1 month of decent growth, but color is steadily paling

[R_Mc]

Hi All,

New to keeping SPS - as you can see below I'm getting growth. The frag has completely encrusted the putty and has begun springing up new growth in month 1. However, it's lost its deep green =/. I have a forest fire digitata which has also lost its green coloration

This is a 30g system

I do weekly water changes (5G)
I dose vinegar and skim heavily
I feed heavily (1 frozen cube daily + pinches of reef chilli / dry food)
I run carbon + gfo
I dose Kalk in my top off (2 tbsp weekly)
I have high flow

I have dosed iron just in case - this had no visible effect, but algae growth did accellerate.

The lighting is a mixed LED panel (120W + 30W and is suspended pretty high up off of the tank)

Halp?

1/23/2016

2/25/2016

 

[Usernam Invalid]

Water might be to clean what are your parameters

 

[R_Mc]

I don't have a N/P test kit, maybe I should get one. However I do have algae growth and feed a lot.

ALK = 8
MG=1400
CA=430
Temp=80

 

[lynchmob3000]

Is it paling or browning? Hard to tell from photo

 

[lynchmob3000]

Double check your salinity being a small system a swing can cause this.

 

[R_Mc]

Salinity is 1.026 -ato by dosing pump, no more than 50ml at a time.

I can't tell if it's paling or browning either - hoping for an expert's opinion.

 

[ReefBum]

Water might be to clean what are your parameters

Ditto......corals might be starving if nutrients are being stripped out of the tank. Dosing vinegar and using GFO could cause this. You should certainly test for Nitrates and Phosphates.

 

[R_Mc]

Thank you ReefBum - I really dig your youtube channel BTW (Subscriber).

Is there a N/P kit you'd recommend? I hear that the red sea pro kit is good, but don't know if that's accurate enough when you hit the low end.

If my phosphates are bottomed out I will take the GFO off line. If my nitrates are bottomed out, but my phos is still high I will add a bit of nitrate.

 

[ReefBum]

Thank you ReefBum - I really dig your youtube channel BTW (Subscriber).

Is there a N/P kit you'd recommend? I hear that the red sea pro kit is good, but don't know if that's accurate enough when you hit the low end.

If my phosphates are bottomed out I will take the GFO off line. If my nitrates are bottomed out, but my phos is still high I will add a bit of nitrate.

Thanks! I use Salifert for Nitrate and the Hanna Low Range kit for phosphate.

 

[R_Mc]

Turns out that the nutrients were likely the issue.

Tested with the red sea pro kit and n and p were both bottomed out at 0. Nitrates were definitely zero...the test water looked identical to fresh tank water. The phosphates looked a hair above 0.00 but we're not all the way to 0.02.

Question is...now what?

I've dialed back carbon dosing and turned my gfo reactor to run only 50% of the time. Will wait a week and retest.

 

[Galaxyreef]

Feed the tank more