Having trouble keeping SPS happy.
- Thread starter JG1
- Start date
JG1
New member
Yeah I got one bottle at Aquarium Center...I'm 5 minutes from them. That's all they had, so I went to Value Pet center in Pennsauken and grabbed two more bottles
JG1
New member
Couple examples of my drab colors.
Here is my purple bonsai, that just won't purple up. Very pale with no pop
Here is my ORA borealis...kind of pale, used to have huge PE during the day but now I only get that at night
Setosa that turned pink instead of deep orange
Pearberry....little pale
Red Planet that doesn't look happy
ORA Roscoes...pale
ORA Bellina...very pale
Icefire Enchinata....VERY pale
Red mille.....OK coloring
Red hyacinth table acro...I completely bleached this out initially but color came back very slightly and now looks like this
Here is my purple bonsai, that just won't purple up. Very pale with no pop
Here is my ORA borealis...kind of pale, used to have huge PE during the day but now I only get that at night
Setosa that turned pink instead of deep orange
Pearberry....little pale
Red Planet that doesn't look happy
ORA Roscoes...pale
ORA Bellina...very pale
Icefire Enchinata....VERY pale
Red mille.....OK coloring
Red hyacinth table acro...I completely bleached this out initially but color came back very slightly and now looks like this
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
You have some top SPS corals there and it is a shame that they are not showing thier best colours. Seeing those pics makes it pretty apparent that something is not right in the tank...
Are you a member of a local reef club? - Reason I am asking is that perhaps you can get an experiance reefkeeper to come over and have a look at your setup...someone who has an established SPS tank with colourful SPS may just pick up something about your tank? - Not that I am bashing your husbandry skills or reefkeeping knowledge, but it may be something that another person can pinpoint?
When did you last take nitrate and phosphate readings? What were the readings and what did you use to measure?
Are you a member of a local reef club? - Reason I am asking is that perhaps you can get an experiance reefkeeper to come over and have a look at your setup...someone who has an established SPS tank with colourful SPS may just pick up something about your tank? - Not that I am bashing your husbandry skills or reefkeeping knowledge, but it may be something that another person can pinpoint?
When did you last take nitrate and phosphate readings? What were the readings and what did you use to measure?
JG1
New member
No, I'm not a member of a club....not sure who's in the area really either besides Alex that has a successful system.
My NO3 is less then 1ppm. My PO4 is 0.3-0.05
Do you think this is more then just an underfeeding issue?
allsps40
New member
PO4 is pretty high even if it is on the low side .05 is a problem and .3 is bad for sps. Are you running any GFO? If not do so. You where carbon and bacteria dosing right? Corals look a bit pale but they do have colors coming out, mine all completely browned out on me. Check out your RODI water for PO4 then test your new mixed salt water just be make sure it is not coming from there. I have read several threads where salt mix contained PO4. I will need to reread your thread to answer some of my question about your reef.
Ok just read through it again. Stop the Zoevit completely if you have not. I personally dont like carbon dosing. It is to easy to starve your corals. Water changes and GFO work great and are simple. Start to feed a coral food like Reef Roids or Oyster Feast.
Ok just read through it again. Stop the Zoevit completely if you have not. I personally dont like carbon dosing. It is to easy to starve your corals. Water changes and GFO work great and are simple. Start to feed a coral food like Reef Roids or Oyster Feast.
JG1
New member
It runs 0.03-0.05 depending on the the test.
Yes, but it gets exhausted within a couple days. I think my rock must still be leaching small amounts of PO4
Was running zeovit but stopped that over a month ago. Haven't carbon dosed since.
I think I'd rather have brown corals then pale....lol
My RO/DI has TDS and zero PO4. I haven't tested the water freshly mixed with salt, but I'm switching over to ESV salt this week
Yeah I stopped like 5 weeks ago
I do 10% W/C per week and run HC-GFO, but like I said a few days after running it and my PO4 is back up t0 0.03-0.05. I just ordered Roggers Food and was going to start feeding that...I'm scared to dose specific coral foods in fear of polluting the tank
allsps40
New member
Try running a larger amount of GFO, if your sand or rock is leaching it out it may take awhile of heavy GFO use to rid the tank of it. Change GFO regularly. I feed sps foods with no issues I feed 2 times a week. I also feed and like Rods Food. If you have not already slightly increase your feeding. Maybe even add more fish. I thought I could not have any more fish but I have added a 2nd tang and a 6 line with no issues. Fish poop is great coral food. The colors are there and I can tell they are near coming out having just gone through nearly the same thing.
