echopiece
Member
Were you running activated carbon at any point? If so, what kind and how often did you change it? I just took my GFO offline, but still have my chemi-pure elite in there.
Help with SPS color
- Thread starter kissman
- Start date
trinity1012
sps addict
Please delete
Last edited:
trinity1012
sps addict
hey brian,
please, please forgive me if i disagree. I'm not wanting to step on any toes, but the absolute fact is that 6 t5 bulbs if placed right on the surface are producing 1000 to 1500 par. Mother nature provides more light than that on reefs at midday and i personally have run 1000 watt mh that did more than 2000 par at the surface. There is no way possible that 6 t5s are providing too much light for the corals that were shown in the pictures at the beginning of the thread. My tank has 16 t5s plus 4 150 watt mh's that run 100% power for 10 hours per day. My daughters 38 gallon innovative marine tank has 6 t5s that run 100% 12 hours a day and a total of 16 hours illumination.
And here's my tank under 2500 watts of lighting a while back.
these corals are not pale from too much light. That is called bleaching and results in death very quickly where as the corals shown are languishing a slow death.
Again, please, please, please believe me when i say i am not wanting to be mean, but just disagreeing in a very collegiate and fellow hobbyist discussion way!
Joe
awesome
Two things to throw in this quickly:
Tissue algae loss by a coral is not always a result of poor conditions for the algae. Most corals are thought to purge their own algae in the "bleaching" response that we see.
Lighting: It really could be either way. While jpmagyar is spot on that you do not have too much light for the tank, it could be too much light for an individual coral that is exposed to a new higher illumination level and is shocked by such an occurrence.
My advise: shut off the reactor for a bit, stop the vinegar dosing, let the aquarium run on just the basics for a week or two and see if there is any change occurring. The color that you see in our corals is not from just the zoo. algae, but also from pigments that the animal itself can produce to filter light getting to the algae it has cultured in its own tissues.
-Shawn
Charlottesville, VA
Tissue algae loss by a coral is not always a result of poor conditions for the algae. Most corals are thought to purge their own algae in the "bleaching" response that we see.
Lighting: It really could be either way. While jpmagyar is spot on that you do not have too much light for the tank, it could be too much light for an individual coral that is exposed to a new higher illumination level and is shocked by such an occurrence.
My advise: shut off the reactor for a bit, stop the vinegar dosing, let the aquarium run on just the basics for a week or two and see if there is any change occurring. The color that you see in our corals is not from just the zoo. algae, but also from pigments that the animal itself can produce to filter light getting to the algae it has cultured in its own tissues.
-Shawn
Charlottesville, VA
kissman
New member
Thanks Shawn, Nice to see you are in C'ville, I work at UVA LOL. I am going back to basics. I have already cut off, carbon and vinegar. I am in Lynchburg for Christmas and will be home on Wed. I will then cut off GFO. I was afraid to do it and not be there to watch the tank. The only thing I will be dosing will be Kalk. The green birdsnest coral was sitting in a 55g tank with the same fixture above it. However it did not have ATI bulbs it had the factory Current USA bulbs.
redwingrob40
New member
Wow this is a great thread so far, and lots of information. I am in the same wagon with my SPS not having great color in my 55 gal with 4 bulb aqauticlife fixture.
My tank specs are similiar to yours:
temp 80
pH 8.2 (API)
Nitrate 0 (API)
Alk 8.4 Red Sea
Ca 450 Red Sea
PO4 .00 Hanna HI 713
Mg 1400 Red Sea
Running BRS GFO and BRS rox carbon in a filter sock
Dosing B Ionic 2 part for Ca and Alk
At first I was thinking that it may be light as well. My 4 bulb fixture is running 3 blue +, and 1 coral +. I was running a 9 hr light schedule with 1.5 hrs of blue + at the beginning and end with 6 hrs of all 4 bulbs. Some corals are very pale some have ok colors, but I was led to believe that my lights were too much. I just recently switched to a 10 hrs schedule with 2.5 hrs of blue on each end and 5 hours of all 4 bulbs.
