Bubble Trouble

[ibizman]

Good Sunday everyone!

Let me start this post by saying that I really appreciate all of you and your helpful advice. I am fairly new to the hobby, and it is great to have a group of people that are willing to help others enjoy the hobby and be successful. Now I am asking a lot of quesions, but hope that some day soon I can post some pictures that are even remotely close to as beautiful as the pictures I have seen many of you post.

Now, for my question....

I have a bubble coral that I got from Premium. It has been doing rather well in the tank until recently. I noticed that in the lower RH area of the coral, it has started to recede leaving the bare skeleton only. Also, the tips of the exposed area of the skeleton are turning brownish-green. Calcium levels are around 380-400 mg/l PH is 8.1. Alk measures about 4 meq/L or 11.2 KH.

The only thnig that seems to be out of whack is nitrate, for which I will be doing a water change tomorrow.

20g tank
1 15W 50/50 bulb
25 lbs LR
4 small fish
2 PH
HOT Skimmer

I have attached a picture to illustrate. Has anyone seen this before or have any idea what if anything I can do to keep this problem from progressing? Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks.

Jason

[Toadfish]

Lighting seems to be the issue based on the specs provided. You're running at less than 1w per gallon. IMO you would need at least 100w of PC lighting to sustain this LPS.

[ibizman]

Of course the LFS said that what I have should be just fine for bubble coral becasue they do not like intense lighting. I guess I better look at getting that light upgrade sooner than I thougt.

Any other suggestions diagnosis?

Jason

[Geoff]

bubbles are also predatory. have you tried feeding it silversides AT NIGHT. if you look at it at night you will see long tentacles instead of the bubbles. this is how it captures food. they do need medium light though. i would suggest geting up to at least 4w a gallon. all of your other params seem good, and you are addressing your nitrates.

i think 4 fish is a lot for a 20 though.

G~

[ibizman]

I feed it silversides about once a week. I also use DT phyto about once a week. It accepts the food graciously. In fact, I fed it silversides just yesterday and it was very responsive.

Is this a serious condition for the coral or is it likely to recover if I upgrade lights?

Jason

[Geoff]

i had bubbles for many, many years. they were the only things i could keep alive for a while. i had one that was just about unkillable, at least until the tank dropped to 55 degrees for a week.

mine would receed like that, it usually meant i was not giving them enough Ca. either that or my nitrates were getting out of hand. it would get my butt in gear for the next year with water changes. the bubble would start to come back. they are slow growers. i had one receed 99% with only a tiny piece alive. it was on it way back when the temp incident killed it.

i think the lights will help a lot. i know they can get all of their food from photo. i fed mine very rarely, maybe that is why they were slow growers.

G~

[ibizman]

Geoff,

Thanks for the advice. I just got back from the store where I picked up a CSL PC light set. It has 2x65w lamps with the moon lites. I am excited to see what it does for my tank and how it looks at night.

At least now I have some decent lights. It took the dying coral story to convince my wife that I needed them.

Have you heard anything about the effects of strontium levels on the health of bubble corals? I have a reefing friend who says that strontium is an essential element for the coral tissue to bond to the calciferous skeleton. I am going to check my levels and add some if necessary, but I just wondered if this might be part of my problems...

Thanks.

Jason

[Geoff]

if you are doing regular water changes then strontium is not your problem. strontium is one of those things that people just can not decide on whether it is really important or not. i for one do not think it is important. all i have read seems to point to it as an accidental building material.

water changes will replace all of your trace elements for you. in the correct percentages.

G~

[Toadfish]

Let us know how the lights work out. I am interested to know what's going on with your coral.