Help w/ SPS Color - Lack of color - Please :)

[kdrof]

Hey all,

I have filled my tank with SPS sticks i got from reputable sites that have very healthy colonies. I am running an ATI t5 sunpower fixture with 6 bulbs (3 Blue, 1 Actinic, 1 Purple Plus, 1 6500k) 10" over my 12" shallow tank. I did not think light would be an issue. I have slowly been bumping the lighting up as it is a dimmable fixture. I run four of the bulbs (channel 2) for 7 hours at 60% and they stay on for 12 total. Channel 1 with the other two bulbs (6500k and 1 Blue) run for 5 hours at 58% max and a total of 10 hours. I also have 2 Reefbrite XHO 24 inch led strips on the front and rear of the ATI fixture to add more of a blue pop and some more PAR. I just cannot seem to get the great color I see in SPS tanks.

My Parameters are as follows:
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: 5ppm
Phosphate: 0 (No Algae growth whatsoever)
Calcium: 430
Alkalinity: 7.7-8.4 dKH
Magnesium: 1380

I have a 1" sand bed in the display and a 2-2.5" sand bed in the refugium underneath with more live rock. I run a UV Sterilizer in the return line, a filter sock that I change weekly, skimmer, minimal (less than recommended) ROX Carbon that runs about 3 weeks before changing and Biopellets. I am not sure if i should remove the biopellets or remove some/ween them off slowly. Also, not sure if i should just run less carbon.

I am able to feed my fish 1 to 2 times a day and a decent amount. I have only a couple Nassarius snails. Since I do not have much algae growth. I leave let pellets sit in sand bed for them. I feed fish a mixture of flake, pellet, mysis, brine, selcon and garlic power. I feed the corals and target feed them at least every other day. I feed them Dt's Phytoplankton, Ova eggs, and Cyclopeeze. I also have been adding some different Brightwell products to add some aminos and stuff to the water column. I do not add to much of this stuff. Usually about every 2-3 days and sometimes not even the full dosage. These different brightwell products consist of Reef Snow, Coral Amino, Koral color, Replenish, Possasium, and Strontium. I only add a little potassium and strontium as I have not received my test kits for this yet. Also, looking to get Iodine and iodine test kits before dosing. I had read that some of the Zeo products are good to dose such as Pohls Coral Vitalizer, Aminos, and Extra but didn't want to go to these unless absolutely imperative. I also use Tropic Marin salt - not sure if i should slowly switch it up.

I see so many others have success not dosing anything. My Display is a 30 gallon Shallow Rimless (24" x 24" x 12") My sumps is a RS300 by eshopps. So all in all my system is around 50-60 gallons.

I have been dosing with a GHL profilux to keep Calc and Alk in check and my Mg doesnt move much.

I do a weekly 5 gallon water change.

For flow I have 2 mp10 that are hooked up with the Apex module. They run through all different modes throughout the day. The polyp extension seems nice and the coral do not look unhealthy. I just seem to have a brownish tint to most of the coral. I know this can mean excessive nutrients, but the system is nearly ULNS with no vodka dosing. But on other corals like my Tierra Del Fuego, it is a light pink color with no greens like in all colonies I see.

The system has been going since the beginning of this year and cycled for 3 months with sand and live rock.

I have a Hellfrichi Firefish and a Naoko fairy wrasse that eat like pigs and I feed extra to help the coral. I also added a cleaner shrimp today.

Sorry for the long write up. Just looking for some help.

Thanks for any help. Let me know if you need more information to give me a better answer. Any input is greatly appreciated and I am very thankful for any help.

Kevin

 

[Trevor40]

Do you have pictures?

 

[kdrof]

I can take some this evening.

Thanks

 

[kdrof]

Also, i ordered another hanna phosphate checker to see if it is that. I am throwing in 2-3 mangroves in my sump. I will wait to see my phosphates to add GFO to be safe. I also wanted to start adding macro algaes to my fuge. I thought there is no way it could be my lights. Any thoughts?

 

[Patrick Cox]

Also, i ordered another hanna phosphate checker to see if it is that. I am throwing in 2-3 mangroves in my sump. I will wait to see my phosphates to add GFO to be safe. I also wanted to start adding macro algaes to my fuge. I thought there is no way it could be my lights. Any thoughts?

