More issues!

[iseeweed]

Ok, just when I thought I had this whole reef thing kicked---problem after problem.
My lastest issue is a red monti-cap. Bought as a small frag, and it grew into a monster in about 6 months. A couple of weeks ago, I started noticing a bleaching around the edges of some of the "disks". I had just done a bulb change(same size and kv) and thought maybe they got burned from the light.
The bleached coral started to get a very light green haze of algae(or something) so last night I hacked all the dead suff off. My water parameters are very good, and I do a 20% water change bi-weekly.
One thing I have noticed over the last couple months is that there are 2 small chromis that have kinda "hosted" in the coral. They hide out in the coral and swim around inside the crevices all most all the time. At night, they even settle down and rest in the coral.
Could the chromis be doing any damage? Could the coral be getting distressed from the fish peeing, and rubbing against it all the time??

 

[Anonymous]

I doubt the fish would be causing that damage. I had a similar red monti-cap and my chromis did the same thing. More likely to be another issue, I'd imagine.

 

[Ben1]

I think the two issues you are seeing could be related. Possibly from an alk swing or imbalance in the alk/ca/mg.
I agree it probably isnt the fish.

 

[iseeweed]

Thanks guys, I am going to run some tests tonight. I have noticed quite a drop in my levels after water changes. I am just hand dosing right now, and hopefully will have some dosing pumps at some point.

 

[Anonymous]

what's the PO4 level ?

 

[iseeweed]

I did some tests tonight. I tested PO4 with a salifert test and a auqatic pharm. test. I can not detect any PO4. The tank levels are:

1.026 sal.
CA-400
Dkh-10.6
MG-1470

The tank seems pretty stable right now. I chopped most of the dead coral from the monti, and fragged a lot of it. I fragged the green acro and put it in a different part of the tank.

Just a couple of observations.
I changed the bulbs a couple of weeks ago and it looks like the one 14k bulb is a whole lot bluer than the other(this is the side where all the problems are). I also noticed a huge level of MG(over 1500ppm) and have not dosed any for 16 days. Im wondering if the high MG level with a bulb change may have started the issues??

 

[Ben1]

I know alot of people run that dKH np but I have seen better reults in the 7-9 range, and any STN/RTN issues I had seen at higher or lower alks disappeared at the 7-9 ranges.