LPS RTN'ing ...I have a problem that's been driving me crazy

holdyourlight · 11/30/2009, 05:43 PM

It all started about 2 weeks ago. Out of nowhere there is a decent outbreak of what looks like diatoms on my sandbed. I decide that my lights need replacing so i swap out all 6 54watt T5's on my tek fixture. I cut the light cycle by 3 hours.........

2 days later i wake up and half of my LPS are skeleton's overnight. Literally look great at 11pm and lost most of their tissue by 11am. I check my parameters. Cal 420 Mag 1350 Phos 0.02 Nitrates 0 Alk 5.4
SPS (i only have encrusting monti's), and Zoas and Palys are unaffected

Alk 5.4 !! Not good. Figured out that my tank is eating 1 dkh per day of alk. I am dosing now. It has been right around 8 ever since.

Back to the corals......the corals that looked like they had a chance i dipped in ReVive and they have been doing well in my frag tank ever since (by doing well-i mean they have not lost any more tissue)

I thought my problem was solved until today i came home from work and two weeks after i have lost anything the 2 remaining LPS i left in the tank have RTN'ed overnight (unfortunately these two were Raptor's Peace Coral and Pot of Gold Favia)
i had left these in the tank because they showed no signs of stress so i left them in there.

How is this possible?

1. I got the alk thing under control so why would they be fine for two weeks and then all of a sudden lose all of their tissue over night

2. If it was light shock (in the future i will use the "screen method" and not just cut down on the hours) again- why would it take 2 weeks for them to RTN overnight

i am absolutely baffled and my frag tank is STUFFED with all of my LPS from the display that has not died and is trying to recover. I am scared to ever put anything back in that display

any insight would me MUCH appreciated.

luther1200 · 11/30/2009, 06:02 PM

It could be from the light. I replaced my supplemental PC's with 2 T5's and some of my SPS started to bleach just from 2 tubes. I have 150w MH also. But just changing from PC to T5 supplements had a pretty big affect, I could only imagine what 6 new lamps would do. How old were the old lamps?

holdyourlight · 11/30/2009, 06:41 PM

the lamps were about 10 months old

the thing is the corals did not "bleach"

they went from fully healthy to completely dead skeleton no flesh left overnight.....

11/30/2009, 05:43 PM	#1
holdyourlight Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Knoxville, Tennessee Posts: 984	LPS RTN'ing ...I have a problem that's been driving me crazy It all started about 2 weeks ago. Out of nowhere there is a decent outbreak of what looks like diatoms on my sandbed. I decide that my lights need replacing so i swap out all 6 54watt T5's on my tek fixture. I cut the light cycle by 3 hours......... 2 days later i wake up and half of my LPS are skeleton's overnight. Literally look great at 11pm and lost most of their tissue by 11am. I check my parameters. Cal 420 Mag 1350 Phos 0.02 Nitrates 0 Alk 5.4 SPS (i only have encrusting monti's), and Zoas and Palys are unaffected Alk 5.4 !! Not good. Figured out that my tank is eating 1 dkh per day of alk. I am dosing now. It has been right around 8 ever since. Back to the corals......the corals that looked like they had a chance i dipped in ReVive and they have been doing well in my frag tank ever since (by doing well-i mean they have not lost any more tissue) I thought my problem was solved until today i came home from work and two weeks after i have lost anything the 2 remaining LPS i left in the tank have RTN'ed overnight (unfortunately these two were Raptor's Peace Coral and Pot of Gold Favia) i had left these in the tank because they showed no signs of stress so i left them in there. How is this possible? 1. I got the alk thing under control so why would they be fine for two weeks and then all of a sudden lose all of their tissue over night 2. If it was light shock (in the future i will use the "screen method" and not just cut down on the hours) again- why would it take 2 weeks for them to RTN overnight i am absolutely baffled and my frag tank is STUFFED with all of my LPS from the display that has not died and is trying to recover. I am scared to ever put anything back in that display any insight would me MUCH appreciated.

11/30/2009, 06:02 PM	#2
luther1200 Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: NJ, shore Posts: 4,376	It could be from the light. I replaced my supplemental PC's with 2 T5's and some of my SPS started to bleach just from 2 tubes. I have 150w MH also. But just changing from PC to T5 supplements had a pretty big affect, I could only imagine what 6 new lamps would do. How old were the old lamps? __________________ Matt, 65G reef tank Current Tank Info: 65g reef, mix of sps, lps, few softies. Hoping to upgrade within the year.

11/30/2009, 06:41 PM	#3
holdyourlight Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Knoxville, Tennessee Posts: 984	the lamps were about 10 months old the thing is the corals did not "bleach" they went from fully healthy to completely dead skeleton no flesh left overnight.....