Is my reef in trouble?

[jason604]

Hi I left for a vacation to Mexico for a week and came back to a TOO CLEAN tank(all Algee gone and sand bed super white. My dad didnt know and fully cleaned everything in the tank. I've read about new tank syndrome and told him not to do anything but change the water I prepared for him invade something happens. Is this what is happening? My LpS corals barely open up now and my corky fingers doesn't open up at all. I have two Hawaiian feather dusters and one is gone and the other barely comes out of his shell and when it does its only about 1/10 out. Most sps looks fine but the porcillapoaras don't fully open up like before. Water parimeters seems fine. Or maybe because the water temp is fluctuating too much? It went as high as 86 2 days ago. I don't have a chiller cuz I'm running LEDs so I thought it won't get too hot. Also got a I relation question.

My candy cane colony is changing into a dark color. Here's a pic.
http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y428/jason_604/DD260FE7-8B94-4874-9784-8F341FECADA4-3377-000002D5F767D532_zps93ac5e6d.jpg

It use to be so beautifully super pure white with green hue lines into the center.
But when I tried googling white candy came coral none came up

Here's old pic. http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y428/jason_604/5CCC3392-1F1F-491B-8816-51360B6DEF94-1382-000000EB2AB5F1FE_zpsf9c6f225.jpg

Is it in trouble or just normal? How I get it back to its pure white color? Tentacles seems to only open around 9-10pm n after

[Aquattro]

Looks bleached. I'd test water to make sure the big items are in line, (Ca, Alk, Salinity) and try to manage temp, which, IMO, is likely the cause of these issues.

[Proteus]

Can ur dad clean my tank

[Wheelman76]

Can ur dad clean my tank

Lol

[jason604]

Looks bleached. I'd test water to make sure the big items are in line, (Ca, Alk, Salinity) and try to manage temp, which, IMO, is likely the cause of these issues.

So my candy cane was bleached that's y it's so white and now recovering?
Ca above 500. Always been like that. Kh 7-8 salinity around 1.025. How do I keep my water temp more stable without a chiller?

Can ur dad clean my tank

Lol ill let him know haha

[neoh]

So my candy cane was bleached that's y it's so white and now recovering?
Ca above 500. Always been like that. Kh 7-8 salinity around 1.025. How do I keep my water temp more stable without a chiller?



Lol ill let him know haha

Some people float frozen tank water in the sump instead of ATO for cooling off during this heat wave, if that's what you're trying to do.

Have a heater in the sump, and a fan on it as well. It's difficult without a controller, but if you have a controller - set the heater on when the temp dips to 78F and fan turn on if it hits 80.1F and off at 79F

[Aquattro]

Yes, it looks bleached which certainly can happen with over heating. Try running lights at night when it's cooler, frozen water bottles as suggested, fan across sump or surface of tank. Ca is a bit high, not sure how it got there, but I'd aim for under 440 max. Alk looks fine. Salinity is fine, so that does point to heat as the issue.

[HaZRaTTy]

Can ur dad clean my tank

I will 2nd renting him for a day or two.

[tang daddy]

If the first pic you posted of the candy cane is how it looks now then I would say its looking better than the 2nd pic which was definately bleached....

You can try throwing frozen water bottles in your tank all day but it didn't do much for me when I was running a 50g tank and one hot summer day I lost 3k in coral. Lesson learned, if you don't have a ton of coral or a lot invested in your reef by the way of coral try the ice method. If you have a $1000 or more in coral in your tank with sps I would consider getting a chiller as people are selling them for a fair price on here. When my corals died my tank hit 88 before that they were not happy but alive, the next day dead. Good luck!

[jason604]

Yes, it looks bleached which certainly can happen with over heating. Try running lights at night when it's cooler, frozen water bottles as suggested, fan across sump or surface of tank. Ca is a bit high, not sure how it got there, but I'd aim for under 440 max. Alk looks fine. Salinity is fine, so that does point to heat as the issue.

Yea I have no idea why my calcium has always been so high. Maybe because my api test kit is so ****? Lol

If the first pic you posted of the candy cane is how it looks now then I would say its looking better than the 2nd pic which was definately bleached....

You can try throwing frozen water bottles in your tank all day but it didn't do much for me when I was running a 50g tank and one hot summer day I lost 3k in coral. Lesson learned, if you don't have a ton of coral or a lot invested in your reef by the way of coral try the ice method. If you have a $1000 or more in coral in your tank with sps I would consider getting a chiller as people are selling them for a fair price on here. When my corals died my tank hit 88 before that they were not happy but alive, the next day dead. Good luck!

Damn 3k in corals in a 50g tank? What the hell did u have in there lol. I will try the ice pack method for now. And for my candy cane. They looked spectacular all pure white under blue lights. It was truly amazing if u were to actually see it in person. The pic I showed of it was under no lights and u already can see how bright they were. Is there a way to get it back that color without harming it?

[asylumdown]

I don't know of any photosynthetic corals that are supposed to be pure white. Getting your candy cane back to that colour would require stressing it to within an inch of its life and somehow keeping it that way without killing it.