I could use some input dialing in my tank

[fishguy597]

as the title stats i could use some help. i've been keeping my params pretty steady. cal 460, alk swings inbetween 8-10 dkh, no measurable po4 or algea, mag at 1400,no3 and no2at or near 0 (per api test kit). my ph was lower then i liked at 8. over the last month i have slowly brought it up to 8.2. i have no problem keeping monti caps and bird nests. my green one doesnt look bad as far as color or growth. now my acros is where my problem lies. my acros grow but they are brown along w/ my pink(brown)and bird of paradise bird nests. I can see a hint of color in them most of the time like they are ready to pop off. instead they stay brown. my orange monti caps,red planet,and green bali slimmer look good. any ideas short of going to a zeo set up or vodka dosing to get my tank in line? i will provide any info i can, i'm just trying not to be long winded(too late i know)

 

[MK Reefer]

What lights are you running? Do you run carbon or GFO?

Mike

 

[fishguy597]

i have 2 diy 400watt mh w/ 14k hamilton bulbs about 6 months old. i also have 110 watts of actinics for sunrise/set. actinics on for 8 hrs mh on for 6hrs. its a 200 gal tank. i run gfo in a reactor( soory dont remember the the brand). i also run carbon in a bag in the bottom of my sump.
thx,
steve

 

[Falker35]

how often do you do water changes? are you using sea water or making it? also check your pH right before your lights turn off and in the morning before the turn on, just to get an idea of the swings, it may be dropping too low at night if you getting a reading of 8 during the day.

 

[fishguy597]

im making my own with oceanic and rodi water. i do 15% every two weeks. i check the inline tds meter constantly and have tripple 0. it has been a while since i checked the ph during the night and day.i will check that and let you know. i was at the lfs today and discussing my problems. i got a recommendation of adding some amino acids. how do you know if you need it and test for it? i'm currently adding none. how many people add this to there tanks and with what effects positive or negitive?

 

[allsps40]

What size is your tank and how long do you run the MH??

 

[oscar.millan]

What are you feeding your corals? How often?

Husbandry seems to be fine, I prefer weekly water changes myself at 20% to 30%.

 

[Felixc395]

Well browning, I'd suspect nutrient problems, but if your other SPS are fine, then that must not be the case. Or maybe I'm wrong there. You mentioned you have API test kits and I never cared for mine. I always thought they were quite inaccurate, but maybe not the case for you or others.

 

[fishguy597]

The tank is 72x24x24. The mh are one for 6 hrs and the actinics are on 8 hrs. I feed my corals with roterfers and snow. I have 7 fish a tang,2 baselletts, blue devil damsil,clown,neon dotty back , and a manderin. As far as test kits go I do have some back ups of seachem and salifert but I use the API as an initial test. My tests always come back within specs. I feel I'm missing something but I feel I have the basics covered. But then again that's why I'm asking you fine folks to see if I may have overlookedsomething.

 

[allsps40]

IMO 400w MH is a bit much along with the 110w actinic on a 24" deep tank. I would swap out to 2x 250w instead of the 2x 400w. There is such a thing as too much light. I was running 2x 150w over my 40g now I run a a 250w, Made a big diff in my sps and power bill, it was lower. I was having problems with color also. What really helped for me was increasing my feeding and stability. I had alway thought I kept this stable but it was not until the addition of my ATO unit and kalk in the top off water that has really seemed to help.

 

[fishguy597]

My lights are about 15" above the water. Do you think if I scale back the lighting an hr so the mh are on for 5 that would be a good test ? Once a month I have been shutting the lights off for 30 hrs to simulate a storm. When the lights come on the corals seem better

 

[allsps40]

I would cut the MH back even more do like 4 hours. Maybe even get a bulb that puts out less PAR, so the lighting is not as intense.

 

[fishguy597]

I'm running 14k hamiltons now. So should I go to a 20k?

 

[reefried]

.......assuming your test kits are right i would NOT reduce photo period i bet your corals arent getting as much light as you think, 15 inches above the water is awful high (i have a 250w reef optix 3 with phoenix 14k 4 inches from the top of my 37gall run for 7.5 hours a day) you also mentioned that you use DIY halides what type of reflector do you have........and six hours isnt that long of a photo period you could do 7 or 8 no problem.......

......the thing to do is get a hold of a PAR meter and actually check what your lighting is putting out as with the params you mentioned i think the brown can easily be attributed to not enough light.

 

[fishguy597]

unfortunitly i do not have access to a par meter. originally i did start out at 8 hrs a day same thing with 7 hrs a day.all with the same results... brown. the relectors i have are from ebay.they reflect and spread the light pretty good imo. should i try a 20k bulb perhaps for 7-8 hrs. i know i wont have as good of growth.

 

[Reef Bass]

I run 400w MHs with 20,000K Radiums and 2 54w ATI blue+ actinics on my 24" tall 100g. The lights hang 8" off the water. My corals look great. The only time I run my MHs less than 8hrs a day is when I get new corals and I cut back to 6 and start ramping back up gradually. My actinics are on 10hrs a day.

 

[fishguy597]

I run 400w MHs with 20,000K Radiums and 2 54w ATI blue+ actinics on my 24" tall 100g. The lights hang 8" off the water. My corals look great. The only time I run my MHs less than 8hrs a day is when I get new corals and I cut back to 6 and start ramping back up gradually. My actinics are on 10hrs a day.

how's your growth? ive been toying with that thought a while but im kinda nervous to try it.