SPS Color Issues (long w/pictures)

[GroktheCube]

IMHO, having 5 or so hours of intense day light, and another 3-3.5 hrs on each side of blueish and ramp up/down is a good lighting schedule.

If you're missing spectrum under 450nm, that could be part of it. When I first set up my tank using LEDs I had a big hole in the 415 to 440ish range. I added some T5s, and I saw a HUGE improvement in terms of color in a matter of weeks. Days in the case of certain Zoas and LPS.

I think too much white for too long along with some missing low blue to violet range light might be a substantial contributor to your problem.

 

[PaleHorse]

How fast are your sticks growing/encrusting? monti's grow with a room light being on lol

in a month how much growth are you getting?

 

[LR1]

Im just putting this out their, try testing your nitrates with a different test kit like Red Sea.I used API and then I switched to RS testing and their was a big difference. I found my nitrates were at a higher level with this test.

 

[Syntax1325]

How fast are your sticks growing/encrusting? monti's grow with a room light being on lol

in a month how much growth are you getting?

Very slow growth from everything. I've gotten the most growth out of my Pavana, birds nest, smooth acro and monti's. All across are showing signs of encrusting but growth is very slow. Here's a few examples:


Borealis in April


Borealis now


Red Velvet in April


Red Velvet now


limeade in April


Limeade now

 

[Syntax1325]

Im just putting this out their, try testing your nitrates with a different test kit like Red Sea.I used API and then I switched to RS testing and their was a big difference. I found my nitrates were at a higher level with this test.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've had my water tested before by my lfs to confirm results; however, its been a while.

 

[rovster]

That's not bad growth, especially starting from such small frags. That borealis grew quite a bit, and montis just grow too fast

 

[Syntax1325]

Perfect man that sounds like you got the water parameters wrapped up pretty good.

Thanks! I've spent many hours on the reef chemistry forum. I started with 1/2 teaspoon per gallon and am now at full saturation. I'm hoping that I can get by with Kalk only until the tank transfer. With the increased volume of water I'm anticipating in going back to 1/2 tsp per gallon for a while.

 

[Acro Lover]

im gonna recommend you right now change your leds, unless your using Radions then that's different but I would switch to T5 HO with ATI bulbs, also are they brown or white and your light cycle should be between 10-12 hours

 

[Acro Lover]

Can also be lack of Amino

 

[lafayettereefer]

im gonna recommend you right now change your leds, unless your using Radions then that's different but I would switch to T5 HO with ATI bulbs, also are they brown or white and your light cycle should be between 10-12 hours

What's with the cliff hanger? If you're going to recommend such a drastic change at least tell him why you are against LEDs.

I personally have grown very vibrant sps corals under a rapidled diy kit so I see no need to switch to metal halides. I would probably add a few different colors to your spectrum and lower the output a bit but it seems like you're getting good growth so it just takes a little bit of tinkering to get the color.

 

[Reefvet]

Threads like this are good entertainment. Everyone's tossing in their own preferences instead of trying to help the OP because they only know what they've done.

You don't need MH or T5s. You can grow colorful SPS corals with LEDs.

If you can borrow a Par meter from a LFS or local club go for it. They are useful.

Having said that stop paying so much attention to numbers and look at the corals. They're growing because you have sufficient CA, Alk and Mag. They're brown because your tank is ULNS.

Try adding the Acropower daily for week and I'd bet you'll see some difference. Turn UP the LEDs. You've seen what happens at the light level you've been using. Up your game.

Here's a 37 gal tank I grow frags in. It's got 1 Kessil A350W 24" over the sand bed, about 5 inches over the water surface. The A350W it turned all the way up and runs 9 hours a day.

No nitrates or phosphates are measurable. No carbon, no GFO. I feed the fish more than they'll eat. I dose Aminos and various plankton 5 days out of the week.

Tank is only 6 months old. Frags grow like weeds and with good color.

 

[Syntax1325]

Reefvet, Beautiful tank!

Is .02-.03 P04 (Red Sea) and barely detectable N03 (API) ULNS?

 

[Syntax1325]

I appreciate everyone's help. May I please suggest that those who make comments read the thread before posting. This thread is getting cluttered by comments and questions that have been answered in the original post. I'm not flaming anyone, this will be more useful for everyone if all the posts are thoughtful and responsive to the information given.

 

[Syntax1325]

Update:

I've adjusted my lighting schedule to try to keep the intensity 4:1 blue/white led's. I've put in short a ramp up keeping the 4:1 ratio with a 7 hour peak lighting at 75% blue and 25% white. We'll see how this goes. I'll keep dosing Acropower every Mon, Wed, Fri (2ml each day) and feed the tank coral frenzy twice a week.

I wonder if stirring my sand bed would benefit the corals even more? I tried it yesterday and the vermetid snails went nuts (yes, I've got my tube of superglue to try to cap them)

I think this would be much easier if all my corals were pale or brown instead of a mix of the two.

 

[Syntax1325]

Update:

I've adjusted my lighting schedule to try to keep the intensity 3:1 blue/white led's. I've put in short a ramp up keeping the 3:1 ratio with a 7 hour peak lighting at 75% blue and 25% white. We'll see how this goes. I'll keep dosing Acropower every Mon, Wed, Fri (2ml each day) and feed the tank coral frenzy twice a week.

