Please Help

[Twistedpro]

I have real problems with SPS and i dont know why, i cant seem to keep acropora without them browning out. I have seen how amazing your tanks are so i am after some advice on what i can do.

The tank is a 2ft cube with a 10g sump where i run cheatomopha and miracle mud and a skimmer rated to 120g. My nitrate level is 2.5ppm I had a phosphate reading of 0.5ppm and i have added a phospahte reactor and this is now 0ppm.

Temp run at 26C at night but gets to 27.5C in the day, i am getting a fan to keep this lower with lights on.

I have 35x water turnover in the tank, its only 18" and all acro's have been placed on the rock less than 9" from the surface. I have a 150w 20k halide + actincs. i have 10hrs of full light per day

I do 10% water changes everyweek and make sure temp and salinity is spot on. I also dose with C-balance to keep calcium and magnesium uptake and my alk stays at 8.5dKH

Is their anything i am missing? What can i do to help my acros colour and how long will it take?

thanks for any help

 

[GMAX]

Are you constantly messing with them? Moving them, handling with your fingers etc. They really really want to be left alone. And I dont see a calcium test reading. Above 400 ppm? Just cuz you are dosing does not mean you are outrunning the uptake. If its low corals will react.

Oh how old is your bulb? Havew you tried a lower kelvin rated bulb. With your actinics, I would think a 10K would look fine.

How some of this helps.

 

[Twistedpro]

sorry calcium is 440ppm drops by 10ppm in 24 hrs so i dose in the morning and evening, magnesium is 1350. The C-balance keeps these stable.

I have only used a 20k since keeping SPS and the bulb is 2 months old. I do have a 14.5k bulb i could swap to. i have not been touching them or moving. Trying to keep everything stable.

Would i be wise to get a 250w Bulb?

 

[Sk8r]

I use a 250 w bulb and have good color at 8 inches, even 20.

Another item: I've just started using Kent Coral Vite liquid packs (Foster & Smith) and have seen a big boost in color, including on one severely browned blue aculeus I'm trying to nurse back to its real self. I don't know if micronutrients are the answer, but it might help.

 

[GMAX]

I am running 3X 400 watts on my 5 foot long tank. FWIW

Can you rearrange a rock so that its about 3-4 inches from the surface ( ie closer than what you now have and put a brown healthy coral on it and see what happens? That will tend to isolate whether the change to more light is beneficial.

 

[Twistedpro]

i added another coral which had colour to a position about 3" below and that is browing out. I am wondering if its something i cant test for?

 

[GMAX]

Its browning within minutes? Not sure I understand how that is possible.

 

[Twistedpro]

sorry not within minutes about 2 weeks ago. I did this as a test whether it was lighting.

 

[GMAX]

Are you fedding the corals like rotifers or oysters eggs? I do a couple of times a week. Not everyone does but maybe they are starving? I dunno, you parameters look fine. Do think a pump or more is out? Flow would be lower and it might not be visible to the eye. Mystery for sure.

 

[Twistedpro]

i feed rofiters every couple of weeks, i dont get very good polyp extension either. I do if i feed something but not much

 

[tnyr5]

perhaps pics would help, what type of acroporas are they? if they are extreme light & flow types like humillis that could be your problem

 

[Twistedpro]

these are two of the corals, the top one was added and had amzing colour as you can see, this has now gone and is a lovely shade of brown, this is about 4" below the surface

the second is around 9" below had a small amount of colour which has all gone

do i need more light for these corals?

 

[clkwrk]

How long have you had them ?

 

[Sk8r]

How old are your bulbs? Is there a chance they're very young or very old?

 

[Twistedpro]

first one around a month, a few branch's still showing colour, body has gone dark brown.

2nd one has darkened and lost all colour, that has been around 6 weeks

 

[Twistedpro]

bulb was purchased in febuary

 

[clkwrk]

I say shipping stress and they are wild .....IME most wilds will brown out as going fromthe ocean to our tanks is stressful no matter how you look at it . Give them time if polyp extention is great then don't worry too much and give time.

Also the first one will hold its color lower and once colored up they can bleach from too much light easy.

 

[waterfaller1]

How old is the tank? I never recommend any acros in the first year as the tank needs time to mature. I think 10 hours of full daylight is a bit much...try 8 and see what that does.

 

[clkwrk]

Here is mine at the bottom of the tank getting 9000 lux with 14k phx bulbs

 

[Twistedpro]

that is a stunning coral, i am only running a 20k 150w bulb. Still think i should move it down.

The tanks is 8months old however the rock was from a 3yr old system