Pale, Brown and Sad - what's my gameplan?

[timdanger]

To answer the STN question, I would definitely leave the encrusted skeleton on the rock, nothing good can come of trying to get it off, just leave it and perhaps some day a year from now or so it will start up again.

sounds reasonable.

How high are your lights off your tank? Perhaps that's a factor. I do have to disagree with the statement that 150W MH can't get it done, they work on my tank and even better on some other member's tanks (ha).

i measured it at about 14" above the water line. hasn't moved for about 2 months. photoperiod is at 7.5 hours per 24 hours right now.

I wouldn't hold your breath on the tommyknockers, there's a lot of debate about how that one colors up. Only gets the black tips in ULNS I hear.

if i could just get it to be even a little yellow, i'd be ecstatic.

Bummer that there isn't any improvement, been following this for a long time

tell me about it! D: i appreciate you following along, anyway!

 

[ChicagoReefOne]

The height on the light sounds good, and lol I hear you on getting it even a little yellow.

Are you still rocking the BM NAC 3.5? The cone model? I'm thinking maybe the skimmer is a little underpowered for the tank.

How's the algae problem?

 

[timdanger]

I have the BM NAC3+ (not the cone model). It doesn't skim a whole lot for me lately. I cleaned it and the pump maybe 2 weeks ago. I guess I expect more skimmate than I get, given the stocking. It does get gunked up in the collection cup's riser tube pretty quickly (I should probably rinse it every 3-4 days, but I usually only do it during water changes).

maybe it is underpowered? i don't know. I guess I don't know how to determine that?


Algae is ok, not great. it's hard to say, because i don't have any snails in there right now. buuuut.. that reminds me...!

I had a few turbo snails die on me a few days ago. You know, I probably should've mentioned that. I bought 4 turbo snails about 2 weeks ago, and all 4 died within a week (2 of them died the night i added them). i acclimated them like i have everything else in the tank. i also had at least one nerite die, too. no explanation. but, maybe the failure to remove the snails quickly enough (i got them out probably within a day or two of them dying) led to some issues with the coral? i dunno. when stuff like that happens, i always want to say "oh, that's why this happened" -- but, even when stuff like that isn't happening, the corals still look awful, so I'm probably just reaching for explanations.

depressing.

 

[rigleautomotive]

I use gfo from tbaquatics and rox 0.8 carbon from BRS in a dual media reactor from BRS. I Use about 21 tsp of eeach, changing fairly infrequently.

You may want to try this.It has worked for me a few times in the past and I usually see positive results(ie ,PE,color,etc.. )in the first 2 weeks.

Discontinue medias,GAC and GFO.Stop water changes for 2 weeks.

There are a few theories why this may help.Some GAC dust and possibly GFO will block pores in corals causing poor health.And secondly,lack of UV absorbtion in sea water due to excessive long term use of GAC causing photo inhibition and bleaching.


If you try this a couple weeks and do not see any positive results then you can always return the media's back into use.It has worked for me a few times when no other reasonable cause could be considered.GL

 

[Big E]

Those corals are defiantely starving.......not enough nutrients in the water.

The only alage growth I would put into as a good indicator is to look down the long front of your tank glass at the inside & see how fast it grows a few days after cleaning the glass. In other words, look at the front glass at an angle from the side window of the tank.

If you have little to no growth after 4-7 days you don't have enough nutrients in the water.

 

[ChicagoReefOne]

Well it looks like you have some conflicting advice, what do you think? Is your tank too clean or high in nutrients? Judging from the algae on the rocks and sand I think there are nutrients in there. . .

 

[allsps40]

I agree that a 150w MH will be fine on your sized tank, you can grow colorful sps no proble. I think you need to increase feeding and just keep it stable and on auto pilot for a few months.

 

[cmoresps]

Tim, just ran across this thread, your Tommy Knockers should at a minimum be yellow green and orange, look me up on Richmnd Reefers, or ping me on here, I will get ya straightened out