Colours Fade No Matter What!

[xanee]

Hi there,

I'm acquainted enough with reef-keeping, kept a 90 gallon a few years back, but this is my first attempt at focusing on SPS. I cannot for the life of me uncover why the colours fade so dramatically though!

I purchased my frags from an excellent supplier and they were brilliantly coloured in the stores under metal halides. The suppliers told me the only thing they supplement is Aquavitro Fuel. I've been using it in my aquarium for around 2 months and have seen no improvement.

No matter what species, the colours wash out within 2-3 days of being in the aquarium. At first I had my lighting at nearly 90% across the spectrum but, noticing the washing-out and fearing bleaching, I've lowered them significantly, also around 2 months ago. No change.

Regardless of how long the frags have been in there (the first ones went in around a month after tank-setup), there does not seem to be any improvement in colour, which suggests that this isn't simply an acclimation issue as far as I am aware.

Reading about pesky flatworms, I've done dips in Coral Revive a few times but have never noticed anything die off in the dip bucket water.

Strangest part of it all is that the corals' polyps are all wide open and they are all growing! They appear healthy by every visual indicator except colour.

I feel like I've exhausted the internet for a solution. This forum is my last shot. Help me reef central-Kenobi, you're my only hope. :strooper:

Specs:

-30 Gallon SPS tank, running 6 months
-Filtration: Aquaclear 50 Hanging Filter with Seachem Purigen and a sponge (replaced monthly)
-Weekly water changes (10-15%), Red Sea Coral Pro Salt
-Lighting: AI Hydra 26, colours ranging from 45-60%
-Supplementing twice a week with AcroPower and Aquavitro Fuel
-Fish/ Feeding: minimal, one Yellow Wrasse
-High water flow, 2 circulation pumps

-Measured Parameters (API Reef Test kit):

-Salinity - 34ppt
-Phosphates - untraceable
-Calcium - 460ppm
-Temperature - 75-76.5 F
-Nitrates: untraceable
-KH - 8 degrees

 

[plyle02]

"-Fish/ Feeding: minimal, one Yellow Wrasse "

IMO this is your flaw. All live stock inhabitants need food, sps happen to feed on waste by fish, only 1 fish, minimally fed, pale colors, no surprise...

 

[Ian108]

0 no3 and 0 po4 is your prob get some more fish in their and get feeding to raise the po4 and no3 a smidge

 

[Peter Eichler]

Some pictures would really help here as well as some details on what you use to get your salinity levels.

Also, while I like API for calcium and alkalinity, they're not very good for getting an accurate idea of where your nitrate and phosphate is. In fact Hanna is about the only test kit worth using for PO4, and that one is even iffy at times. I'd suggest finding someone or getting yourself a Hanna checker and a Salifert of Red sea nitrate kit to verify your results.

I'm not so quick to jump to conclusions that it could be lack of nutrients with no protein skimmer on the tank.

 

[Relativity]

It's your water. Do you have one of those magnet veggie clips. It might have rusted. Or eshoops frag try they have bad seals too. If no then I would buy new filters for your RO. Change out the water bit by bit. Is the tank used? Something is in the water that should not be there. I've seen this before

 

[71xlch]

It's your water. Do you have one of those magnet veggie clips. It might have rusted. Or eshoops frag try they have bad seals too. If no then I would buy new filters for your RO. Change out the water bit by bit. Is the tank used? Something is in the water that should not be there. I've seen this before

I 100% disagree about rust being the issue. Tanks only 6 months old with minimal feeding. More feeding with aggressive removal will help.

How many GPH are your powerheads? 2x 200gph is a lot less flow than 2x750.

 

[xanee]

"-Fish/ Feeding: minimal, one Yellow Wrasse "

IMO this is your flaw. All live stock inhabitants need food, sps happen to feed on waste by fish, only 1 fish, minimally fed, pale colors, no surprise...

Thanks for the responses,

I am considering getting a couple of new fish in the aquarium. I was initially under the impression that the less waste in an SPS tank, the better, but I see what everyone is saying about the lack of nutrients coupled with aggressive waste removal.

