Help with SPS color

[kissman]

Testing results from tonight

Salt 35ppt
PH 8.3
NO3 0
PO4 6ppb
Calcium 460
Alk 7.7 dKH (8.176 on Thursday, adding 10ml to timer and adding .25tsp of Seachem Builder)
Mag 1550 (coming down finally)

I am feeding twice a day, I guess I am going to try dosing Sodium Nitrate or at leaset look further into it. As far as alk goes I guess I will just keep adding ml to my dosing schedule till i hold around 8.2

 

[ridetheducati]

I will add this little bit however i have no idea if true. I was told by 2 experts with gorgeous tanks that reef chili, cyclops, etc will do nothing for sps because they are to large directly. Sps will only feed off of liquid foods.

This is accurate. Cyclops and the like will not directly provide nutrition to Acropora. No need to feed Acropora if phosphates and nitrates are elevated.

 

[kissman]

Yep thats exactly what I was told. I am trying hard to raise NO3 but having a lot of trouble.

 

[deepseadan]

Yep thats exactly what I was told. I am trying hard to raise NO3 but having a lot of trouble.

Hey kissman I haven't been reading posts for a while so maybe this has been talked about before. What skimmer are you using? Are you over skimming and actually pulling out the bacteria that create nitrates via the nitrogen cycle? Also, over skimming will take a bunch of other "good" nutrients out as well. I have around a total of 150 gallons in my reef and I have a g2 skimmer. I used to run it 24/7 and couldn't get my corals happy. I then put it on a timer and to run with my light cycle for 7 hours day. That made a world of difference for me. Unless you have a huge fish load, watch out for over skimming. I almost thinking of dropping my skimming hours to maybe 3 a day and see what changes take place. Remember nitrates are created by bacteria which change ammonia to nitrites to nitrates.

 

[kissman]

Hey kissman I haven't been reading posts for a while so maybe this has been talked about before. What skimmer are you using? Are you over skimming and actually pulling out the bacteria that create nitrates via the nitrogen cycle? Also, over skimming will take a bunch of other "good" nutrients out as well. I have around a total of 150 gallons in my reef and I have a g2 skimmer. I used to run it 24/7 and couldn't get my corals happy. I then put it on a timer and to run with my light cycle for 7 hours day. That made a world of difference for me. Unless you have a huge fish load, watch out for over skimming. I almost thinking of dropping my skimming hours to maybe 3 a day and see what changes take place. Remember nitrates are created by bacteria which change ammonia to nitrites to nitrates.

I am running a Warner Marine MF 181 Skimmer. I was running it wet for awhile since I had high nitrates and phosphates, along with vinegar dosing. I have stopped vinegar dosing, and have been cranking down my skimmer each week a little a time to run it more dry. If I was pulling out the bacteria wouldn't i have nitrites and/or ammonia?

 

[deepseadan]

I am running a Warner Marine MF 181 Skimmer. I was running it wet for awhile since I had high nitrates and phosphates, along with vinegar dosing. I have stopped vinegar dosing, and have been cranking down my skimmer each week a little a time to run it more dry. If I was pulling out the bacteria wouldn't i have nitrites and/or ammonia?

You are right, you are probably not pulling enough bacteria out to stop the nitrogen cycle. However all the organic waste you are skimming out is the food source for the nitrifying bacteria. With proper skimming you can find a balance to provide a food source for your bacteria and keep your no3 in check. There are many people with low or no fish loads that don't skim at all and use a fuge to eat that no3. Watch, don't carbon dose anymore and turn your skimmer off completely and I guarantee your no3 will rise. Think about it, what else in your system could be keeping your no3 down.

 

[kissman]

I cut carbon dosing off several weeks ago. I am hoping to achieve better nutrients by cutting down my skimmer. I may try to cut it off for a few hours or even cut it way down so its not skimming and just pumping air into the skimmer to help oxygen. Although I do have my powerheads pointed to the surface.

 

[kissman]

Let me ask this question about skimming. How do you know if your skimmer is running correctly? I have been running my skimmer very wet. If anybody is familiar with the Warner Marine MF181 or the Skimz 181 the skimmers are vertually the same. The gate vavle on mine I have had it almost closed off to skim wet. I mean to the point of only like a thread or two from unscrewing. I have been opening it up a half a turn a week. Maybe I will just open it up a lot and see what happens over the next few days. Maybe I will take a little video tomorrow and let you see how its running. Won't do any good tonight since I just did my 5g water change and cleaned my skimmer cup.

 

[JPMagyar]

I don't mean to be the village curmudgeon, but I have to beat the same drum here . . . . . . where are you guys getting the idea that increasing nitrate increases the health of corals? Is there a single study to which you can point? If that were true then we would all be working towards some nirvana level of nitrate, but honestly I don't think there is such a level, and more importantly the best tanks around the world never talk about raising their nitrate levels. They just maintain the most stable "reef like" conditions they can. LR, a skimmer, weekly water changes, adequate lighting, and it all works out. My daughter's IM Nuvo is growing killer corals with killer color, and trust me when I say she's not worried about "raising nitrates", but she's just following the basics that I gave her.

