SPS Frag Tank = Brown

[browntrout]

No sweat. I posted so I could get advice. Just trying to figure it all out. I only dosed for mag because it was low. Like 900 low. I know that alk and calc are impossible to keep stable when your mag is low. I tested these params and noticed the dkh was high. I of course started doing alot of water changes, which yielded high dkh still. I was baffled. I checked my fresh batch of water and then realized that was 11.5-12 right out of the box.

Now all I can do is monitor my results, now that I have switched the salt and replaced my bulbs. I tested params yesterday and I am at

mag 1200
Cal 440
dkh 10.5
sg 1.025

I might look into getting a chiller. Running the 2 250watt halides are obviously getting the tank on the warmer side

what size JBJ artica would you guys recommend?

 

[StillerNat]

do you dose with anything except oyster eggs? i had the same problem with my bali tricolor and my pink lemon aid and a few other corals.

i bought brightwell aquatics suppliments to dose my tanks.

here is what i use to dose with brightwell and my corals went from brown to some tip color in a week and now most are very colorful. here is a few pics of before and after for you
here are my brightwell suppliments.
Liquid reef
Koralcolor
zooplanktos-M
Coralamino
Koralle-VM
restor.

before
Pink lemonaide

bali tricolor

i forget. hehe

after pics
Pink Lemonaide

pink lemonaide under actinics

Bali Tricolor

the one i forget the name.

 

[birds"n"fish]

Following along....same thing happened to my corals.

 

[tas5tas]

do you dose with anything except oyster eggs? i had the same problem with my bali tricolor and my pink lemon aid and a few other corals.

i bought brightwell aquatics suppliments to dose my tanks.

here is what i use to dose with brightwell and my corals went from brown to some tip color in a week and now most are very colorful. here is a few pics of before and after for you
here are my brightwell suppliments.
Liquid reef
Koralcolor
zooplanktos-M
Coralamino
Koralle-VM
restor.

before
Pink lemonaide

bali tricolor

i forget. hehe

after pics
Pink Lemonaide

pink lemonaide under actinics

Bali Tricolor

the one i forget the name.

Those after shots look horrible IMO. Those corals are lacking color and the tri-color appears to be starting to bleach. The first set of pics are more representative of what those corals should look like.....especially the tri-color.

Just my $.02


As for the OP's corals browning......IME corals only brown for two reasons.......too high of nutrients and not enough light. Having 2x250w MH you should have enough light unless the bulbs are old.......so I would concentrate on getting your nutrients down and your big 3(ca,alk,mg) stable. After that it's all gravy.

 

[browntrout]

Ok.

1) For those who think I have high nutrients. Could you please recommend how much I should feed. I usually use one cube frozen mysis for the fish and crabs and a squirt of either roti/oyster feast or I will use some cyclopeeze about a teaspoon. Usually 2 or 3 times a week.
...NOTE
Tank is 24x48x8 approx= 40 gallons.
Sump has about 20 gallons.
Sump is a 30 tall. 25 water drains into the fuge,then flows into the center area where my skimmer is, then flows through baffle and mag 9.5 returns the water. 75% drains right to the center.
Im running a ASM Mini G skimmer.
I also have a 4" sand bed/live rock/chaeto in fuge.

2.) I just installed my 20k radium bulbs on Sat. Light fixture is about 14" above water.

3) I removed my pair of black clowns and they are back in the big tank. I currently have 4 hermits and 4 snails. I also added 3 small green chromi's to the tank.

4) I noticed the snails seem to make a huge mess of poop on the bottom of my tank. It's bare bottom and I try to stir it up so it can go through the strainer and into my sump as often as possible.

5) Im almost considering buying some live rubble rock and putting it all around the edge of the frag tank to help with filtration.

Last..My lights turn on at 2:30 in the afternoon and turnoff at 10:30 I have no algae issues, should I keep this time frame up?

 

[tas5tas]

Make sure you are rinsing those frozen cubes as they are full of phophates. I wouldn't have any fish in there.....they are not needed unless it's a wrasse to keep pests out. The light and lighting cycle look good. You may want to increase flow in the frag tank to keep things from settling especially if it's barebottom. I would also remove the snails and crabs from the frag tank and just remove any algae build up manually. All that is truly needed inside a frag tank is the rack/racks, powerheads/pumps, and frags.

 

[browntrout]

Make sure you are rinsing those frozen cubes as they are full of phophates. I wouldn't have any fish in there.....they are not needed unless it's a wrasse to keep pests out. The light and lighting cycle look good. You may want to increase flow in the frag tank to keep things from settling especially if it's barebottom. I would also remove the snails and crabs from the frag tank and just remove any algae build up manually. All that is truly needed inside a frag tank is the rack/racks, powerheads/pumps, and frags.

Aye aye aye, previous posters recommended having fish in the tank since corals like some poop. I was thinking about going with neon gobi's and a six line wrasse for the fish. I just have the chromi's in there for now. I can put them in my big tank. I know the neon gobi's eat parasites and the wrasse's eat worms.

Shizzle I never rinse the frozen cubes. Last I checked my ph was .03

Seems like I have alot of flow in a 40g tank since I have a korallia2 and the mag 9.5 Off the 9.5 is a 3/4 returnline. same size as the outlet it goes straight up into a 3/4 bulkhead where I have a lockline y and 2 nozzles so I can control where the flow goes.

I should take some pics and video of the tank tonight for you guys. Anybody wanna see that?

 

[tas5tas]

It doesn't matter if you have 1000x/hr turnover if it's not utilized correctly. A sixline would be a good wrasse to go with, but a yellow corris wrasse or melanarus wrasse would be better.