Advice on SPS growth

[Bluemon]

Hi everyone!

Been out of the hobby a bit, and I'm seeking advice on a somewhat newish tank for a mixed reef with a focus on sps.

The tank itself is half a year old.

The rocks are from previous set ups (ranging from 3-6 years) + a lot of new dry ones.

The tank is 125 gallons big, with a sump, skimmer and all the shebang.

The parameters are as follows

Salinity: 34.3 ppt
pH: 8.13
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Ca: 400 ppm
kH: 6.7 dKH
PO4: 0 ppm
Mg: 1600 ppm

Right now the tank has 3 clownfish, a blue tang and a yellow tang
The lighting is composed of 3 kessils, with the following par levels in the tank

| LED LED LED
|
| 400 320 350 |
|
| 200 200 200 |
_______________________

The top has favias and severl frags of sps (recently got red dragon acro, green slimer and purple stylophora) while the bottom has several softies that are growing well (we had kenya trees grow like a weed in the old tanks so we keep softies separated on islands)

I think I'm seeking general advice on the parameters as I am seeing very slow growth and even when some sps have encrusted on the base, the colors have faded to almost white onthe bases while the polyps stayed green.

I've recently decreased the photoperiod to 7 hours a day as i've seen some growth in algae (not sure exactly what kind though, id say a mix of diatoms and very fine hair algae)

Thanks everyone for the help

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Your lack of growth and color is likely two things primarily:

1. New tank syndrome. I didn't see much sps growth until after the one year mark when my tank was seasoned.

2. You have no nutrients. Make sure you're using good test kits, but assuming your figures are right your sps are starving. You need low (but not 0) Phosphate. I keep mine around 0.02-0.05. As far as Nitrates, you will hear lots of opinions, but the general consensus is at least 5ppm. Personally mine are around 15-20. There are many ways to increase nutrients, the easiest is to just add more fish. You can also feed the corals with products like Reef Roids or Acropower.

Once you pass one year and get your nutrients up, if you still aren't seeing growth and color, investigate your lights. I didn't do well with LED (Radions), but many people do. I think the key to LEDs is to maximize fixtures for better coverage. But that gets expensive quick...

Good luck, sps is not a race but a journey!


Edit PS. I just noticed your salinity and Alk. Most people shoot for 35/1.0264 for Salinity and around 8 dkh for Alk. You might want to raise both slowly. Your Mag is high, but not necessarily an issue.

 

[reefmutt]

Your lack of growth and color is likely two things primarily:

1. New tank syndrome. I didn't see much sps growth until after the one year mark when my tank was seasoned.

2. You have no nutrients. Make sure you're using good test kits, but assuming your figures are right your sps are starving. You need low (but not 0) Phosphate. I keep mine around 0.02-0.05. As far as Nitrates, you will hear lots of opinions, but the general consensus is at least 5ppm. Personally mine are around 15-20. There are many ways to increase nutrients, the easiest is to just add more fish. You can also feed the corals with products like Reef Roids or Acropower.

Once you pass one year and get your nutrients up, if you still aren't seeing growth and color, investigate your lights. I didn't do well with LED (Radions), but many people do. I think the key to LEDs is to maximize fixtures for better coverage. But that gets expensive quick...

Good luck, sps is not a race but a journey!


Edit PS. I just noticed your salinity and Alk. Most people shoot for 35/1.0264 for Salinity and around 8 dkh for Alk. You might want to raise both slowly. Your Mag is high, but not necessarily an issue.

Couldn't have said it better myself.