PALE SPS!!! BRS gfo and carbon maybe?

[LoJack]

Carbon and GFO can be run in a dual reactor, as long as you use the foam pads that prevent the carbon from tumbling. The BRS reactors have little spacer foams that allow you to pack the carbon tight which prevents tumbling and breaking down, but allows enough flow to tumble your GFO.

It can be done, it just has to be done right. Pack the carbon tight, slight tumble on the GFO and you're laughing.

 

[outssider]

Carbon and GFO can be run in a dual reactor, as long as you use the foam pads that prevent the carbon from tumbling. The BRS reactors have little spacer foams that allow you to pack the carbon tight which prevents tumbling and breaking down, but allows enough flow to tumble your GFO.

It can be done, it just has to be done right. Pack the carbon tight, slight tumble on the GFO and you're laughing.

actually, i do it this way in one reactor. high capacity gfo on the bottom tumbling slightly and rox .8 carbon wedged on the top using that sponge. works great....:beer:

brs had a video of this once. now i see a video where they mix the gfo and the carbon together in one reactor ...i don't like that idea...

 

[pusanpa]

Also - couple more helpful things to watch for....

When coming out of the pale coral business, you will see your corals darken, some even go darker brown, this is good! Slowly, some of these will turn green, not sure why, but many corals will go dark brown/greenish during the coloring up process. I would encourage you to take individual pics of corals with your phone, then document changes every 3-5 days.

Color is getting darker and it is brown!!! Hope they turn into more beautiful sticks.
Now I have six fish (from 2 fish) and my skimmer is going nuts! I feed a lot more too.
I never had this much skimmate in years. I thought my skimmer has a problem.
no gfo and carbon.

 

[dahenley]

when jumping from 2to 6 fish, and feeding a lot, you might watch out. nitrates can spike up because the rock and sand are not used to poo and the bacteria cant keep up.
so just be careful and watch. over a little time, the bacteria will grow and be able to support it and you can continue with the heavy feeding

 

[cham]

Putting flame suit on

I'm not a fan of any sort of mechanical filtration other than filter socks (which are a must IMO) and skimmers. GFO especially but carbon too. Too many error factors

When I ran them for years I was studious about it and changed them monthly or even bi weekly. It seemed like my tank became dependent on them and there was limited natural export activity. The GFO also seemed to be super aggressive at the start and then tapers off giving a little bit of a swing until the user changes it out. Swing is the devil in reef tanks

After fighting pale colors and algea for years I figured out P04 is stronger than I am and I let mother nature take over. I did give it some help with bio pellets and some pro biotics but I haven't run GFO or carbon in my tank in years and I've seen a transformation in my tank that I had only previously dreamed of.

 

[russeko8]

GFO and Carbon

GFO and Carbon

As a lot of others have stated I did the same stripping the water with carbon and GFO and ended up paling my sps. Good luck on the recovery it takes a bit of time but they will come back around.

 

[pusanpa]

Green mille is showing some polyp extension! I thought this one was a goner.

 

[dahenley]

take it slow, but it looks good and things are on the right tract!

 

[Falcao]

any updates?

 

[MHG]

I had the same issue of starving my corals. It took a minimum of 7 months for a few to recover and others have been over a year now and while they are looking better, they are still far from where they should be. It takes time.


FYI, I strip my water clean with high cap GFO and it wasn't until my nitrates were up until my colors looked better. so IMO, the GFO is not an issue. Just the low nitrates... Again just my opinion...

 

[pusanpa]

I had the same issue of starving my corals. It took a minimum of 7 months for a few to recover and others have been over a year now and while they are looking better, they are still far from where they should be. It takes time.


FYI, I strip my water clean with high cap GFO and it wasn't until my nitrates were up until my colors looked better. so IMO, the GFO is not an issue. Just the low nitrates... Again just my opinion...

Agreed. My sps are recovering very very slowly.
Here are some photos. I got LED lighting now. 45x3 cree (reefled phoenix) I am not used to the LED yet.... it looks a bit artificial to my eyes.

Now I have a lot more Polyps extension!!!!!!

Right side


Pink stylo.....but brown color


Rainbow stylo


Ponape


Green mille


FTP

 

[pusanpa]

Comparison Shots!!!!
June 2nd vs June 25th

 

[pusanpa]

Just for fun. This is my 8G office tank.
No fish. I do water change once a month.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I have had exactly the same problem as you. My nutrients have always been very low (near zero or zero nitrates and near zero phosphates). I have addressed the problem in the following way:

1. I have stopped my phosphate reactor and let phosphates climb in a controlled manner. I use Rowas Merck high sensitivity test kit to measure phosphate levels. The latest phosphate reading is between 0.008 mg/l - 0.015 mg/l.

2. I have started to dose Salifert amino acids once a week;

3. I have started to dose Salifert iodine and keep the iodine levels slightly high (0.06-0.1 ppm- dosing not recommended unless tested using a reliable test kit!);

4. I have started to maintain constant levels of potassium (390-400 ppm), which is known to cause paleness in SPS corals in low levels;

5. I have lowered the alkalinity from 9.45 dKH to 8.45 dKH very slowly;

6. I have raised my ATI unit (6 X 39W) slightly to reduce PAR slightly, so that my sps corals get between 250-350 mmol PAR. They used to get between 250-450 mmol.

Note that I continue to fluidise carbon in a reactor (Seachem carbon) and also use a small bag of Seachem purigen;

My sps corals' colours have improved significantly since I started the above regime about a month ago. The colours have darkened and started to look vibrant too.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

 

[ANFPO]

Ive battled pale corals in ULNS. Amino Acids, increased feedings, reduced photoperiod and PAR (as in raising your lights away from the corals) really does help and work! Hang in there. Corals already look better. Be careful with the LEDs being too bright. Thats another way of getting pale corals, LOL.

 

[pusanpa]

I am having.stn and found a problem today.
This afternoon my wounded index finger got electrocuted!!! It was pretty bad.
Found out that it is the old koralia 2power had in the sump.

 

[zackw]

I had same problem, took my gfo and carbon reactors offline and all my acros started to get happier.
Now i only run my gfo on occasion if my phosphates get too high.

 

[pusanpa]

I now have 9 fish and all my sps are brown except one bleached one.
Two days ago my phosphate was 0.08 with hanna meter

I dose MB7(sat) and vodka (wed) once a week.
PO34 = 0.03 (after adding some GFO)
ALK = 11
NO3 = 20 after a water change
NO carbon
2 table spoon GFO

 

[pusanpa]

I have very slow stn on pink birsnest.



http://s288.photobucket.com/user/pusanpa78/media/20130710_192737_zpsc71269cd.mp4.html

 

[malady]

how do you guys get phosphates consistent?

I find if I run my gfo reactor all the time that it strips the water clean

I try using less GFO and it just runs out faster and still strips it clean

I don't run the reactor and things look good but then my phosphates shoot up to high levels like .4

My sps seem to be doing fine for now Its just a headache to keep testing phosphates to see whether I should turn my reactor on or not