Please Help Diagnose My Poor SPS Color/Growth !

[reefdiculous]

Hey Everyone,

I was hoping that you guys could help me out with diagnosing why I just can't get good color and growth out of my SPS on my 90gal reef tank. Yes, I know this has been brought up a thousand times on this forum, but after reading the internets I am still at a loss. I have been through everything as you'll see below. It's been 1.5 years of constant troubleshooting and I am getting desperate. Please, if you have any suggestions or see something wrong, for the love of god please tell me


The Problem:
Most of my SPS start to fade within 2 weeks of taking them home from the LFS. They encrust at the base to the rock, but then stop growing thereafter. I have noticed that they fade towards white (pale) and one (my red dragon) has even exhibited burnt or melted looking tips. My hot Pink Birds Nest is very light pink, my Red Planet turned a metallic green and my Green Slimer is very light green.

Previously Attempted Fixes:
1. I thought it was my parameters, but I check and check they are all within limits and most of all they are very stable as far as I can tell
2. I thought because it was my lights, I turned down my lights to 50% peak
3. I thought maybe my system was too ULNS so I started dosing aminos and some tace elements for just a little while (couple of weeks)

Unattempted Fixes:
1. Raise my NO4 and PO3? (I am afraid of algae, I had an epic battle on my last tank)
2. Adjust my flow pattern and or GPH?
3. Maybe my ALK levels at night vs day? or just the level in general?
4. Coral placement? I have the birds nest (mid tank, med flow), Red Dragon (high tank, high flow), Red Planet (high tank, high flow), Green Slimer (high tank, high flow).

Parameters:

• Salinity = 1.025 (Milwaukee digital refractometer)
• PH = 8.1 - 8.35 (BRS probe)
• CAL = 450PPM (Red Sea Pro Test Kit and API)
• ALK = 7.2 - 7.6 DKH (Red Sea Pro Test Kit and API)
• MAG = 1300ppm (Red Sea Pro Test Kit)
• PO4 = 0ppm (undetectable by Hanna Checker and Red Sea Pro Test Kit)
• NO3 = 0ppm (undetectable by Red Sea Pro Test Kit)

Lighting:

• 2 X Kessil A360w (8 inches from water surface)*
• 1X 48" Ecoxotic Panorama Marine Pro LED Strip (50 watt)**

* I am running the kessils for 8 hours: 0-30% for morning ramp, 30-50% for 4 hour at peak, 50-0% for ramp down, color is about 50% (it's like a 14k look)
** I run the ecoxotic Strip at 90% during peak hours. I added this for shading issues I was having

Filtration and Maintenance:

• Felt Filter sock (changed weekly)
• Vertex Omega 150 Skimmer
• BRS Dual Reactor (GFO and Carbon replaced about every month)
• 70LB of Live Rock and Sand
• 15% water change every 2 weeks (Yes, it's RODI water)

Flow:

• 2X Jebao WP25 (3,400gph listed max) I am running at 60% each
• 1X Jebao RW8 (2,100gph list max) I am running at 60%

Feeding & Dosing:

• Pellets daily
• Frozen Mysis 2X/week
• Very small Nori square 2X/week
• ALK dosing at night every hour (keeps PH up at night)
• CAL dosing during day every hour

 

[NaturalReef]

Did the lfs have them under led's? If not, you need a slow acclimation starting in the 20's to get them used to led lighting with their specific wavelengths. Then after a few weeks you can peak at 40-50 and observe and see if there is progress...I.e good polyp extension, color coming back etc. led light shock is the quickest and easiest way to lose prized coral imo.....easier to color up a coral from low lighting versus nursing it back to health after a blast of lightning

 

[ndrwater]

Okay, good possibility I get some flack for this, but....

I think that you could get better color/growth with your SPS if you actually DO have some Nitrate and Phosphate. Not a lot mind you, but some. My SPS really do better when my NO3 is around 2-4 ppm and PO4 is about 0.03-0.05.
I think unless you are doing a Zeo type tank, chasing too sterile a tank inhibits growth. I think your other params are probably fine if everything looks good.
I WILL suggest some sort of Amino as well at a Potassium supplement.
My SPS had done well with the numbers I mentioned above, but really took off when supplementing Potassium and Acropower.
You can't test for Aminos, but you can test for Potassium which really helps blues/purples corals thrive.

 

[reefdiculous]

Did the lfs have them under led's? If not, you need a slow acclimation starting in the 20's to get them used to led lighting with their specific wavelengths.