Your tank sounds a lot like mine. Same light fixture, same age, no algae...I don't run bio pellets but I do run GFO. I have good growth on most of my corals but then I don't have great color. I have suspected my nutrients were too low so I have been feeding more and I am adding more fish. I have also been dosing Pohls Xtra but I am not sure it is doing much. I will probably switch to another AA product after I am finished with the Xtra. Also I just bought a Potassium test kit and mine is a bit low so I am going to buy some potassium supplement as well.

My guess is that if your tank has zero algae, you don't have a phosphate problem. Also I think we both need to keep in mind that 6 months is infancy stage for an SPS tank. Pictures? Good luck and I'll be tagging along.

 

[nbgen12]

Don't add macro algae if you have undetectable nutrients (either nitrate or phosphate). It will die off and probably be a waste of effort and money.

 

[kdrof]

Your tank sounds a lot like mine. Same light fixture, same age, no algae...I don't run bio pellets but I do run GFO. I have good growth on most of my corals but then I don't have great color. I have suspected my nutrients were too low so I have been feeding more and I am adding more fish. I have also been dosing Pohls Xtra but I am not sure it is doing much. I will probably switch to another AA product after I am finished with the Xtra. Also I just bought a Potassium test kit and mine is a bit low so I am going to buy some potassium supplement as well.

My guess is that if your tank has zero algae, you don't have a phosphate problem. Also I think we both need to keep in mind that 6 months is infancy stage for an SPS tank. Pictures? Good luck and I'll be tagging along.

Thanks for chiming in. Let me know if you find out your issue. I ordered a hanna checker for phosphate to see if that is my issue. My salifert test probably isn't as low range as necessary. If its not that, i will up my light intensity and wait for the tank to get to a mature state. I am gonna hold off on dosing a bunch of coral foods and additives since that did not help. Also, i will feed my fish a little less in the mean time till i confirm phosphates are not my issue with the hanna.

For example, my pink lemonade frag was highlighter yellow when i got it a week ago and has now turned to a brownish yellow. It is 3 inches from water line and light is 10 inches off water. So my assumption is nutrients. Also, it may take some time for adjustment to t5s since the frags were under halides.

Thanks for your reply

 

[kdrof]

Don't add macro algae if you have undetectable nutrients (either nitrate or phosphate). It will die off and probably be a waste of effort and money.

I will verify what they are when I get my hanna checker. Then if i have some, i will get macro. If not ill hold off. Thanks for the tip

 

[kdrof]

So my hanna checker will be here tomorrow. Only spot fed DT's phytoplankton today. Today is all I have fed this week (Except fish lightly).

Here is a picture of browned out island:



Top middle is Vivid Aqua Delight, Right is Tyree mother of pearl, middle Tierra Del Fuego, Bottom ORA green planet, left is Jason Fox's Iceberg Acro.

Here is somewhat of a close up of the Iceberg acro browned:



Sorry not the best pictures but I hope this gives an idea for some assistance. If it is not phosphates I think i will ramp my lights up higher. I added more hours to my lighting today. I have 4 bulbs running from 10am to 10pm and from 11 - 9 the fixture is running at 55%. The other 2 bulbs are running from 11 am to 9 pm and at 55% from 12-8. Also, the two Reefbrite XHO LEDs are on each side of the fixture and are on from 10a to 10pm.

Not sure if i need to bump the % up on the lights. I just figured the light is pretty strong and most coral are 3-4 inches below the water line and the light is only 10" off of the water line and has great spread.

Any help is appreciated as always.

I will have my phosphate numbers tomorrow.

Thanks again!

 

[dvanacker]

Looks really new, clean and void of life. My guess is it needs a higher bioload and age. I dont even see any coraline in there.

 

[kdrof]

Ok. Thanks. I will make sure tomorrow with po4 test kit

 

[bigchris7226]

For what it's worth I think your tank is too young-my sps didn't really show alot of color untill about the 1yr mark. Now at 18 months the colors are really looking good. Just give it time & keep your levels steady-don't waste your $$ on the "color enhancing" additives they're just a gimmick. Fish poo is all you need.

