Could Over Skimming be the Reason for My Pale Corals?

[Patrick Cox]

I have been running my SPS tank for almost a year and during all of this time I have struggled with pale SPS colors. Originally I was aggressively running GAC, GFO, filter sock and skimming. Once I realized I was likely stripping all of the nutrients out of the water, I decreased my use of GFO and GAC, I only use the filter sock when I clean the tank, I started to feed more, and I started using KZ supplements. And while my colors have improved, it hasn't been to the degree I was hoping for, but I assumed that I just needed to give it more time.

Now this week, my skimmer stopped working due to being clogged up so I removed it for cleaning but I have been too busy to finish cleaning and get it back into the sump. Now a few days later, I feel like my corals are starting to color up better. So my question is, could I be over skimming? My tank is 75G and my skimmer is a Reef Octopus SRO 1000LSS. It is rated for 90-160 gallons. I have 5 small fish in my tank and I small pinch of pellets twice a day and then I try to feed frozen once per day. I would say my feeding is moderate for my fish load. Nitrates and Phosphates are always low.

I think I will keep my skimmer off line for awhile and see what happens. Any suggestions on this? Would this be a problem after a while?

Thanks!

 

[RLM60]

Since your feeding 2-3 times a day my first question to you is what kind of lights are you using and how long do you leave them onfor each day

 

[RLM60]

Sorry for seeming to ignore the protien skimmer question, but I use a skimmer rated for150gal on my 75gal tank and don't feel thats your issue. Most people use skimmers rated twice their water volumn.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Since your feeding 2-3 times a day my first question to you is what kind of lights are you using and how long do you leave them onfor each day

ATI 6x39w fixture with 3 B+, 1 P+, 1 Aqua Blue Special and 1 Actinic. They run from 10 am - 7 pm with a ramp during roughly the first 1 1/2 hours and last 1 1/2 hours. All 6 bulbs are running at 100% for 7 hours. Tank dimensions are 36x24x20 so I have good coverage. I get good par in the tank.

 

[biggles]

I skim heavily but feed much more food daily than you in a smaller tank - specifically aimed at the corals not the fish. No GAC and passive GFO. Perhaps leave the skimmer in and increase the feedings and types of foods.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Since your feeding 2-3 times a day my first question to you is what kind of lights are you using and how long do you leave them onfor each day

Also, my 3 feedings are probably on the small side. Frozen feeding is 1/3 of a cube of mysis and 1/3 cube of cyclopes.

 

[ridetheducati]

Ramp up the feeding or dose CV, Xtra, and AAHC. Your system is processing nutrients very well providing you the overhead to feed more.

 

[Outdrsyguy1]

my guess is that you're too low on nutrients also. If your dosing amino and hit a plateau try spot feeding your corals for a couple weeks and see. I had the same pale coral thing and did notice a change in color after dosing red sea reef energy. Also pulled my rox carbon and GFO completely out of the tank. got a few hair algae outbreaks but I also had virtually no CUC. oh, also had aefw issue but that only counts for acro's. I had plenty of other pale/non growing corals. I had a huge explosion in lps/soft leather growth and sps are looking better. I've used coral frenzy, cyclopeeze, and brs reef chili and so far i've had the most response out of the reef chili.