Help with SPS color

So, it seems that you and I have similar problems in our tanks. I have read, and will read again, the thread in advanced topics that you've responded to regarding sps health and color relative to nutrients and lighting levels. That thread has some information in it that could, rather should be, considered gospel. I'm going to continue to follow that thread and make a couple more changes to my system and simply observe. One thing that continually comes up in these discussions is alk and alk stability.

I have, since stabilizing my alk around 8.5, have noted great improvement. I've been slowly reducing alk with the intention of getting to 8.0 and maintaining that or something slightly lower. The response in my corals since the reduction is pretty obvious. I had a tierra del fuego that nearly completely bleached on me and showed reduced polyp extension. Since my changes, this has improved. I'm seeing hints of green and purple in the coral and far better polyp extension. The same is true for a few other acros that I have and can't recall what they are because of the condition they were in due to too little nutrients and high alk.

I plan to continue to follow your thread and document my conditions a little better in hopes of getting where I want to be as well as understanding how I got there.

Good luck and keep the thread going.
 
The more and more I look at my tank and see the rock that is covered in Xenia and the DSB, I just want to start over. All new rock and 1-2" of sand. I just wouldn't know where to begin.
 
I actually considered that as well but decided against it. I'm happy with the aquascape and things are growing well. I am slowly removing my fuge however. I take a little sand out of it every month with the goal of eventually being just LR and Chaeto so I have a breeding ground for pods.
 
If i wasn't so scared of losing what corals i have left and my BTA i would consider it. Not really happy with aquascape, cant kill the Xenia, which i feel is using up the nutrients. I want new rock like pukani and some tonga branch which is a lot better rock than what i have and i would love to get rid of my DSB.
 
I would get a few healthy frags and see how they do.

You corals might've been so stressed that it could take months to recover. Might try to get the same frags and move them closer or further away from the lights to see if it's light related issue. I think if you feed your corals now plus Amino Acids even with 0 NO3 they should be getting enough nutritions.
 
I think your xenia is absorbing all your nutrients that your sps needs. I heard people use them as a nutrient export. My sps was once like yours, pale,pastel, whatever, it was ugly with no PE. I remove my cheato as it was not growing in the last 4 month, which I know for sure, besides my hanna po4 checker,that I have a ULNS. I had 5 small fishy. For the past 2 months I have added 7 more fishes and up the feeding to 3 times per day(heavy feeding). I want my malnutritious fish to be fat. But anyway, I've been using Aquavitro fuel everyday too since the addition of extra fishes. Cutting my skimmer to only half day with dry skimming. Now, all of my corals color has nice deep color. Especially on my lps, they were the first to color up. I will look for a picture of my birdnest to show you how shockingly bad it was and now.

120g
2x250w phoenix MH
nitrate 20ppm
po4 0ppm
480 ca
8.4 dkh
1450 mg
ph 8.1
 
before

20121111_183649.jpg


Now

20130125_232448.jpg
 
kissman said:
The more and more I look at my tank and see the rock that is covered in Xenia and the DSB, I just want to start over. All new rock and 1-2" of sand. I just wouldn't know where to begin.
Click to expand...

If I were in your shoes, this is what I'd do.

I'd make up about 60 gallons of new salt water, and make sure the parameters are close to those of your tank. I'd probably just let it mix through the week while I tweaked the parameters. Then on the weekend, I'd get a container and start moving the LR from my tank into it. I'd drain water from the tank into the container with the LR as I moved LR. I'd keep the rock wet through the whole process. I'd also try to keep a powerhead in with the rocks. Once all the rock is in the temporary container, I'd trash all the sand and the rest of the water from the tank. I'd clean the tank well, then fill it about half way with new clean SW. I'd swoosh the rocks in the old water, give them a light cleaning, and remove some of the unwanted organisms before returning the rocks to the tank. If there is sand, rock, or any poo trapping stuff in the sump, I'd take the sump outside to the hose and clean it well. Reinstall the sump, socks, skimmer, phosphate reactor, top off the tank, and crank it back up.

This process will remove massive amounts of nutrients (rot and filth) from your tank. Your new, lowered nutrient level will not be able to support the massive population of microbes living in your LR. These microbes will begin to die off and rain down on the bare bottom of the tank as detritus. When you do water changes, you'll need to remove as many of these dead and decomposing microbes as possible. As the microbial population reaches an equilibrium with the new lowered nutrient levels, the amount of detritus shedding off the rocks will diminish. Once the detritus accumulation has slowed drastically, you can replace the sand if you like. You'll just need to keep it clean. If you keep the tank clean, and feed the fish, you'll notice the color coming back in your SPS corals, their growth exploding, and the remaining Xenia will begin to struggle.

