Nutrients too low?

[tpallas]

Hello,

I'm trying to pinpoint some issues I've been having in my 11.4 gallon SPS. There's a thread in the nano section, but the basic setup is an 11.4 with a 5 gallon sump, SWC 120, and AI Sol Blue mounted on legs about 2" on the top of the water.

Initially I had good color and growth with my SPS (Acros & Montis). I had two black clowns and a goby. Unfortunately an ich outbreak killed the fish and I've been having problems since. I use the Prodibio nano kit. AI Sol settings are 30% white, 40% on blues.

Water parameters are:

Alk: 9.8
Ca: 445
Mag: 1400
Nitrate: 0 - .2
Phosphates: .04 (Hanna)
Temp: 79 degrees plus/minus one degree

What I saw was a stop of growth except on Psammocora. All were encrusting with good PE until the fish died. There was also an algae outbreak around this time which ended after about 2 weeks. Since then, some corals have really faded in color to a salmon pink, and others have browned. I initially thought I might have too much light so I dropped the whites to 15%. This seemed to exacerbate the browning so I have gradually increased the whites. The result here has been slow improvement on some corals that were browning.

I then thought there might be a nutrient problem so I started dosing Reef Booster nano. It's only been two weeks so it's likely to soon to tell what the effect will be.

My question is, are these parameters too clean? Should I stop dosing Prodibio with such a small bioload on the system?

Thanks!

 

[Reef Bass]

I don't have any experience with Prodibio, so I'm not commenting on that.

It does sound as though your small tank has been through a lot lately with dead fish water quality issues and now you've been playing with lighting and water chemistry. I would suggest focusing on stability and the basics of keeping your lighting and water parameters where they are. Your parameters look reasonable although less phosphate wouldn't hurt, especially if you're complaining of brown acros. The brown now though is more likely an indicator of their having been stressed and upset recently and may not be entirely phosphate related.

 

[RynosReef]

Yea I think that's great advice. It sounds like your tank just went through a lot. The ich outbreak and subsequent death of the fish could have affected the water quality and stressed out the corals. With a nano it's easy to do. Just try to keep things really stable and watch your nutrient levels, keep up with water changes of exactly matched water. Sorry to hear that you lost your fish. That's always a bummer. Good luck!

 

[batt600]

I was using prodibio and dont have much fish . Prodibio Is good but strip the tank to fast when theres not to many fish , I think it ment for tank that are packet with fish . My problem with it was all my sps started to stn when using it.

 

[tpallas]

Thanks for the advice all, sounds like good counsel. I'll keep dosing the aminos while using the Prodibio - does anyone recommend any other supplements? Or is this sufficient? I want to wait a while before adding more fish but want to make sure the corals have enough nutrients in the water.

 

[allsps40]

Yeah a large skimmer, ULNS and no fish wonder what the issue is.