 

[kdrof]

For what it's worth I think your tank is too young-my sps didn't really show alot of color untill about the 1yr mark. Now at 18 months the colors are really looking good. Just give it time & keep your levels steady-don't waste your $$ on the "color enhancing" additives they're just a gimmick. Fish poo is all you need.

Chris, with that said, will the color reappear when the tank gets to a mature state? Or will the frag basically be ruined and not color up?

Alright fish poo it is

 

[JPMagyar]

Ditto on the need for time. I've always said reefs take quite a while to "come to life", but don't worry if you keep your tank clean and your alkalinity steady the corals will all recover their color over time. The hardest part is to not "fiddle" for several months at a time. Sadly, it's so true that only bad things happen fast in this hobby. Keep us posted and be sure to take some "progression" pictures.

 

[jda]

My Vivid Rainbow Delight took 2 months to color up in an established tank under HQI. The color did not really start to pop until it had encrusted about 5/8" at the base and yours look like they were cut a week, or two, ago.

Give it some time.

 

[blackthunda77]

Based on experience, a good way to tell if your tank is ready for corals, especially SPS, is when you notice ALOT of good healthy coralline algae growth.

 

[Patrick Cox]

Based on experience, a good way to tell if your tank is ready for corals, especially SPS, is when you notice ALOT of good healthy coralline algae growth.

My tank has been running since January and I have almost no coralline algae. My parameters are good (Alk 8.3, CA 450, Mg 1300), When should one expect to see coralline algae take off?

 

[kdrof]

So this evening I tested my phosphates as many people thought it was nutrients. I had a feeling my phosphates were low as I have no algae whatsoever.

here are pictures of test 1:



Here are picture of test 2:



Both tests matched at .04. I know i want it under .06 and below .03 is even better. So i am going to cross off Phosphates as my problem.

Now on the checklist of problems, I still have:

1. Not enough light intensity
2. Lights on too long
3. New Tank (6 mos) syndrome
4. Need for aminos (dosed some yesterday) or coral food (which i was dosing in previous weeks)
5. Alk or Salinity fluctuation (these have been pretty stable other than Alk rising around 1 dkh during water change - getting new salt to not have this problem)
6. Salt mix (tropic marin) being the culprit (not normally the case but have heard stories of others have better success with other brands)
7. Coral getting used to T5 lighting after being under halides
8. Flow (I have 2 mp10's - polyps are normally moving)


Ruled out:
1. Too many nutrients or High phosphates and nitrates (Nitrates are at about 2.5 - 5 ppm and po4 is .04)


What do you all think of the list? I have taken all the suggestions from everyone on multiple sites and compiled it here.

any idea on the next area of focus? The fluctuation of Alk will not occur anymore as I stated it will be dialed in before a water change better. By that statement please do not take that as I was making drastic changes. These frags were doing this before there was even a change.

Part of me wants to think lighting or my tank is too clean. I will keep feeding my fish to they poop a lot.

Any help on my next focus on the list or additions to the list are greatly appreciated.

Thank you all!

Kevin

 

[aileen]

I would stop dosing all those additives completely that you mentioned in your first post. Keep up the 5 g per week water changes. Stop the phytoplankton feedings and try oyster feast and reef chilli from brs or coral frenzy. The cyclopeze is okay too, but hard to get down into the water column. I would only use half the recommended amount of ROX carbon and gfo for a while and keep it at three weeks for carbon and eight for gfo. Get rid of the UV completely IMO. The bacteria your propagating by using biopellets is good and I would keep that. I don't like the UV since IMO it kills the bacteria in the water column that you want to keep. Try zeovit zeobak and zeostart maybe if u like. Beef up the skimmer. Your parameters seem good. Sometimes we tinker too much instead of letting nature take its course to whatever extent it can in our little oceans. The lighting seems fine too. I would try the above and wait four weeks.

 

[kdrof]

Aileen thank you. Should i maybe just cut uv sterilizer down to 12 hours and see how that goes? I will pick up those three things to said. Thanks for the comment and any other are appreciated thanks.