Green SPS turn pale. Why?

[LordDarth Bane]

Thanks. How long does it take to see SPS get back the colours after NO3 has reached 2-5ppm?

After a week of even heavier feeding, and adding 2ml of N fertilizer and 1x Reef Booster yesterday. I just check the NO3 is 5ppm today (with Salifer kit).

I will keep an eye on and check again to see how fast does the NO3 got used up.

 

[reefmutt]

It really depends on the tank and the coral, I would say. Some may respond within a week and some may take many weeks. You may see growth before colour as well..
Just be careful. If your additions have made it jump to 5ppm in a week, it may still be on the rise. I would back off on the extra additions and watch n.
What you've added may have done more than just maintain 5ppm, it may still be on the rise. You'll need to test regularly to establish the trend.

 

[Horace]

Adding chems works but is unnecessary. More fish, and higher bioload will do it. You can control excess many ways, so dialing up feeding is the easiest/best way I'm.

Don't expect a miracle overnight with the no3, but I would expect in a month or so you should see some pretty significant difference

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[LordDarth Bane]

Update:

As suggested, I finally got a Salifer Potassium test kit today, and checked the tank level twice, 330ppm and 310ppm respectively. I thought it should be higher.....

Checked the freshly made saltwater as well, 1.025 with TM Pro Reef, K level is 310ppm only.......

Could this be an issue causing the pale SPS? Looks like I need to start dosing K?

Thanks.

 

[dancewithethan]

Looks like your coral have LED light syndrome. I can never grow any SPS or LPS under led light. after a year of trying I finally went back to T5. wow, what a different it has made on my corals.

Good luck

 

[LordDarth Bane]

Update:

For the amount of K I need to raise I decide to use powder than liquid form of K supplement so I bought the BWA Potassion P, which is KCl and K2SO4.

Direction stated that 1g of powder in 1 USG would raise 129ppm.

So for my 300L system, 1g raise 1.633ppm.

From 320ppm to 380ppm I need to raise about 60ppm.

My 300L system would need 36g to raise 60ppm.

I dissolved 36g of Potassion P in 400ml of water to create a solution, which 10ml of the solution would raise 1.5ppm in the system.

It is said that the maxium dosage is to raise 10ppm of K per day.

I decide to dose 50ml of the solution to raise 7.5ppm per day.

By the time that the 400ml solution is finished the K level of the tank should be around 380ppm.

Lets see if this help.

 

[Horace]

K was one of the things I dosed too when my greens suffered. Was a waste of time and money. It didn't help one bit. Trust me....just FEED

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[biecacka]

side not......Kurt, any good LFS in Atlanta worth checking out? Im coming down to Tucker this weekend from Columbus Ohio.

corey

 

[Horace]

I'm somewhat new to the area, but Pure Reef is a nice store. One that is less pristine, but typically good selection is Atlanta Aquarium (not THE Atlanta Aquarium of course lol)

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[biecacka]

Cool, I'll try to check them out between my golf rounds! :lol:
I doubt I'll be buying much as I'm driving back and don't want to try to keep anything alive while on vacation.

Sorry to derail the thread..

Corey

 

[LordDarth Bane]

Update:

Guess I have finally figured another main problem. :mixed:

The PO4 level was always undetectable with Salifert kit, that's why I haven't tested it for months.

After adding more fish, feeding more and raising NO3 from 0ppm to 3ppm, I expected PO4 would increase as well. Being curious and a bit afraid of PO4 level getting too high, I decided to get a Hanna 736 Phosphorus ULR checker.

It arrived today and the result is 0!

Couldn't believe. Check it again, and 0 again.

Still couldn't believe. Maybe bad reagent? Check again but use the dropper that I feed coral to get the tank water in order to add some "contaminant". OK, it shows 104. So the checker is working.

Thoughts?