I wonder if stirring my sand bed would benefit the corals even more? I tried it yesterday and the vermetid snails went nuts (yes, I've got my tube of superglue to try to cap them)

I think this would be much easier if all my corals were pale or brown instead of a mix of the two.

 

[Aqualund]

I think this would be much easier if all my corals were pale or brown instead of a mix of the two

Just biology. Not all corals have the same reactions to the same conditions.

Also, try testing the nitrate with another brand of test. I have found you get the best color results with excellent lighting and between 1ppm and 2ppm NO3.

 

[Aqualund]

Threads like this are good entertainment. Everyone's tossing in their own preferences instead of trying to help the OP because they only know what they've done.

You don't need MH or T5s. You can grow colorful SPS corals with LEDs.

If you can borrow a Par meter from a LFS or local club go for it. They are useful.

Having said that stop paying so much attention to numbers and look at the corals. They're growing because you have sufficient CA, Alk and Mag. They're brown because your tank is ULNS.

Try adding the Acropower daily for week and I'd bet you'll see some difference. Turn UP the LEDs. You've seen what happens at the light level you've been using. Up your game.

Here's a 37 gal tank I grow frags in. It's got 1 Kessil A350W 24" over the sand bed, about 5 inches over the water surface. The A350W it turned all the way up and runs 9 hours a day.

No nitrates or phosphates are measurable. No carbon, no GFO. I feed the fish more than they'll eat. I dose Aminos and various plankton 5 days out of the week.

Tank is only 6 months old. Frags grow like weeds and with good color.

I only see nine acroporas in this picture, and the nine you have don't stand out for anything amazing that would warrant credibility on the issue...in fact they lack striking color like they should have. I also see no polyp extension from them. The rest, monti's, pocilliporas, seriataporas, are going to have great color because their color is derived mostly from the fluorescing of their polyps, not necessarily from the skeletal tissue. And this can be achieved with good water quality and decent lighting...which you have.

As much as your tank is beautiful...you cannot use this as a reference to say "turn your lights up and keep going...look at mine!" Besides that, have you tested the par from the Kessil? You will notice its a bit less at 100% than OP's LED's at 100%...and Kessil has a proprietary matrix of many different colors that are not in OP's LED's.

So it is not very responsible to first make fun of the advice given to OP, but then even further ignore all evidence thus far and give completely baseless advice.

 

[Syntax1325]

Just biology. Not all corals have the same reactions to the same conditions.

Also, try testing the nitrate with another brand of test. I have found you get the best color results with excellent lighting and between 1ppm and 2ppm NO3.

I've been feeding heavier and using coral frenzy. I've noticed my Nitrates are between 0-5 via api, closer to 0. I'll have to get the test verified with a better quality test kit. If it is correct then I'm not really running a ULNS with detectable P04 and N03?

 

[brad65ford]

Threads like this are good entertainment. Everyone's tossing in their own preferences instead of trying to help the OP because they only know what they've done.

You don't need MH or T5s. You can grow colorful SPS corals with LEDs.

If you can borrow a Par meter from a LFS or local club go for it. They are useful.

Having said that stop paying so much attention to numbers and look at the corals. They're growing because you have sufficient CA, Alk and Mag. They're brown because your tank is ULNS.

Try adding the Acropower daily for week and I'd bet you'll see some difference. Turn UP the LEDs. You've seen what happens at the light level you've been using. Up your game.

Here's a 37 gal tank I grow frags in. It's got 1 Kessil A350W 24" over the sand bed, about 5 inches over the water surface. The A350W it turned all the way up and runs 9 hours a day.

No nitrates or phosphates are measurable. No carbon, no GFO. I feed the fish more than they'll eat. I dose Aminos and various plankton 5 days out of the week.

Tank is only 6 months old. Frags grow like weeds and with good color.

Do you have a thread settee on you tank. Would be intereted in seeing it develop over time. Kessils are the trickiest led fixture to get working with a system Imo.

 

[Aqualund]

I've been feeding heavier and using coral frenzy. I've noticed my Nitrates are between 0-5 via api, closer to 0. I'll have to get the test verified with a better quality test kit. If it is correct then I'm not really running a ULNS with detectable P04 and N03?

I'd be willing to bet money that if you do a red sea kit test you'll get about 3 or 4ppm. If not, and you are below 1ppm, then yes I would get more load in the tank to bump the nitrates up as a start, while continuing to feed as you are.

This forum can debate all day about the merits of LED's vs MH...and a lot of time people spend the wrong time arguing apples vs oranges. I have used every LED fixture out there...for many years (radion, kessil, maxpect, rapidled, lumia, diy) and none of them, none of them, gave the color and health that supplementing with T5 and MH did for the very delicate mission of acropora species coloration.

All other corals? yeah no problem. But acropora? You want the best color, PE, and pop? I mean the best...not just "yeah that looks good," if you want "holy crap those look amazing!" With acropora...you need to supplement with T5 or MH.

This is my coral farm today:

<iframe class="imgur-album" width="100%" height="550" frameborder="0" src="//imgur.com/a/tFGOc/embed"></iframe>

I have gone through and made all the mistakes one can make to get to this point, and I still have much farther to go lol!