 

[xanee]

It's your water. Do you have one of those magnet veggie clips. It might have rusted. Or eshoops frag try they have bad seals too. If no then I would buy new filters for your RO. Change out the water bit by bit. Is the tank used? Something is in the water that should not be there. I've seen this before

The aquarium and all equipment are brand new and I have no other sources of metal in the system.

Granted I've just realized a somewhat rookie mistake here. I am not using an R.O. system. Might also be time for an investment there although I'd like to test for heavy metals first. Any recommendations on confirming whether city water quality really is the issue??

 

[markalot]

The aquarium and all equipment are brand new and I have no other sources of metal in the system.

Granted I've just realized a somewhat rookie mistake here. I am not using an R.O. system. Might also be time for an investment there although I'd like to test for heavy metals first. Any recommendations on confirming whether city water quality really is the issue??

You just don't know.

First purchase should be a quality RO/DI system, second should be a temperature correcting TDS meter, look for TDS3 on amazon, first hit, $22.

I can only guess, and guess wildly, but the warning signs I see for stability issues are:

API test kits

Red Sea Coral Pro salt (what is the KH of the tank, what is the KH of the newly mixed water, how much does it swing when you do a water change)

As others have said, not enough food in the water.

You don't have any dying corals so IMO the magnet issue can be ignored for now.

 

[xanee]

Thanks, I'm on it!

I'll post here with any updates in the next few days.

 

[Relativity]

It was the chlorine your city added to the water supply. You have no choice you must buy a proper RO/DI. Not to mention all the other chemicals in the water that you added to the tank. There is no need to test there is no protection in that. BRS is having a sale on Ro units right now. Get there universal carbon blocks and change all the water in you tank

 

[redwhiteandblue]

It was the chlorine your city added to the water supply. You have no choice you must buy a proper RO/DI. Not to mention all the other chemicals in the water that you added to the tank. There is no need to test there is no protection in that. BRS is having a sale on Ro units right now. Get there universal carbon blocks and change all the water in you tank

This is a little extreme. Although I agree an ro unit is very important. My guess is this isn't your only iasue. It sometime takes time to solve. I'm currently going through this my self. Get an ro, and work on some water changes. Use carbon in the tank for a while and then work up from there. By no means do you have to change all the water immediately. More harm than good will be caused by a 100% changeover

 

[xanee]

This is a little extreme. Although I agree an ro unit is very important. My guess is this isn't your only iasue. It sometime takes time to solve. I'm currently going through this my self. Get an ro, and work on some water changes. Use carbon in the tank for a while and then work up from there. By no means do you have to change all the water immediately. More harm than good will be caused by a 100% changeover

Agreed, in my experience anything more than 50% is extremely stressful on the animals.

Good news is i've done one 15% water change so far with RO/DI and will likely do another over the weekend and then level them off to similar weekly water changes. I can't imagine I'll see any improvement for at least a month but if I do i'll be sure to post before and after pics here.

If all goes well and parameters don't appear to be swinging, i'll add 2 new fish in there as well.

Thanks everyone.

 

[acidfast1]

As I always say, nutrient poor is good, but nutrient homeless is bad. One way to tell your nutrient load is good, in my opinion, is the absence of nuisance algae, but you have to clean the diatom algae off your glass about once a week. The symbiotic algae need food so they can feed the coral too, and if they don't get it the coral allows more zooanthellae which hides the color pigments thus browning your corals. Granted this is only one reason, but seems likely here. Please don't do anything drastic because that usually does more harm than good. Also, be sure to turn your pumps off and spot feed a few times a week. I wouldn't dose a whole lot right now. Through water changes, good saltwater has what you need and since you can't, or most don't, test for all the things you dose, levels of various things can get quite high and be detrimental. Just add a few more fish, continue water changes (with good salt and RO/DI water), target feed with pumps off or turned down significantly), make sure you have strong but alternating current, and keep an eye on your lights you will notice a substantial difference in a few months. You can carefully resume dosing after several normal water changes. I hope this helps. Ray