Joe :beer:

 

[Reef Reactor]

I don't mean to be the village curmudgeon, but I have to beat the same drum here . . . . . . where are you guys getting the idea that increasing nitrate increases the health of corals? Is there a single study to which you can point? If that were true then we would all be working towards some nirvana level of nitrate, but honestly I don't think there is such a level, and more importantly the best tanks around the world never talk about raising their nitrate levels. They just maintain the most stable "reef like" conditions they can. LR, a skimmer, weekly water changes, adequate lighting, and it all works out. My daughter's IM Nuvo is growing killer corals with killer color, and trust me when I say she's not worried about "raising nitrates", but she's just following the basics that I gave her.

Joe :beer:

Hi, maybe I lost them, but can you mrntion your basics? I am having this problem and I am interested to solve it.
Thanks!!!

Mensaje enviado por medio de Tapatalk

 

[kissman]

I don't mean to be the village curmudgeon, but I have to beat the same drum here . . . . . . where are you guys getting the idea that increasing nitrate increases the health of corals? Is there a single study to which you can point? If that were true then we would all be working towards some nirvana level of nitrate, but honestly I don't think there is such a level, and more importantly the best tanks around the world never talk about raising their nitrate levels. They just maintain the most stable "reef like" conditions they can. LR, a skimmer, weekly water changes, adequate lighting, and it all works out. My daughter's IM Nuvo is growing killer corals with killer color, and trust me when I say she's not worried about "raising nitrates", but she's just following the basics that I gave her.

Joe :beer:

My corals did look better when i had some nitrates, the fact that i have zero and my corals are starving also makes me want to raise them a little. I am also going to try the Red Sea Care Program for growth and it requires the nitrates to be at 1-2pm. They have some great videos on there program and what they found out in there studies. I want to try it if it works great if it doesnt work oh well.

 

[allabarton]

Kissman, have you tried to add more corals to see how they do?

I last a lot of SPS corals in the last couple of months to STNRTN. I believe it happened mostly becaurse of starvation.

In the last a few weeks I turned GFO and GAC reactors off and started to feed fsh twice a day with Rod's, Mysis, Cyclop-eeze. I feed Oyster Feast to corals and dose Reef Energy A & B. NO3 and PO4 are going up. One day everything looks better and next day I find a coral that was doing good STN tips.

I wonder if the corals've been so stressed that they are not able to heal. And with little changes like raising PO4/NO3 upsets them even more.

 

[kissman]

I have not tried to add anymore yet. I lost a few corals but the ones that I thought I was losing are only improving so far. Hope it keeps up.

 

[kissman]

Photo Updates

 

[kissman]

 

[kissman]

One of things I am trying to make sure my skimmer is running correctly and not over or under skim. Is there a rule of thumb or a guidline for knowing you have the correct air/water mixture? Enough reaction time or contact time? How do you know the skimmer is running correct?

 

[kissman]

Here is a quick video of my skimmer. I just cleaned the skimmer cup and adjusted it way down so that its not skimming as aggreseive. I stated before that I thought it was running way to wet. I have adjusted the gate valve to allow more water to flow through the skimmer and I have the air open all they way. How does this look? When I started this the gate valve was almost closed now its about half way. I think I will start a new thread on my skimmer and see what people say that are skimmer pros. But I wanted to post it in this thread aswell since over skimming could have been the problem.


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pPLGN4r0Spc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j5M95-HLe8Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[MHG]

Dude this is the one thing that is frustrating me to want to quit. I can see thread after thread or YouTube video after video of growth progression and they just make me angry... I have some frags that just will not color up and 90% of my frags are still just frags after a year of growth... I will see some guy getting a frag to grow to a tennis ball size in 4-6 months.... I get maybe an 1/4 inch of growth in a year.

I feed and feed and feed and can not get my no3 to go above .25....... My sand bed is becoming a sink from all this feeding and I now need to vacuum it regularly or it turns brown...... I am considering removing most of my rock....

 

[kissman]

Dude this is the one thing that is frustrating me to want to quit. I can see thread after thread or YouTube video after video of growth progression and they just make me angry... I have some frags that just will not color up and 90% of my frags are still just frags after a year of growth... I will see some guy getting a frag to grow to a tennis ball size in 4-6 months.... I get maybe an 1/4 inch of growth in a year.

I feed and feed and feed and can not get my no3 to go above .25....... My sand bed is becoming a sink from all this feeding and I now need to vacuum it regularly or it turns brown...... I am considering removing most of my rock....

I agree it makes me angry to, lol! But, I will not quit I will succeed and my corals will grow and have color. There have been times I wanted to grab the side of my tank and pull till it crashes in the floor. I have gotten to the point I will not be beaten, I will win, lol!!!!!!!!! :dance:

 

[deepseadan]

Dude this is the one thing that is frustrating me to want to quit. I can see thread after thread or YouTube video after video of growth progression and they just make me angry... I have some frags that just will not color up and 90% of my frags are still just frags after a year of growth... I will see some guy getting a frag to grow to a tennis ball size in 4-6 months.... I get maybe an 1/4 inch of growth in a year.

I feed and feed and feed and can not get my no3 to go above .25....... My sand bed is becoming a sink from all this feeding and I now need to vacuum it regularly or it turns brown...... I am considering removing most of my rock....

It's two things, proper nutrient control and stability. If you control your nutrients by "properly" skimming (not to much) and not over feeding, and keep other variables like temp, salinity, elements/minerals, light cycles, water changes, and so on, you will see good results. Many reefers nowadays add all these "magic" snake oil's supplements in hope of some superhuman results. They don't work and I believe they only makes things worse. I learned with reeding, simple works best.