Help, my canary sps coral is losing color.

[M. Tournesol]

Hello,

My first coral, which is also a test coral, is losing color "and polypes" at it base. I need help to identifying the cause(s)😢.

The coral is a seriatopora hystrix introduced this Wednesday (24/02/2021) after acclimation and a quick dip in CoralRx.

The tank is 2 months old and was started with 7kg (15lbs) of indo live rocks.

 

Its parameters are (tested with Salifert test kits):

• temp 26°C (78.8°F)
• salinity oscillating between 25-26

measured yesterday

• phosphate 0,03
• nitrite 0,002
• nitrate 0,005
• total ammonia 0,25
• true ammonia 0,0176
• ph 8,25

measured 3 days ago 

• KH/ALK 10,2
• Ca 445
• Mg 1470

Salt brand: instant ocean

Light: GNC bluray M 

Flow: nero 3

 

Here photos at day 1, 3 and 4 after introduction (the zoanthids can be ignored) + a photo from above at day 4 after introduction (the gray part between the branches was already here when the coral arrived). 

And here a photo of the entirety of the aquarium.

For me this discoloration could come from 4 causes

1. The tank is too new for sps (🤷‍♂️ better luck next month with a new canary sps)
2. The light is too low
3. The flow is too low
4. There is nothing going wrong and I am just panicking😱🤯 because the coral is just a little paler due to acclimating to the tank parameters.

 

Personally, I was thinking that the light is too low. Indeed, the light was at 50% blue and 50% white at introduction while the constructor speaks of 300 PAR at center when at 100%. Thus, I increased my percentage by 5% two times (yesterday and today and is thus at 60% blue and 60% white) and was going to continue this increase at a slower pace (+2% a day until reaching 80%). 

 

I not so sure of my conclusion. I need some experts help 😉. 

What is happening and what should I do?

 

[mcarroll]

11 hours ago, M. Tournesol said:

• nitrite 0,002
• nitrate 0,005
• total ammonia 0,25
• true ammonia 0,0176

If these are accurate, it sounds like you've got an ammonia problem.

 

12 hours ago, M. Tournesol said:

• phosphate 0,03
• nitrate 0,005

These two are a bit too close to zero for comfort.

 

Your setup (very long, flat and wide from front to back) looks like a challenging one to get adequate flow in, especially with a pump like that...strong flow would strongly agitate your sand bed too.  Not fun.

 

12 hours ago, M. Tournesol said:

light was at 50% blue and 50% white

You want mostly blue – just enough white for things to look good.  Measure with a lux meter or PAR meter if you don't know the intensity level you're giving the tank – I recommend this.  (I use a lux meter.)

 

 

 

[M. Tournesol]

Thank you for your reply 😊

11 hours ago, mcarroll said:

If these are accurate, it sounds like you've got an ammonia problem.

I do have to admit that I do not really understand the real ideal level of ammonia for a reef tank.

On the net, I do seem to read a value of  above 0,1 ppm is a problem. But, is this value for true ammonia (NH3) or for total ammonia (NH3/NH4+)?

As saliver test of total ammonia (NH3/NH4+) only give as minimal level < .15 and is second lowest is .25. I do not understand the utility of such test kit if the lower level measurable are already to high for a reef tank.

11 hours ago, mcarroll said:

These two are a bit too close to zero for comfort.

I agree with you but, it does not seem to go up since the introduction of the live rocks (a max level of 1.8 Phosphate and 50 NO3).

I do feed my tank dead phytoplankton every day.

 

I do have an algae reactor to stabilize the PH at night. I could lower its lighting period ...

 

11 hours ago, mcarroll said:

You want mostly blue – just enough white for things to look good.  Measure with a lux meter or PAR meter if you don't know the intensity level you're giving the tank – I recommend this.  (I use a lux meter.)

 

I will look into a lux meter. What are the appropriate level in lux for sps with high blue / low white?

[M. Tournesol]

11 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Your setup (very long, flat and wide from front to back) looks like a challenging one to get adequate flow in, especially with a pump like that...strong flow would strongly agitate your sand bed too.  Not fun.

😢 

This is why I have high sand at the left of the tank and low sand with some ruble at the right. 

If my pump go above 65-70% water plash out of the tank and siphon are created at the surface and pulling air in the pump intake. 

[M. Tournesol]

33 minutes ago, M. Tournesol said:

What are the appropriate level in lux for sps with high blue / low white?

I found your 2015 post on reef2reef. 

"Roughly, between 30,000 and 80,000 lux."

[mcarroll]

1 hour ago, M. Tournesol said:

I do have to admit that I do not really understand the real ideal level of ammonia for a reef tank.

Online information on ammonia is all over the map....sadly, almost useless.  Randy Holmes-Farley's old reef keeping.com article is decent.  Otherwise you need a good hobby book (ie Martin Moe, etc), or you need to look at academic books and articles.

 

Ammonia is a primary food source for many organisms.  It's only a problem when then concentration rises.  Even then it's mechanism of toxicity is important to consider – it doesn't burn like hot lava. 😉

 

Further, as you noted, there is "ammonia" and there's "free ammonia".  NH4 vs NH3.  NH3 is mostly regarded as the problematic portion of ammonia.  The quantity of NH3 is largely determined by temperature and pH.

 

1 hour ago, M. Tournesol said:

I do have an algae reactor to stabilize the PH at night. I could lower its lighting period ...

Because of the above I would suggest taking the algae reactor offline for the time being....every time it lights up, pH in the system will spike (or spike even harder, since corals will be doing the same thing) causing toxic ammonia levels to spike as well.

 

1 hour ago, M. Tournesol said:

If my pump go above 65-70% water plash out of the tank and siphon are created at the surface and pulling air in the pump intake. 

I would consider switching pumps.  I think a classic Tunze nanostream or maybe one of the gyre pumps would be more suited.  (Personally, I'm partial to the nanostreams.)

 

1 hour ago, M. Tournesol said:

I found your 2015 post on reef2reef. 

"Roughly, between 30,000 and 80,000 lux."

That's a pretty complete range rather than a target.

 

I'd say you can safely target something like 30,000 (or even lower) unless your intent is to grow clams or to simulate a shallow water habitat.

 

(I've had SPS tanks 19" tall with under 15,000 lux at the water surface with SPS on the sand bed.  Things looked good, just grew a little slower I think.)

 

 

[M. Tournesol]

I did a quick read on randy article. He did say that a total ammonia of 0.25 was bad.

So I did a test read a level of less than .15 for a ph of 8.6 (it's the end of the day for me). I think that the .25 was because, the day before this test, I did over feed the tank by trying to get my gobi to eat pellets. It was a one-time error...

Thank you for pointing this ammonia problem. I will keep an eyes on it. 

 

For the coral, I put it in an area with more flow. I will think seriously about switching pumps in the coming weeks. 

 

thank again for your help 👍