colors going brown

[wickedfish]

All common parameters are 0, calcium 380, strotnium 1320. I feed twice a day lighter than I was. Question aside from over feeding and making the DT rich In nutrients and nippers what else causes this "ken doll effect" I seem to have a bad green thumb they grow well but they get brown on me especially the greens and purples. My pinks stags are beautiful and so are all of my lps but the acans and milli are turning everyday more pooh color. Any help, yes I here and see that environments where the coral is fed very little makes them color up what is the right way to do this, I don't wanna do zeo. Not on this DT maybe in the future, when I am not soooo broke. Any other suggestions to get these babies colored up would be awesome.

 

[Allmost]

u said it yourself,

higher nutrition = browning of SPS.

you mean Magnesium instead of strontium right ?

 

[ganjero]

No as easy as just one factor for turning brown. Whats you lighting system? how deep are the browning corals placed?

 

[Allmost]

No as easy as just one factor for turning brown. Whats you lighting system? how deep are the browning corals placed?

so you think SPS in high nutrition environment would color up with good lighting ?

I find it hard to believe with high n and p SPS coloring up, but I could be wrong

wacked off KH, ca and mg can cause this too I guess.

 

[Supasalty]

I have had the same problem due to high nitrate and phosphate. Do you have excessive algae growth maybe some chaeto would help.

 

[wickedfish]

lighting 250 watt mh x2 2 t5 54 watters sps top 1/3 of the tank. Magnesium strontium in good order, and all other parameters in good order as well. By high level of nutrient I mean I am probably feeding too much. My nice coloration is mostly in pieces that I have had for 3 months or more all the new stuff seems to do poorly and turn into that Ken doll color but the nicest coral is on the bottom half. I have a nice turoki on the rack that is coming into bloom so I am confused. And lets not argue but discuss, so we can learn, you guys are both very informative and I see what you guys write and I am intrigued by your observations and i thank both of you for all the help I am alotted, thanks again.

 

[Allmost]

lighting 250 watt mh x2 2 t5 54 watters sps top 1/3 of the tank. Magnesium strontium in good order, and all other parameters in good order as well. By high level of nutrient I mean I am probably feeding too much. My nice coloration is mostly in pieces that I have had for 3 months or more all the new stuff seems to do poorly and turn into that Ken doll color but the nicest coral is on the bottom half. I have a nice turoki on the rack that is coming into bloom so I am confused. And lets not argue but discuss, so we can learn, you guys are both very informative and I see what you guys write and I am intrigued by your observations and i thank both of you for all the help I am alotted, thanks again.

you learn through a healthy argument but I agree unhealthy ones are not good, and that's how it tends to go with my posts, well lets hope not this time as I'm giving my opinion, not facts. so I can be wrong

now what do you test your no3 and po4 with ? and what are the readings ?

do you test for KH and CA as well ?

there are no tests out there for strontium, so you are testing MG, which should be 3.25 times as much as CA so it only makes sense to test them all

 

[wickedfish]

I have a ton of chaeto in the refugium had to throw some out last weekend phosphates, nitrates and nitrites undetectable according to my tests done twice a week, api and salifert one of each to make sure, alk and hardness in order ph pretty stable 8.1-8.3 it takes a dip in the morn. what is proper magnesium for a sps dominant reef??

 

[wickedfish]

I have a salifert strontium test so its bogus? it first tests the calcium and step 2 is for strontium.. It reads SR profi test on the label bar code reads 8714079 130408.

 

[Allmost]

I have a ton of chaeto in the refugium had to throw some out last weekend phosphates, nitrates and nitrites undetectable according to my tests done twice a week, api and salifert one of each to make sure, alk and hardness in order ph pretty stable 8.1-8.3 it takes a dip in the morn. what is proper magnesium for a sps dominant reef??

wickedfish, sorry, but "in order" makes no sense

we need numbers, and exact numbers.

no3 and po4, test with salifert LOW RANGE again. remember it goes down to 0.2 if you look at it from the side and to be honest, even ULNS systems on Zeovit usually read at least something using salifert !

as I said in last post, MG should be 3.25 times CA
so ca of 400 you need mg of 1300PPM. (according to boomer and natural oceans ratio)

 

[Allmost]

I have a salifert strontium test so its bogus? it first tests the calcium and step 2 is for strontium.. It reads SR profi test on the label bar code reads 8714079 130408.

:eek1:

I never knew that to be honest !! and have no Idea hopefully others have I will need to do a little research now about strontium tests Id love to tst my levels as well ! lol

thanks for sharing the info see ? we do learn through arguments haha

 

[wickedfish]

no3 po4 with api and salifert the api's are older maybe need to be tossed calcium is 410 this morning SR is 1320 i dose SR 2 times a week the a and b calcium stuff 3 times a week according to calcium dips or ph dips tell me whats going on with that. I agree I would love to get a Cal reactor to be more efficient and stable for the environment I am trying to create. Could something be related to when i top off i have had to top off 2-2.5 gallons at times when i leave the house all day.