Alex T.
Active member
I wouldn't put GFO online right now. The PO4 is really not high enough to cause a problem just yet. Don't shoot for zero. Your sps will be goners unless you're on Zeovit with all the additives. IMHO, .03 to .05 on the Hannah Meter is a fine target. Unless you start seeing recession from the base I wouldn't finger phosphate as your culprit here. Those corals to me just look like new kids on the block that need some time to adjust. I had a purple nana that was perfect the first few days and then it went brown for 4 months with no growth. I changed absolutely nothing. I didn't touch it, change flow, lighting or maintenance schedule. Shortly after the 4 month brown out I started to see some nice purple tips that took another 4 months to color up all the way to the base of the frag. Since then, it has started to grow and has beautiful green polyps. My secret? Time to acclimate without changing things!
Personally, I think you're doing absolutely nothing wrong. This stuff takes time, and your SPS need time to adjust. The only thing I can possibly think of (If I must) off the top of my head is stray voltage. A few years back I had a heater's connection to the waterproofed wire go bad. I struggled for over a month to find out why my SPS were losing color and not looking all that great. Then one day I reached into the sump and my lip touched the rim of the Rubbermaid container that holds my skimmer. I got a small tingle and started running through the courses of what it could be. Process of elimination revealed the heater problem. I actually used my lips on the rim of the Rubbermaid container to see if each unplugged component was the cause.:lolspin: Within a few days polyp extension was improved and coloration took a little more time...maybe close to 6 weeks if I recall.
As for new additions though, I don't sweat it anymore when it looks like they've lost some color or aren't extending their polyps. Truth be told, I don't think mother nature designed our beautiful and colorful sticks to be broken into pieces, glued to plastic, shipped overnight in a bag and thrown in an entirely unnatural setting...even if it looks natural to us.
Give it time...please. You'll be rewarded for staying the course and not doing anything drastic while your tank matures. I know what it feels like. I rushed to judgement before and started changing things when all I should have done was sit back and let things work themselves out. I paid the price for those judgement calls and vowed to step back and take a deep breath next time.
Remember the old adage.....
"Reef tanks are like race cars.....the faster you push them the harder they crash."
Personally, I think you're doing absolutely nothing wrong. This stuff takes time, and your SPS need time to adjust. The only thing I can possibly think of (If I must) off the top of my head is stray voltage. A few years back I had a heater's connection to the waterproofed wire go bad. I struggled for over a month to find out why my SPS were losing color and not looking all that great. Then one day I reached into the sump and my lip touched the rim of the Rubbermaid container that holds my skimmer. I got a small tingle and started running through the courses of what it could be. Process of elimination revealed the heater problem. I actually used my lips on the rim of the Rubbermaid container to see if each unplugged component was the cause.:lolspin: Within a few days polyp extension was improved and coloration took a little more time...maybe close to 6 weeks if I recall.
As for new additions though, I don't sweat it anymore when it looks like they've lost some color or aren't extending their polyps. Truth be told, I don't think mother nature designed our beautiful and colorful sticks to be broken into pieces, glued to plastic, shipped overnight in a bag and thrown in an entirely unnatural setting...even if it looks natural to us.
Give it time...please. You'll be rewarded for staying the course and not doing anything drastic while your tank matures. I know what it feels like. I rushed to judgement before and started changing things when all I should have done was sit back and let things work themselves out. I paid the price for those judgement calls and vowed to step back and take a deep breath next time.
Remember the old adage.....
"Reef tanks are like race cars.....the faster you push them the harder they crash."
djkms
Fish Freak
+1 this is very sound advise.
I keep my SPS in what most consider a nutrient rich environment. I target to keep my NO3 around 5ppm and PO4 around .02. I recently had a unknown spike in nutrients of NO3 30ppm / PO4 .12 - this happened about a month ago. I have since gotten it down to NO3 12 / PO4 .06 through water changes and havent noticed any decline during the spike with any of my corals, they are still growing for the most part. These animals are much more resilient then we give them credit for but IMO you have to change SLOW. The biggest 2 problems are expecting change fast and overreacting. Honestly you will probably not see much difference in your system for 5-6 months but just keep doing what you do, keep change to a minimum and the tank will adjust, just be consistent.
