Doesn't he already have two Melanistic Ocellaris?
SPS Frag Tank = Brown
- Thread starter browntrout
- Start date
Doesn't he already have two Melanistic Ocellaris?
browntrout
New member
Yes I already have 2 fish in the tank. Looks like all my SPS are turning either brown or bleaching. It's a 40g tank that is 8" high how is a K3 and a Mag9 not enough flow? I can already have frags get blown all over the place. Im ready to take the tank down I have no idea why I am having issues.
I guess my only other option would be to raise the lights up to 14" above the surface. That's the highest it can go. I wonder if my bulbs are bad? I figured if the lights were too close to the water I would have alot more coral bleaching. So far it's just a few and the others are brown and look crappy.
I guess my only other option would be to raise the lights up to 14" above the surface. That's the highest it can go. I wonder if my bulbs are bad? I figured if the lights were too close to the water I would have alot more coral bleaching. So far it's just a few and the others are brown and look crappy.
maharsreef
New member
Do you test po4 with an acurate test kit. I would stop adding extra nutrients, and let the coral eat the fish poop.
browntrout
New member
I use SALIFERT test kits. To me they are the best on the market for the home aquariast. Yes I test for po4 and it's in check.
browntrout
New member
No I have not. I don't have any algae growing so Im going to assume that high po4 is not the main cause. Im really thinking that even having the 250watt halides 12" above the tank might be too much.
rigleautomotive
Premium Member
I have a feeling this is a very young system and if so it probably is not ready for sps yet.frag tanks tend to be too sterile if not hooked up to a system with lots of live rock and microbial life to feed the tank and keep stable.
if it is not a young system,my suggestions would be to switch out the 10k for a good 20k bulb,keep alk at 8 to 9 dkh and stable,do weekly 20 percent water changes with a good reef salt and 0 TDS rodi water,and provide random flow and not pounding linear current for starters.good luck
if it is not a young system,my suggestions would be to switch out the 10k for a good 20k bulb,keep alk at 8 to 9 dkh and stable,do weekly 20 percent water changes with a good reef salt and 0 TDS rodi water,and provide random flow and not pounding linear current for starters.good luck
browntrout
New member
You are correct. This is a new system (sort of) Here is the story. I had a 75g tank running for about 7months. I upgraded to a 135g tank. Once I moved all of the livestock from the 75g to the 135g I planned on using the 75g remains for this frag tank.
I purchased a new tank from glasscages. I drilled and installed the bulkheads myself plumbed it all and ran a freshwater test for leaks. I then moved the tank into place and pumped the water out of my 75g into the frag tank. I also purchased a 30g tall tank from petco and created a sump/fuge. In the fuge I used some live rock from my 75g tank and created a 4" sand bed using my existing sand in that 75g tank. I also added some chaeto to the fuge/sump
Im using a ASM Mini G for the skimmer. I have had the frag tank sitting and running for about 2months now. Been doing my water changes as well. Even with using the existing water I still had some sort of a mini cycle. I have a bulk reef supply ro/di unit and I am still reading 0 TDS at output.
I realize my dkh is high and didn't realize my salt was not helping. I was doing water changes to lowe the dkh but I wasn't getting anywhere.
As for now my plan of action is to buy 2 either xm or radium 20k bulbs. Lower my halide time to 6hrs and raise the light fixture up to about 14" from the surface of the water. I will run my 50/50 t5's an hour before the halide on and a hour after the halide off. I will also switch to topic marin pro salt. I will also only feed the tank once a week and see if I get any improvements. If not im pretty much over this. I thought this tank would be much more stable than my 135.
The thing that gets me is some SPS look pretty good, polyp extension and so forth. Yet they are brown. Others are brown and don't have polyp extension and they are side by side.
I also put a ORA maxima clam in the tank. He is doing just fine. I was kinda using him to see how well he liked the water (yes I know kinda crude) I have 3 (maxima,squamosa and derasa) in my big tank so that is where he would end up going if he looked bad. Im just baffles. I have a dendro that is open all the time and he looks really good.
flamehawkfish
New member
With a low-volume tank that is so shallow, it's very hard to maintain temperature and salinity. Both those factors might be causes for your issue.
DT's_Reef
New member
+1
Totally agree. I like to put my alk down in the 8-9 range, as I think it provides the system more breathing room. Same with the 20k lighting.
It doesn't look like you have any P04 issues, and a bit of nitrate is fine (I find my system does better when there's the barest touch of nitrate...probably means the corals are getting more nitrogen via feeding, fish poop, etc.).
Flow is important too, obviously, but gentle flow is totally fine, as long as it's pretty much going on everywhere.
browntrout
New member
I top off with ro/di water everyday when I come home from work. I get about a gallon of evap in a day. Im running a 300watt titanium heater in the tank right now set at 78. When the halides kick on the tank goes up tp about 80 this is according to my coralife digital temp, which I have heard are all over the place. I also read that heaters thermo's suck as well. I keep my salinity at 1.025 and even with a little evap in the day time I know it's not swinging enough to cause the issues Im having.
Ive lost a ORA RedPlanet ORA blue iris and a pink tipped lime acro and everything else is brown and looks ugly.
Maybe it's just going to take more time for that system to stabilize, something like 6 months total to get all the bacteria just right in the sand/rock section of your sump?
This system might not have as much rock and sand as a normal reef tank, and that might be where all the extra coral food (oyster and roti feast and a small chynk of CYCLOP-EEZE) is being initially handled.
Could the bleaching and browning be from two different causes; too little light and too much food for the browning; and maybe some SPS pests or alk shock for the bleaching?
browntrout
New member
Im running a coral life 48" fixture. Housing 2 250watt 10k halides and 4 96watt 50/50 t5's currenty set 12" above the water. I highly doubt they are not getting enough light.
browntrout
New member
Came home yesterday and saw that 2 of my acros looked like the tissue was falling off so that was it. I had to take all my sps and stuff them into my 135g tank. Now they look all happy great polyp extension yada yada yada. Funny thing to is I have not even done a water change for over a month in my big tank and every coral,clam etc... is thriving in that tank. I guess Im gonna add some live rubble rock around the edge of the frag tank. Pick up some radium 20k bulbs change my salt over to tropic marin pro. It has a dkh of 8.5 when mixed to 1.025 and just let the tank mature. I left my zoas and a few other corals in that tank. They seem to be just fine.
browntrout
New member
Well I had some people thinking I had too much nutrients????
No rust or metal in the water anywhere.
chadfarmer
Premium Member
its the lighting
that is why the corals are going brown
that is why the corals are going brown
browntrout
New member
Too much light? Not enough light? Switch to 20k bulbs??? Bulbs are old? I bought the fixture used bulbs were supposed to be 3months old?
Lights on to long?
???????