SPS dull in color and slow growth

[Grabloids]

All pieces in my SPS tank are dull in color and very slow growing. I am concerned about my Mother of Pearl piece that appears to be bleaching. Here is the info on my set up. Can anyone help
65 gallon tall display
20 gallon sump with two filter socks, BM NAC6 skimmer, two reactors running carbon and phosban
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
Nitrate 0.0
PH 8.0
Cal 464
Mag 1160
DKH 7.3
ALK 2.62
Phosphate 0.05
RODI TDS 000
SG 1.025
TEMP 80 degrees with one degree swing between night and day
Lighting 2 SOL Blue units at about 65% to 70% power.
After the water tests I dosed mag to bring it up. Tank has been running for about 6 months and I have had hardly any growth.

Thanks

 

[smoothdog]

Mag is low get it over 1300. DKH looks low to me too. Try to keep it between 8 and 11 but bring it up slow, less than 1 point in a day or you'll burn SPS. You don't say what you are doing to keep levels stable. Stability is key, once you get your levels set, don't let them fluctuate, keep in line with regular dosing or CaRx.

 

[ridetheducati]

Alkalinity is fine. As mentioned above, raise Mg to the 1250 - 1400 range. Also, raise nitrates to 2 ppm.

 

[Grabloids]

Mag is low get it over 1300. DKH looks low to me too. Try to keep it between 8 and 11 but bring it up slow, less than 1 point in a day or you'll burn SPS. You don't say what you are doing to keep levels stable. Stability is key, once you get your levels set, don't let them fluctuate, keep in line with regular dosing or CaRx.

Weekly dosing of Kent Marine supplements. I don't have anything on hand to raise DKH though

 

[Grabloids]

Alkalinity is fine. As mentioned above, raise Mg to the 1250 - 1400 range. Also, raise nitrates to 2 ppm.

Raise Nitrates?

 

[Fishy 1]

I agree with what the other two have said. What he meant by that is your water is too clean, SPS like a little bit of nitrate for better colors and growth. The also like a bit of phosphate as well.

 

[hongl227]

I used Two Little Fishies MarineSnow and AA...the color up about two weeks



TwoLittleFishies Marine Snow

 

[Grabloids]

I agree with what the other two have said. What he meant by that is your water is too clean, SPS like a little bit of nitrate for better colors and growth. The also like a bit of phosphate as well.

Ok, should I just increase feeding in order to obtain this.

 

[markalot]

Take all reactors offline and try to brown the corals with high nutrients to see what happens. I suspect you will get better growth and color before nitrate or phosphate gets high enough to be concerned with.

I like Reef Roids for coral food, and I use Acro Power and occasionally kent Coral Accel. I'm convinced Reef Roids is a great food, but the other two products might be working, or might not.

 

[Av8bluewater]

Could be water too clean but takes a long time for things to really bleach out from that. Corals would be pale for a long time before they just bleach out unless you're really over doing it with some carbon dosing.

Some close up photos might help.
3 things pop up in my head when I see these threads.
1. Red bugs
2. AEFW
3. Nutrients too low.
Get mag up.
What testing method for PO4 and Nitrate?

 

[ridetheducati]

Raise Nitrates?

I normally charge for this level of advice...

NO3: 2-5 ppm
PO4: .03 -.05 ppm

The overall system will look more healthy.

 

[Grabloids]

I can take some pictures today and post them. The mother of pearl appeared to be bleaching. It still has some color just really pale. I do not believe its pests. Working on raising the mag and bumping the alk up a little as well.

Testing methods were:
Nitrates new API kit
ALK salifert
MAG salifert
CAL salifert

Thanks for all the help and info guys, I appreciate it

 

[sahin]

Roughly how much and what do you feed the tank in terms of fish food?

 

[trueperc]

I know others may not aggree, but it could be your lighting. What you are describing has been said about others using only leds, exspecialy with running sol blues which are very limited in terms of spectrum. Is there anyway you can but add a couple of t5 bulbs in your set up. Others have said buy doing this, it has really helped.

 

[Av8bluewater]

With the mother of pearl bleaching... Are the polyps still out like normal or retracted?

 

[jda]

I would eliminate the possibility of the lights too.

 

[Grabloids]

Thanks for all the info coming in again, due to the fear of loosing things I am changing a couple of things at a time and moving relatively slow.

First off I dosed Mag and under-dosed Alk on yesterday 9/30/14
It wasn't enough apparently here are the results of todays tests:
PH stayed the same at 8.0
Cal dropped from 464 to 432
Mag dropped from 1160 to 1100
Alk dropped from 7.3 DKH to 6.1 DKH???

After testing, I separately dosed ALK and Mag, I did not under-dose this time

It was suggested that I kill both reactors, I dialed them down 75% to try and increase Nitrates

The normal feeding schedule has been flake food for the fish and once a week TLF zoPlan

I upped the feeding today to AV Fuel, frozen cube / flake for the fish

The normal dosing methods I have used was the once a week "maintain" dosing instructions on the kent bottles. I have seen by doing these test that clearly is not enough

 

[Grabloids]

By the fish feeding schedule I meant daily flake by the way

Here are some pictures:

MOP

 

[Grabloids]

A Yellow tenius which is green now



Red planet which has more green in it, I suppose not enough light for it



A Garf Bonsai frag



A green mili which is slowly turning a pinkish hue in the middle at the top
a frag of Aussie Gold
and a pink tipped birdsnest



Bottom of the tank

 

[Grabloids]

A reply to the lighting suggestions, I'm currently stuck with what I got unfortunately and there isn't any room in the canopy to add bulbs. If I do change lights I will probably go to a 6 bulb T5 unit and stray away from LEDs.

Flow is maintained with 4 jebao wp 25's. Some are turned down but there is plenty of water movement