SPS Color Fading - running GFO

[pciscott]

I was wondering what your nitrate level is? When my nitrate goes to 0 my corals fade and feeding more brings back the nitrate and color. I do run GFO and try to keep my p04 under .03 while I like my nitrate between 2 and 5 and have run it as high as 20 with no ill effects that I notice. When I hear people say they have zero nitrate I wonder how they keep their colors. I run Rox 8 carbon as well and I do think it helps keep the water clear. On my systems I change the carbon every 2 weeks and the GFO once a month or when my p04 goes above .05. Glad to hear your color is coming back and sorry to hear about your crash. I took the week off for Labor Day and stressed on leaving my tanks!

 

[pulit]

my friend had somewhat the same problems u had . he bumped up waterchanges and took his filtersock off for 2 months and everything started looking real nice.

 

[j-dizzle]

1100 is a tad low and could be the reason you colors aren't as bright but an easy fix back to 1350. how old are your lights?

 

[j-dizzle]

scratch that posted on the first page.... :hmm4:

 

[tegee]

I will disagree with the previous posts, only because you never said how much GFO you were running. If you added several cups to a10 gallon tank that might be your problem, but if you added a cup or so to a180 gallon then that is probably not your problem. If you recently had a crash, you should wait a while before you expect your track to to be back to normal.

+1....proper use and amount of GFO should not cause color fading. Obviously if used properly.

HTH

 

[chadfarmer]

do u use carbon all the time?

 

[phoenix001]

do u use carbon all the time?

I do run carbon 24/7

Things are really starting to look good at this point - we had our local frag swap yesterday and I picked up some nice frags. Mg is stable - actually a bit high but stable, ALK and CA are good. Continuing to run GFO.

 

[Vannpytt]

Any update here?

 

[that Fish Guy]

as you lower phosphate your alkalinity needs to be lower also, high kh with low phosphate will burn the coral. alk: 7-8 is a better area.

What do you consider "Low" Phosphate to which you need Alk at 7 to 8?

What is the cutoff?

 

[Tweaked]

IMO

PO4 at .04
NO3 at least detectable
Alk 7.5-8.0


Also, as far as GFO goes, I replace as the algae on my glass gets to the point where I need to clean every day. Once back to normal, you should see the green dust about every three days. Also keep in mind I run allot light including halides. LEDs are harder with this method.