Hi all,
Have had my SPS tank set up for a little over a half a year and have not been that impressed with the colors I am getting and am looking for some advice.
From what I can tell, I think I am doing everything right. My tank is a 16 gal IM (small I know, already eyeing a bigger one) with about 15 lbs of oolite sand (mistake, I know) and 20 lbs of real reef aquacultured live rock. My pink birds nest that I have had since january has a little pink color but is mostly off white, my purple staghorn montipora is getting some nice purple color on its tips but is mostly light brown. The rest of my acros are pretty blah, my strawberry shortcake frag is just a blah off-white/light brown, my green milli came an amazing neon green but has since turned yellow with just a few nice green polyps, my fire and ice echinta is just offwhite. My other millis are just brownish/pinkish. I get great PE and good growth and the couple of acans in the tank have great color, the color is just lacking on the SPS and I am trying to figure out if I am missing something, any advice would be great. Here are the rest of the parms:
Lights:
Radeion, currently set 8" AWL on a ramping 12k schedule that peaks at 41 % (been ramping up 3% a week for the past few weeks).
AquaC remora nano skimmer (get good, heavy skim)
Chemipure elite bag in sump
Bi-weekly 15% waterchange
Parms:
PH: 8.3 (soild, has always read that no matter what time of day checking since tank set up)
N03: 0
PO4: 0.00 (hanna)
Ca: 450
MG: 1400
Kh: 9.8-10.3 (salifert)
Dosing:
C-balance 1x a day
Kent MG 1x a week (needed to keep MG above 1400)
Polyblab reef-resh ULNS system
Feeding:
Feed fish 1x a day with Omega one food or frozen brine
Target feed corals 1x a week with reef-roids
Any ideas of anything else I should be doing/checking that may help my colors improve?
Have had my SPS tank set up for a little over a half a year and have not been that impressed with the colors I am getting and am looking for some advice.
From what I can tell, I think I am doing everything right. My tank is a 16 gal IM (small I know, already eyeing a bigger one) with about 15 lbs of oolite sand (mistake, I know) and 20 lbs of real reef aquacultured live rock. My pink birds nest that I have had since january has a little pink color but is mostly off white, my purple staghorn montipora is getting some nice purple color on its tips but is mostly light brown. The rest of my acros are pretty blah, my strawberry shortcake frag is just a blah off-white/light brown, my green milli came an amazing neon green but has since turned yellow with just a few nice green polyps, my fire and ice echinta is just offwhite. My other millis are just brownish/pinkish. I get great PE and good growth and the couple of acans in the tank have great color, the color is just lacking on the SPS and I am trying to figure out if I am missing something, any advice would be great. Here are the rest of the parms:
Lights:
Radeion, currently set 8" AWL on a ramping 12k schedule that peaks at 41 % (been ramping up 3% a week for the past few weeks).
AquaC remora nano skimmer (get good, heavy skim)
Chemipure elite bag in sump
Bi-weekly 15% waterchange
Parms:
PH: 8.3 (soild, has always read that no matter what time of day checking since tank set up)
N03: 0
PO4: 0.00 (hanna)
Ca: 450
MG: 1400
Kh: 9.8-10.3 (salifert)
Dosing:
C-balance 1x a day
Kent MG 1x a week (needed to keep MG above 1400)
Polyblab reef-resh ULNS system
Feeding:
Feed fish 1x a day with Omega one food or frozen brine
Target feed corals 1x a week with reef-roids
Any ideas of anything else I should be doing/checking that may help my colors improve?