After reading through this thread though I am now inclined to think that it may be that there isn't enough PO4 and nitrates. I am thinking about going the same way and taking the GFO and ROX offline for a few weeks to see what happens. The only thing that makes me nervous is that when I took GFO offline a few months ago I got an outbreak of cyano and hair algae.... PO4 has never read above .01
Kissman looking forward to seeing what ends up working for you and the others with similar problems in this thread. Keep all the great info and advice coming RC!!!!
My tank specs are similiar to yours:
temp 80
pH 8.2 (API)
Nitrate 0 (API)
Alk 8.4 Red Sea
Ca 450 Red Sea
PO4 .00 Hanna HI 713
Mg 1400 Red Sea
Running BRS GFO and BRS rox carbon in a filter sock
Dosing B Ionic 2 part for Ca and Alk
At first I was thinking that it may be light as well. My 4 bulb fixture is running 3 blue +, and 1 coral +. I was running a 9 hr light schedule with 1.5 hrs of blue + at the beginning and end with 6 hrs of all 4 bulbs. Some corals are very pale some have ok colors, but I was led to believe that my lights were too much. I just recently switched to a 10 hrs schedule with 2.5 hrs of blue on each end and 5 hours of all 4 bulbs.
After reading through this thread though I am now inclined to think that it may be that there isn't enough PO4 and nitrates. I am thinking about going the same way and taking the GFO and ROX offline for a few weeks to see what happens. The only thing that makes me nervous is that when I took GFO offline a few months ago I got an outbreak of cyano and hair algae.... PO4 has never read above .01
Kissman looking forward to seeing what ends up working for you and the others with similar problems in this thread. Keep all the great info and advice coming RC!!!!
kissman
New member
Be sure to let us know any changes you have in your tank!
Acronic
The Fifth Master
Hey Brian,
Please, please forgive me if I disagree. I'm not wanting to step on any toes, but the absolute fact is that 6 T5 bulbs if placed right on the surface are producing 1000 to 1500 PAR. Mother nature provides more light than that on reefs at midday and I personally have run 1000 watt MH that did more than 2000 PAR at the surface. There is NO WAY possible that 6 T5s are providing too much light for the corals that were shown in the pictures at the beginning of the thread. My tank has 16 T5s plus 4 150 watt MH's that run 100% power for 10 hours per day. My daughters 38 gallon Innovative Marine tank has 6 T5s that run 100% 12 hours a day and a total of 16 hours illumination.
And here's my tank under 2500 watts of lighting a while back.
These corals are not pale from too much light. That is called bleaching and results in death very quickly where as the corals shown are languishing a slow death.
Again, please, please, please believe me when I say I am not wanting to be mean, but just disagreeing in a very collegiate and fellow hobbyist discussion way!
Joe
Just so we are clear I agree with you 100% and I think it is a water quality issue but I think it is important to take a different angle here.
Reefs get high par at midday only for a short amount of time then taper to levels more common to our tanks. Also, they have the ideal water at all times.
Its important to say even though there is no such thing as too much light, certain variables like water quality, can make light an enemy in our tanks. Im no expert this is just how I feel.
If corals go into shock for whatever reason, I think its possible they may not be able to produce a UV protection or similar issues that may make high light damage them when they are trying to focus their energy on repairing themselves. I feel it is important to shade injured corals and I think it helps speed recovery in general. (of course there are situations where this could have an adverse affect) But overall I guess what I am trying to say is that healthy corals can handle a large amount of light, likely larger than we are capable of giving but injured corals need a bit more concideration to their other basic needs as apposed to their zoox populations.
elegance coral
They call me EC
I think this is the best advice you've received in this thread.
I believe you will continue to have these problems until you fallow Joe's advice.
I don't believe low nutrients is your problem. Xenia and macro algae are doing great in your system. If there were a low nutrient issue, it would be these organisms that showed the first signs of stress.
You have a 4" deep compost pile/DSB in your display, and one in your sump. It's virtually impossible to have a low nutrient system when there's a 4" pile of rot and decay covering the bottom. If you remove this material, and do a good spring cleaning, your acros/SPS will likely improve. The bad thing is that your xenia and maro algae will likely suffer.
HTH
Peace
EC
I believe you will continue to have these problems until you fallow Joe's advice.