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allsps40
New member
I agree and disagree. I keep my PO4 at 0.00-0.01 and my no3 at 3-5 for best color. I do agree that you want to make slow changes so dont all a ton of GFO right away. Increase the amount slowly, start by increasing the amount by about 10%. As I said it really looks like the corals are suffering from lack of nutrients, feed then a little more and give it time. Make no large or fast changes. Stability is the key to happy colorful sps. Someone on here said me something that makes a lot of sense. "We dont keep fish or corals we keep water." When the water is perfect everything else falls into place.
What is your fish load like? I had very very slow and slightly dull colors in my new nano while I searched for the right coral beauty, added that and color came back and rowth started...in the 3 weeks since I added the pair of onyx clowns, growth has been insane, PE is amazing, and coloration is as well I have a blue tipped acro that apparantly has green polyps(the owner of the mother colony didn't even know that lol)nothing has changed with the water, only now doing 4 gallon change in this tank bi weekly instead of 2 gallons. Keep dosing the GFO to keep the phosphate in check and maybe add a fish or two.
JG1
New member
Funny story about the stray voltage! You think I should look into this or not?
I'll take your advice and just keep doing what I'm doing in hopes it turns around. I am trying to feed slightly more though with Rods and Roggers food. I didn't like using it because it breaks into a millions TINY pieces that are way to small for the fish but I guess it helps feeds the corals.
I wonder if i should turn the return pump off though when i feed......the vortechs quickly stir up everything into the overflow if I leave the pump on
JG1
New member
3" purple tang
2" hippo
6 small chromis
yellow coris wrasse
red fairy wrasse
firefish
flametail blenny
Alex T.
Active member
Definitely some mixed and contradicting points of advice here. Why would anyone feed more for coloration and ramp up GFO use? This is akin to putting more fertilizer on a lawn that is already burning from too much fertilizer.
I would experiment with less photoperiod and check for stray voltage. I don't like feeding the reef foods either. If you're still thinking that phosphate is an issue now, adding those reef foods will make a Salifert Phosphate kit read blue as the deep sea in no time. In fact, I think anyone with a tank that is not fully matured with decent sized colonies of SPS that can take up the nutrients in the water column would be ill suited for these foods. I have long since resigned these foods as benefiting coral farmers more than they benefit home aquaria where a population of fish is already being fed. Some can do it and benefit. I personally don't think it's necessary for a system to thrive, and wouldn't add anything until I've finished seeing if something is wrong with what I was currently doing.
As for the stray voltage....hey you never know. Stick your lips or an open wound in the water and see how it goes....:lol2:
I would experiment with less photoperiod and check for stray voltage. I don't like feeding the reef foods either. If you're still thinking that phosphate is an issue now, adding those reef foods will make a Salifert Phosphate kit read blue as the deep sea in no time. In fact, I think anyone with a tank that is not fully matured with decent sized colonies of SPS that can take up the nutrients in the water column would be ill suited for these foods. I have long since resigned these foods as benefiting coral farmers more than they benefit home aquaria where a population of fish is already being fed. Some can do it and benefit. I personally don't think it's necessary for a system to thrive, and wouldn't add anything until I've finished seeing if something is wrong with what I was currently doing.
As for the stray voltage....hey you never know. Stick your lips or an open wound in the water and see how it goes....:lol2:
allsps40
New member
^ I feel he needs to feed more to increase color even add more fish. However you dont want to increase po4 at all so running a bit more GFO will counter any increase. IMO there should not be an increase in po4 at all as long as your are not over feeding and feeding good clean foods. Never has my po4 gone over 0.02 and I feed heavy. A good skimmer should also be removing most uneaten foods and waste before they break down anyways. Now that he has stopped the Zoevit carbon dosing there may be no need to increase feeding but I would, not by a lot though. Remember small changes. When I feed Reef Roids all my coral give a feeding response, great sps food IMO. I only feed it once a week and very lightly, never use the directions on foods as a feeding guide. They all want you to feed as much of there foods as possible so you will run out faster and buy more. A container of Reef Roids will last me well over a year. JG1 I would maybe add some more fish as well. I really don think your lighting is a problem would not hurt to cut it back a like 2 hours for a month and see if it makes a difference.