I still believe that my water was too clean "lack of nutrients" which caused the pale colours. I would keep feeding and I intend to raise the phosphorus level to 10ppb (x3.066/1000= 0.03ppm PO4).

I don't know why the PO4 level is that low. Prodibio being too strong? I have already reduced dosage for a month. Rowa? I only use 50ml for 300L. I would stop using it after this August.

 

[Horace]

Update:

Guess I have finally figured another main problem. :icon_eek:

The PO4 level was always undetectable with Salifert kit, that's why I haven't tested it for months.

After adding more fish, feeding more and raising NO3 from 0ppm to 3ppm, I expected PO4 would increase as well. Being curious and a bit afraid of PO4 level getting too high, I decided to get a Hanna 736 Phosphorus ULR checker.

It arrived today and the result is 0!:surprised

Couldn't believe. Check it again, and 0 again. :surprised :surprised

Still couldn't believe. Maybe bad reagent? Check again but use the dropper that I feed coral to get the tank water in order to add some "contaminant". OK, it shows 104. So the checker is working.

Thoughts?

I still believe that my water was too clean "lack of nutrients" which caused the pale colours. I would keep feeding and I intend to raise the phosphorus level to 10ppb (x3.066/1000= 0.03ppm PO4).

I don't why the PO4 level is that low. Prodibio being too strong? I have already reduced dosage for a month. Rowa? I only use 50ml for 300L. I would stop using it after this August.

I told you

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[LordDarth Bane]

I told you

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:thumbsup: :lol2: Looks like I need to feed more frozen food to add some PO4. :lol2: Or Pappone meal? :lol2:

 

[vakeros]

My case reduce flow to my rowa fr help

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[Horace]

[emoji106] [emoji38]2: Looks like I need to feed more frozen food to add some PO4. [emoji38]2: Or Pappone meal? [emoji38]2:

It really doesn't matter what u feed, just feed about double for a few weeks and keep watching

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[LordDarth Bane]

OK. Almost 9 months after and I would like to report back.

Most of the old photos links are dead. Needa find a better photo hosting site. :headwally:

After I keep feeding and adjust the N and P to detectable level the green colour is coming back. The colours of the LPS also look much solid.

water para:
KH 7dKH
CA 420mg/L
Mg 1400mg/L
NO3 4ppm
PO4 0.015ppm
K 410mg/L

2017-06-10

2018-04-30

2017-08-05

2018-04-30

Same SPS. It has actually grown much bigger but I keep pruning and fragging it. :beer:

And a Red Planet in 7 months.

2017-09-23

2018-04-30

Now, while most of the colours are getting more solid, some are getting darker and brown. Looks like it is not easy to find the happy medium. :deadhorse: I plan to dose carbon again to lower the N and P a little bit.

I have just finished my Prodibio and some other bottles and I am thinking of going full KZ without using Zeolite reactor. Any suggestion? Thinking of getting the bateria, carbon source, amino, food, and some supplement for twisting colours.

I still have the CV for food. And I have finished a bottle of Xtra Special but I didn't notice significant effect so I might try some other else.

 

[jda]

You can get far better results for color with better lights rather than chasing N and P or trying to use any supplements.

 

[Alex Costa]

IME iron plays an importante role in the greens, besides the NO3 level.
More than K levels.....

 

[Alex Costa]

NO3 4ppm
PO4 0.015ppm


Now, while most of the colours are getting more solid, some are getting darker and brown. Looks like it is not easy to find the happy medium. :deadhorse: I plan to dose carbon again to lower the N and P a little bit.

I don't think that lowering down NO3 and PO4 will improve your colors.
It's possible to get good colors with these values.
I'll bet a chip in the lighting too.....

 

[kevin_e]

One thing that would have me hesistant to say lighting is an issue is that your current colors are much improved now than they were a year ago. I'm not seeing an issue color wise.

And if there are color issues starting now, not sure I would jump to the lighting considering a lot of your coral colored up significantly from last June. Seems something else changed.

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