lack of $.

 

[Jarrett]

no i haven't awibrandy to be honest i never have and i have been in this for about a year and half now. every time i brought my water to the LFS to get that stuff checked it was always spot on. i know i cant go by the LFS test and i should be testing my own but everything in my tank seems to be doing great and growing so i wasn't to concerned just my Duncan's was my main concern. i am going to keep an eye on them and see what happens. and my salinity is at 1026 and temp 80-82. but a question off topic i change my water every week and every time i change the water and turn my pumps back on algae from my refugium gets into my main tank i am not to sure why. but is this going to be a disaster for me in the long run? right now their is no algae in my DT for the past 3 months but is growing great in my overflow and refugium. i think i got algae being pumped back into my tank because i try to clean the algae out of the overflow and honestly it is a big mess lol but i want to try to keep it somewhat clean rather then just letting it grow everywhere you know. sorry for the long post

 

[motortrendz]

i think you need to lower your temp a little, 77-78 80 max... also need to check alkalinitly, makes a big difference. trust me ive had my fair share of bouts with phosphates and alk, also lower your salinitly a lil, 1.024 (1.026 isnt bad though)

the big thing, i dont turn off my pumps when i do water changes, i use a syphen to suck water from my display to my sink drain, as its syphening out i use a small pump to pump the new water into the the sump.. that will keep your algea from getting sucked into your display..

 

[Awibrandy]

Is it algae that you are trying to grow in your sump, such as chaeto? Or is it stuff like hair algae? If it is hair algae you really do not want to get it in your DT.
When you clean your sump, siphon/net out the gunk before adding the new water, and turning on the pumps.
Algae in my overflows I manually pull it out when it starts to slow down the drains. I have a bowl with a little water in it to put the clumps into, and at the same time rinse my fingers before going after the next clump so that nothing gets in the DT.

As corals grow they use more of the trace elements that is the reason for testing. Like you my reef went a long while with no additives by simple weekly water change. Now I have to test more frequently, and adjust alk, cal, and mag. Please try to get your own test kits as soon as you can. Even if that means passing up some animals.

 

[Jarrett]

yea i am taking things slow since i started this tank because i am going away next week with the best hopes that nothing goes wrong. when i come back if everything works out, i am going to replace my sump because i got the sump from my friend who i bought the tank from and i am thinking this is why i have all this new algea in my system because when i had my 45 up and running i had no algae what so ever just coraline for 8 months. so my first course of action will be to build a new 20 G long sump and only throw chaeto in it. and as far as the duncans and testing for everything else that'll be my next step for right now everything is still open and fine, some of the tips of my duncans are turning white but they are still open so i am not going to go into panic mode yet. ill just do as i always do and take things slow and change the water every week and see what happens thanks for the input guys.

 

[Jarrett]

oo and motor as far as the temp i have tried to get it down in many ways but just the way my room is and the light i am using (6 bulb T5) the temp constantly remains at 80 during night and during the day when the lights on the temp rises like a point. but i kept my other tank at the same temp with no ill effects so i dont know.

 

[motortrendz]

yeas its not bad having temps there but ive always had better progress with lower temps.. higher seems to get more algea for some reason,, i dont know if theres science to back that up just something i noticed.. i had to run a small chiller on my old system bc the water would go up to 86 during the day with no heater running, and only down to 82 at night..

 

[Jarrett]

yea thats a big jump mine seems pretty stable at a one two degree at most jump.

 

[Jarrett]

just a thought guys is it possibly a skimmer can skim to much essentially taking out all the beneficial food and trace elements corals feed on. i ask this just because i skim very wet, and was wondering if their is an ill effect to this. should i knock the water level down a little bit so i collect less skimmate. but more solid material?

 

[basiab]

Nitrates 0 is very unusual. Most experts seem to think that there is no such thing as too much skimming. You could try shutting down for a couple days just to see what it does for you.
Another factor can be Allelopathy. There is no way for us to measure but when you have a mixture of corals there is a war going on. What you see may be the losers of the battle at this point.

 

[Jarrett]

could that be my star polyps? because i had a mat that basically covered my whole rock now and i like the coral i dont mind that its spreading but could that one coral really be taking all the food from the rest? and i am sure my nitrates arent 0 but my api liquid test kit has showed 0 nitrates for me since day 1. yes i know they aren't that accurate but this is 8 months of testing if i had a decent amount in their it should of came up by now. also i thought most of these corals ( in my case frogspawn,hammer,tyree toadstool,duncan) feed mostly off the light which i know i have plenty of

 

[Imbarrie]

GSP is not an aggressive coral, besides it growing like a weed, it would not affect other corals. I have heard people comments that skimmers take too much from the water column, but that would affect less tolerant corals than the ones you have.
Allelopathy could be more of a threat if you have a mixture of the wrong kinds of corals. You can mitigate the affects with activated carbon.
Did you add a phosphate reactor?
After reading your posts it seems the problem is confined to the duncan coral. Those are extremely sensitive to changes in light. Some people take months to get them fully adapted to increases in light.
When I sold my TEK and went with LEDs I spent weeks gradually lowering the light to where it is now. I went so far as to design the hanging unit so I could find the sweet spot before making something more permanent.