Water Change Bleaching Corals?

[jgoal55]

Every time I change my water, a lot of my sps corals start to bleach the next day. Over a week or so they all come back to normal color....but I was just wondering why they bleach when I change the water.

Also, this time they bleached a lot more than usual.

Any thoughts?

 

[skriz]

did you add clorox to the water by any chance?

I would check the ph & alk of the makeup water and compare it to the tank water. I would suspect this to be the likely cause. unless of course you went with option #1

 

[cgill311]

What % of the water do you change and how often?

 

[jgoal55]

lol...i hope not...

My PH on the new water is good but i never checked alk.....

either way, that may have been my last water change ever on this tank....=(

 

[jgoal55]

last night I changed about 50% (more than usual cuz of a small hair algae issue). also it had been about 1mo and a1/2 since the last one...usually i change about 20-30% every three to four weeks.

 

[victor626nj]

what are yo useing to put the water in if its not food grade it is probably leaching something into your tank that is causing it to bleach out your coral

 

[jgoal55]

a rubbermaid brute

 

[cgill311]

Jgoal55;157432 wrote: lol...i hope not...

My PH on the new water is good but i never checked alk.....

either way, that may have been my last water change ever on this tank....=(

Ruh roh...what does that mean?

 

[kzoo]

Are you warming the water to the same temp as the tank water?

 

[calireefer]

If you go a long time between water changes you should do several small ones spaced out over a few days to catch up. A fifty percent change is a huge shock for a reef tank in my opinion. I have gone as long as eight months between changes but when I finally do a water change they will never be bigger than five or ten percent.

Ideally I would recommend ten percent every two weeks or twenty percent once a month but it really depends on your system.

Also use RO/DI or its probably better to not even do them at all. You might think of reducing your photo period for a few days till your corals recover. Best of luck


Merlin

 

[jgoal55]

kzoo;157441 wrote: Are you warming the water to the same temp as the tank water?

the new water is usually colder by about 2 degrees.

 

[jgoal55]

CGill311;157440 wrote: Ruh roh...what does that mean?

just cuz im moving so i am eventually breaking down this tank (soon)...after I get some good pics....but dont worry....no way am I leaving the hobby.

 

[jgoal55]

calireefer;157446 wrote: If you go a long time between water changes you should do several small ones spaced out over a few days to catch up. A fifty percent change is a huge shock for a reef tank in my opinion. I have gone as long as eight months between changes but when I finally do a water change they will never be bigger than five or ten percent.

Ideally I would recommend ten percent every two weeks or twenty percent once a month but it really depends on your system.

Also use RO/DI or its probably better to not even do them at all. You might think of reducing your photo period for a few days till your corals recover. Best of luck


Merlin

Thanks Merlin...i do use RO/DI....and yeah i thought the 50% was kind of big too...i probably wont do that again....how much would you reduce the photo period by?

 

[haninja]

does your corals get exposed to air/light during the water change?

 

[ralph atl]

Just do a 10% water change every other week. That should be all you need. If you are having algae issues, you should reduce the amount of phosphates going into the tank and use a phosphate reactor with Phosar HC, ROWA, GFO, to reduce the level in your tank.

 

[jgoal55]

haninja;157453 wrote: does your corals get exposed to air/light during the water change?

yeah ari w/out a doubt....most of my corals are very close to the top.bt I make sure they stay wet throughout the process.

 

[jgoal55]

mysterybox;157473 wrote: Just do a 10% water change every other week. That should be all you need. If you are having algae issues, you should reduce the amount of phosphates going into the tank and use a phosphate reactor with Phosar HC, ROWA, GFO, to reduce the level in your tank.

yeah, i think ill give that a shot until its all down.

 

[haninja]

Jgoal55;157570 wrote: yeah ari w/out a doubt....most of my corals are very close to the top.bt I make sure they stay wet throughout the process.

If you keep your lights on during your water chage then this your problem. You are "burning" your corals...

 

[jgoal55]

haninja;157615 wrote: If you keep your lights on during your water chage then this your problem. You are "burning" your corals...

hmmm...very interesting..never thought about that...i keep the lights on but always to the side....in other words i take the fixture of the top of the tank and ill stand it to the side during the WC....but still possible i guess.