Acropora whitening

[lovefish77]

I have an acropora (not sure which type) that has been in the tank for like 4-5 months. The coral is growing fine at the top in a table manner. However, over the past 2 months or so the coral is starting to white out from the bottom up at a slow but consistent pace. The coral is still alive and growing at the top though.

Any thoughts?

thx

 

[JBNY]

If there are no bugs or AEFW, then it is most likely poor flow around the base of the coral.

 

[lovefish77]

i dont think there are bugs coz i have seen on another acro frag i have a work that almost ate the coral at the base. So i dont think that is the case, i think the coral needs to be glued to to the rock, has been moved as i was doing some maintenance in the tank. Thanks for your feedback JBNY.

 

[vashawn]

Post pics!
1 of my sps started doing the same thing! My parameters are fine with lots of flow.
How are your parameters?
How is the flow in your tank?
Lights?

 

[lovefish77]

parameters are fine:

Tank is 1.5 years old
ph: ~ 8
Nitrates: 0-5
Alk: 7-8
Calcuim: 450-500
Phosphates: .10 or less (running GFO in reactor and changed every 6 weeks)
Flow is on the strong side: 2 jebaos (one of them cutting like diagonal flow across all acros
Light: current usa orbit marine and an actinic truelumen strip both running at 100%. i know everyone will tell me this light is weak for acros, but they are doing fine i think and all acros are sitting like 5" or so below the water line.

will try and get a pic tonight.

 

[lovefish77]

only thing that comes to mind is that since this acro is growing in a table manner, its top is shading the bottom of the coral so that is why its bleaching out below. just a thought

 

[sealtea116]

I have been told that if sps bleach at the bottom up its cause of alk have been told from multi people in different lfs not sure if it is true

 

[sealtea116]

Maybe bring alk up a little to maybe 9 and see how that works

 

[lovefish77]

ok good advise, i will work on that. I manually dose like 4-5 ml of alk part esv to the system. I also think that running GFO is behind the downward force on my alk, no?

 

[bklynreef]

I wouldnt touch any of the parameters if all other sps are doing fine. It could just be a lighting issue underneath the coral and if you ruled out pests then i wouldnt do anything but mabe re position it to get more light coverage.

 

[lovefish77]

I wouldnt touch any of the parameters if all other sps are doing fine. It could just be a lighting issue underneath the coral and if you ruled out pests then i wouldnt do anything but mabe re position it to get more light coverage.

that was my thinking at first, but how do i make the base get more light? if you expose the base you will deprive the top, know what i mean? its a chicken and egg type of thing :bigeyes2:

 

[bklynreef]

Nothing you can do really especially for people with leds

 

[lovefish77]

you can put mirrors under the acro lol

 

[bklynreef]

the reality is that T5 and MH reflect off the side glass of your tank which is why people with those experience mabe a little less shadowing problems. Leds are a direct down light and have less if any of a reflected light on the side glass unless you have them close enough to get that reflection which most people dont.

 

[lovefish77]

got it, thanks for the info. I just thought that MH would have more intensity thats all

 

[salpet]

there are some corals that like parameters in your tank and some that don't if you have room try moving it higher on the water column and see what happens

 

[duke62]

Has nothing to do with your LEDs. I don't get that unless my alk is swinging which yours are. A jump from 8-9 dkh is a big jump for acropora especially if it does it often but they will stress out if that particular coral doesn't like the swing. A swing in alk doesn't show up right away in the coral. You can have a jump and 3 weeks later you can see the effect

 

[bklynreef]

Has nothing to do with your LEDs. I don't get that unless my alk is swinging which yours are. A jump from 8-9 dkh is a big jump for acropora especially if it does it often but they will stress out if that particular coral doesn't like the swing. A swing in alk doesn't show up right away in the coral. You can have a jump and 3 weeks later you can see the effect

No offense duke but all his acros are doing fine and this acro is growing and doing fine except for the bottom because its tabling therefore its getting shadowed but growing at the tips. Mabe a flux of 1 dkh in some tanks would spell disaster but i dont think this is the case since all his other sps are doing fine. if he starts screwing with his parameters he will lose other sps colonies because of our quick to the trigger advice. I say leave it alone if all other sps are doing fine and focus ony on that sps. placement, height, flow, ect mabe but chage your parameters for one sps NO

 

[BioMan]

No offense duke but all his acros are doing fine and this acro is growing and doing fine except for the bottom because its tabling therefore its getting shadowed but growing at the tips. Mabe a flux of 1 dkh in some tanks would spell disaster but i dont think this is the case since all his other sps are doing fine. if he starts screwing with his parameters he will lose other sps colonies because of our quick to the trigger advice. I say leave it alone if all other sps are doing fine and focus ony on that sps. placement, height, flow, ect mabe but chage your parameters for one sps NO

All the above. On the reef plenty of Acro get so big the underside goes white. My question is if you look really close is the area where the color is lost vs still there is it gradual or instant. (instant would be a tearing of the skin rtn/stn I dont remember when he said he noticed it) in my opinion where Duke would be right, gradual would be lighting then BK is right.

 

[jackson6745]

What size is this tank? Really need a pic since success is subjective.

With information given I would say it has to do with weak lighting, and a po4 level of .1 (po4 kits are not very accurate so it could be higher).