Reef tank dilemma ????? please help

[scampi1]

Hello.
I have a 6 bulb 36" sunpower with 3 month old ati bulbs(1 ati pink/purpl, 3 blue plus and 2 specials). It is on an oceanic 58 gallon only about 3 inches above water. I am having a problem with some monti caps( red only not green ) and certain sps bleaching out. Is it possible that the light is too bright for them. Never thought that this could be but all parameters are good and consistant. Controlled with Apex. 78.5 F, 1.026, ph=8.1, Ca= 420, po4, nh4, and no2/3= roughly zero. I run carbon and ferrous for po4. I am at as loss. 15% weekly water change. I never seem to have luck with SPS. Always seem to slowly die. So frustrating. The ferrous is a new thing and that is about it. I also just decreased my daytime light to 6 hrs from 10 hr. Actinics are on for 12 hrs. I hope this helps. I am doing something wrong but do not know what. I also have a vortech mp10 and koralia 3 in tank for flow. Sump with skimmer, macro and rock. Any insight would be appreciated. It is a mixed reef. no problems with softies or lps. I have a couple chalices that are doing amazing. PLease help. I am in south jersey if someone can help.

 

[thirty5]

Where are they in the tank? At top middle or bottom??

Might be too bright. I had some basic sps that were bleaching, i move them to the bottom (on sand) and they came right back.

I am not big into SPS but it sounds like too much light to me.

 

[wonderballz]

The same thing happened to my sunset monti. I moved it to the sand bed and it colored up again. I had it under a 6 bulb T5 light also. I have it 1/3 of the way up in my 40Breeder under the Apollo Reef LEDs. So far so good. Color is coming back nicely.

 

[NYreefNoob]

lights should be 6-8 inches off the what and the sudden drop of po4 could be the problem also, i run my antics from 430 to 1130 and daylight from 530 to 1030 and i run a ati powermodule 8 bulb

 

[Jzhou]

I agree with the others and believe its a lighting issue. You should move them to the sand bed and just slowly bring them close to the top.

 

[scampi1]

tank has been up for about 2 yrs and have never really had any luck with sps. Never thought that t-5's would be too much. I was thinking for a long time that maybe not enough. I have been in the process of building a hood beut got side tracked. Right now the lights are pretty much on a piece of wood 1 -2 inches above the tank. They have been this way or about the whole time I have had this tank up. I have a couple sps that are doing ok but are on sandbed and are slowly bleaching. Also my tank is only 21 inches high to begin with. Never thought too much light might be the answer. How stupid of me, thanks again. Hope that solves my issue. I am new to the hobby in comparison to most. Only doing reefs for about 3 yrs. Always learning something new.