This process will convert your system from one that resembles a lagoon/mangrove swamp to something that more closely resembles a pristine off shore coral reef atoll.

Good luck and I hope this helped.
Peace
EC
 
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First off thank you all for the help! I do 100% think i need to remove the DSB I also think i need to replace the rock. I don't like the rock work and I have some ideas to elivate the rock off the sand to help keep a shallow sand bed clean. I have been trying to kill off the xenia with a dremel tool and if you leave anything it will grow back and it does my god it does. Would it be any problem to slowly remove the sand bed with each water change while new rock was curing? I love your method of doing this over a weekend. But I will be honest scares me to think I would have a huge nitrite spike and kill everything. i was thinking of removing a couple of cup fulls of sand each waterchange with by syphoning so i get the detritus as well.
 
Frag rack thin layer of algae on it today and on the glass around it, along with powerheads and overflows. I will remove it this weekend and clean it off. Everything else is looking the same no changes.
 
Not real sure if or when the upgrade will happen but probably late summer or early fall. Depends on the money situation when i move. I want to fix this tank for the experience
 
When algae can grow, so will your SPS corals. If not algae, then SPS will be faded in color and growth will slow. If your getting algae on the glass every few days, you are good to go!
These days, skimmers are so darn efficient, you can literally strip the water of most everything with a good skimmer.
I feel reactors should only be used in problem older systems. If you are using one, you better do the math for flow. You can easily strip a system down to nothing!
 
Did I miss something? Kiss was you able to get your tanks parameters in desired range? I was browsing through latest posts and they are all about upgrades :)
 
danil said:
Did I miss something? Kiss was you able to get your tanks parameters in desired range? I was browsing through latest posts and they are all about upgrades :)
Click to expand...

No you haven't missed anything. Crap is still dying. I have a son on the way and will be moving in with my girl, her daughter, and our son at the end of the summer. I want to upgrade if possible at that time. But, I am just about ready to sell every thing and just say %$^& it!
 
That sucks. I've been following this thread as well as the one in advanced topics for a couple weeks now. I was too running a ULNS and was un-aware that I was stripping the tank of all nutrients. I thought since I was trying to run a SPS dominate tank, that the best thing to do was get NO3 and PO4 down to 0 because of all I had read about SPS and how they "need" "clean" water. In return I had been carbon dosing, feeding in-sufficiently, and running GAC/GFO in a reactor 24/7 while wet skimming. And I have been doing this for some time now (about a year or so). It recently had gotten to a point where growth stopped completely, all my awsome SPS had turned totally white, and my torchs and acans were def not happy. So I started doing research as always and found I had been doing the same thing as alot of others...starving my system. So I cut the carbon dosing off, put my reactor on a timer to run 4 hours a day, started feeding more, and turned back my skimmer. (Plus I ran my skimmer intake hose out to my garadge to keep my PH up). And it's only been 2-3 weeks and I see SOOOO much improvement in growth and color already with still no measurable levels of NO3 or PO4. I also threw a ball of cheto in my sump to help make sure I don't over-shoot my goal. So for everyone else following this thread, there is hope and this info is very accurate in atleast my situation.
 
Randy15 said:
That sucks. I've been following this thread as well as the one in advanced topics for a couple weeks now. I was too running a ULNS and was un-aware that I was stripping the tank of all nutrients. I thought since I was trying to run a SPS dominate tank, that the best thing to do was get NO3 and PO4 down to 0 because of all I had read about SPS and how they "need" "clean" water. In return I had been carbon dosing, feeding in-sufficiently, and running GAC/GFO in a reactor 24/7 while wet skimming. And I have been doing this for some time now (about a year or so). It recently had gotten to a point where growth stopped completely, all my awsome SPS had turned totally white, and my torchs and acans were def not happy. So I started doing research as always and found I had been doing the same thing as alot of others...starving my system. So I cut the carbon dosing off, put my reactor on a timer to run 4 hours a day, started feeding more, and turned back my skimmer. (Plus I ran my skimmer intake hose out to my garadge to keep my PH up). And it's only been 2-3 weeks and I see SOOOO much improvement in growth and color already with still no measurable levels of NO3 or PO4. I also threw a ball of cheto in my sump to help make sure I don't over-shoot my goal. So for everyone else following this thread, there is hope and this info is very accurate in atleast my situation.
Click to expand...


I had exactly the same experience - people don't buy it when I tell them about this. Its about keeping carbon/nitrates/phosphates all at the right level.
 
I think a big part of my problem is the Xenia, and the DSB. I am planning on replacing the rock and replacing the sand bed with 1" of new sand and just start over
 
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