 

[wickedfish]

0's for phosphates, nitrates, nitrites.

 

[wickedfish]

alkalinity 9

 

[JSeymour]

Have you thought about other ways of carbon dosing other than zeo? There are cheap alternatives, vodka and vinegar. Start slow and you won't regret it(or shouldn't).

 

[Allmost]

no3 po4 with api and salifert the api's are older maybe need to be tossed calcium is 410 this morning SR is 1320 i dose SR 2 times a week the a and b calcium stuff 3 times a week according to calcium dips or ph dips tell me whats going on with that. I agree I would love to get a Cal reactor to be more efficient and stable for the environment I am trying to create. Could something be related to when i top off i have had to top off 2-2.5 gallons at times when i leave the house all day.

well stability is the key for sure as I think, so ATO would be a good help

API tests for no3 and po4 I dont like, cause for no3 they read 0 PPM adn then 5 PPM which is actually LESS than 5PPM or over 5 PPM so it wont tell u exact reading.

calcium is good at 410 PPM, therefore u need MG to be at 1332 which ytou are close to and are fine what did u mean by SR though ?

what is the value for KH (carbonate ) ?

again, stability, with 2 part, Id add part A (calcium everynight) and part B (carbonate which increases PH) in the morning time, (if you could, as much as possible )

also what is the PH ? if you have tested it.

calcium reactor, well, not needed. in my opinion it lowers PH too much and I personally think they are too hard to operate, I love balling method though, u can get dosing pumps (cheaper than Ca rx) and do that. or jus by 2 dosing pumps to dose your 2 part every couple hours ! ca during the day, KH during the night

 

[Allmost]

alkalinity 9

that is fine.


now tell us more about yur system, any skimmers ? sump ?

you need to add a new way of exporting nutritions, as JSeymour said, if ure skimmer is good u can try Vodka dosing, I'm not sure why you removed the cheato, but thats an excellent way as well, just trim it once in a while


as of me, Im in love with Zeo, I aint leaving pohl for no vodka

 

[wickedfish]

Dosing vodka 1month now 3ml a day i run carbon in a bag in the sump, chaetto and reef mud in the refugium. Sorry isnt SR the sign for strontium? My bad if its ST. Skimmer is a g series sized for 150g,my return pumps 13x the water volume according to my fish guy, there is also an mp40 es for flow.

 

[JSeymour]

that is fine.


now tell us more about yur system, any skimmers ? sump ?

you need to add a new way of exporting nutritions, as JSeymour said, if ure skimmer is good u can try Vodka dosing, I'm not sure why you removed the cheato, but thats an excellent way as well, just trim it once in a while


as of me, Im in love with Zeo, I aint leaving pohl for no vodka

I got the impression he just thinned his clump of cheato.
Someday, I'll go zeo... Someday...

Dosing vodka 1month now 3ml a day i run carbon in a bag in the sump, chaetto and reef mud in the refugium. Sorry isnt SR the sign for strontium? My bad if its ST. Skimmer is a g series sized for 150g,my return pumps 13x the water volume according to my fish guy, there is also an mp40 es for flow.

3 mL is alot, IME. I don't keep alot of fish(but it is a fu manchu lion), but I love feeding my corals and pods and inorder to keep my nitrate/phosphate as close to zero as I can test, I only need a total of 1.6 mL of vodka per day(.8 twice daily) in my 80 gallon. With that much vodka, my corals would almost be white. Makes me think you have a ton of nutrients.

Someone correct me, but if your tank can quickly grow and support a large amount of macros, can't you end up with "undetectable nitrates". Lets say we have two tanks, A and B. Tank A's macros eat 75 ppm of nitrate per day and only 75 ppm are produced/introduced into the tank daily. A total of zero nitrates and colorful corals. Tank B's macros eat 250 ppm and 250 ppm and produced/introduced into the tank daily. Also a total of zero nitrates, but the corals are brown because they are exposed to elevated nitrates. Maybe?

I'm guessing that your liverock may be releasing alot of nutrients, that are being eaten, due to the carbon dosing. I think over time you will start to see your corals brighten as your liverock is cleaned up, at which point you'll be reducing your vodka amount to compensate for this.

I'm no expert though.

 

[DaddyJax]

Forgive me but what do you mean by DT? Do you have a sandbed? BB? DSB? Why are you dosing Vodka and why do you need a carbon bag?
Do you still only have one fish? in a 90G?