The LFS I buy from has the corals under a DIY looking LED panel. I'm not sure how powerful his light is though... I suppose I could try to re-acclimate the system at 20% instead of the 50% i'm running now. What's the worst that could happen? they brown out instead of bleach out? hehe

 

[reefdiculous]

I think that you could get better color/growth with your SPS if you actually DO have some Nitrate and Phosphate.

This isn't the first time I have heard of this. I guess I either need to step up my feedings and or not replace my GFO as frequently to get those levels up. It does sound counter intuitive, but I may try that as well..

 

[bvysochin]

Definitely sounds like you corals aren't getting enough nutrients. We actually just went through this. We took gfo off line and started dosing phyto and zooplanktos daily. Within 3 days we noticed a huge color shift. It's been a few weeks now and 90% of the colors are where we'd like them to be which is great. Good luck to you.

 

[reefdiculous]

We took gfo off line and started dosing phyto and zooplanktos daily. Within 3 days we noticed a huge color shift. I.

Hmm.... well maybe I should also take a really good look at how much GFO I am using and how often I replace it. I was replacing it every 2 weeks, just to make fripple sure that the dreading algae causing phosphates were always at 0ppm (undetectable). I recently went to replacing it every 3 or 4 weeks, but maybe I should go even further or try taking it offline for a week and see what happens?

 

[bobssecrtsn]

post some photos of your tank, that lets us know whats going on with it instead of imagining a tank like yours.

 

[reefdiculous]

post some photos of your tank, that lets us
know whats going on with it instead of imagining a tank like yours.

Good idea, I'll try to take some tomorrow when the lights are on

 

[nanomarine]

How many fishes do you have?
I have 18 small to medium size fishes in a 150g and my sps color improves after I added the last 8.

 

[reefdiculous]

good question!

I have 8 fish in my 90gal, I was told this is about the limit for this size of tank.

2 clowns
1 yellow tang
1 yellow coris wrasse
1 Midas Blenny
1 Royal Gramma

So you are saying that maybe I have to either feed the ones I have more, or get more to feed?

 

[sahin]

Pests should be ruled and out since you mentioned the birdnest as well as other acros I would say you need to feed the fish more and it is unlikely pests.

How much GFO and GAC are you using? I would quit the GFO until you register a minimum of 0.05ppm and then use small amount to keep it from going any higher.

 

[ghostman]

As others have said, your nutrients are possibly too low. I dose amino acids, but I think you could add a little more biology with another fish or two. Fish poop is my favorite coral food. My red planet is my test for lighting. Green means it's getting too little light. I'm wary of LEDs and have gone back to T5s, but you might want to increase light a bit.

 

[reefdiculous]

How much GFO and GAC are you using?

I am using about a 1/2 cup of GFO and a 1/2 cup of GAC in my BRS dual reactor. Again, I change these both out at the same time about every 3 to 4 weeks now, but I used to do it every 2 weeks with a water change. Maybe doing all this at the same time just strips the water in a matter of days, and by doing it often, it never recovers any nutrients. Maybe...

 

[reefdiculous]

My red planet is my test for lighting. Green means it's getting too little light. I'm wary of LEDs and have gone back to T5s, but you might want to increase light a bit.

I have always wondered why it turned greenish... Some say it's too strong of light, and some say too little. I guess that's +1 so far for too little.

I'm wary of LEDs and have gone back to T5s, but you might want to increase light a bit.

I kind of agree with you on this point. Coming from MH on my last tank, I am not totally convinced on these Kessils I'm running. I was thinking about adding some t5s to them, maybe I should

 

[nanomarine]

A few more small fishes couple with several small portion feedings daily may help.
Have you tried increasing your kessil peak intensity?
I've been running mine at 78% with no issues, but over 83% I've burnt tips on some sps on top.
If you want to ramp up the kessil, try to go up by no more than 2% per week until you feel it's sufficiently lit.

 

[One_Divided]

I vote for feeding more.. I had the same-ish problems until I started feeding frozen plankton every day. Sometimes I feed twice per day.. I would say try increasing the mysis to 4-7 times per week.

 

[twon8]

Please Help Diagnose My Poor SPS Color/Growth !

You need more lighting, I run one full out over a 10" frag tank

 

[reefdiculous]

Great, it's sounding like the general consensus so far is that it may be a low light, low nutrient problem. I'll step up the feeding, lay off the GFO a little bit, and try to ramp up my lighting 2-5% weekly.

I'll take some pics of the corals as they sit now for some before shots when I get home from work tonight.

 

[reefdiculous]

You need more lighting, I run one full out over a 10" frag tank

When you say, you run "one" full out, you mean you have the same light as mine (kessil a360w) but at 100% intensity?