I don't believe low nutrients is your problem. Xenia and macro algae are doing great in your system. If there were a low nutrient issue, it would be these organisms that showed the first signs of stress.
You have a 4" deep compost pile/DSB in your display, and one in your sump. It's virtually impossible to have a low nutrient system when there's a 4" pile of rot and decay covering the bottom. If you remove this material, and do a good spring cleaning, your acros/SPS will likely improve. The bad thing is that your xenia and maro algae will likely suffer.
HTH
Peace
EC
elegance coral
They call me EC
:lolspin: Then you should be good to go. :thumbsup:
deepseadan
New member
I agree that the lack of no3 is the problem. Unless you have a huge fish load carbon dosing / bio pellets are no good. My sps hate it when I dose carbon or when I used bio pellets. Believe it or not all my corals including sps love nitrates. Still run gfo and skim.
deepseadan
New member
If your tank is at 0 no3 I can't imagine it will rise very fast. My tank took forever to rise up to where I could even detect it again. Pretty much at that time was when all my sps and especially my zooanthids went nuts. I personally believe the lack of nitrates is the root of many reef tank issues.
redwingrob40
New member
Sure will. For now I am going to see what happened after changing my light schedule, going to leave GFO online for now as I am still battling some hair algae.
redwingrob40
New member
This maybe a silly question, but How did you raise your nitrates? Was it just by feeding more? Less water changes??
deepseadan
New member
Just stayed with my normal feeding habits for fish, shrimps, crabs ect, and quit all types of carbon dosing filtration. Maybe someone else could chime in, but I wonder if adding nitrifying bacteria such as " one and only" would have sped up the process since no3 is part of nitrifying cycle. For me carbon dosing was way to of an extreme way to lower nitrates, in fact, it always kept me at zero no3. I think if you have a major fish load it might be more reasonable to use. Many of us " including me" in the reef hobby go overboard with supplements, maintenance, and are constantly tinkering with our tanks trying to see some magical results. It took my tank years to finally look the way I wanted it to because I just couldn't leave it alone.
Reef Reactor
Member
Very good information here.
I am having same issue about colors on my sps.
My tank is almost a cube (48x40x22).
I have a tek t5 lamp with 8 bulbs ( 6 blue plus, 1 coral plus and 1 purpleplus).
About filtration, I have an octopus extreme 300 skimmer, one vertex uf-20 reactor with gfo and vertex uf-20 reactor full of vertex biopellets. I have a Rx1 aquac calcium reactor.
For circulation I have 5 koralias 1400 and one vortech mp40.
My parameters are:
Ca:450
Kh: 9
Mg:1300-1350
No3: 0
Po4: 0
Salinity: 35
13 fishes
I am planning to add more fishes, maybe 5 more anthias, and 10 more chromis viridis.
After read, I think the problem can be the biopellets as they maintain at zero the no3 and po4.
After installing them, my chaeto stopped to grow.
Corals are still growing, but they are very pale.
What do you think?
Any news updates on your tank?
Joe, I really love your tank.
Thanks!! Great post!!
Mensaje enviado por medio de Tapatalk
I am having same issue about colors on my sps.
My tank is almost a cube (48x40x22).
I have a tek t5 lamp with 8 bulbs ( 6 blue plus, 1 coral plus and 1 purpleplus).
About filtration, I have an octopus extreme 300 skimmer, one vertex uf-20 reactor with gfo and vertex uf-20 reactor full of vertex biopellets. I have a Rx1 aquac calcium reactor.
For circulation I have 5 koralias 1400 and one vortech mp40.
My parameters are:
Ca:450
Kh: 9
Mg:1300-1350
No3: 0
Po4: 0
Salinity: 35
13 fishes
I am planning to add more fishes, maybe 5 more anthias, and 10 more chromis viridis.
After read, I think the problem can be the biopellets as they maintain at zero the no3 and po4.
After installing them, my chaeto stopped to grow.
Corals are still growing, but they are very pale.
What do you think?
Any news updates on your tank?
Joe, I really love your tank.
Thanks!! Great post!!
Mensaje enviado por medio de Tapatalk
