sps go pale every 4 weeks

[Skynyrd Fish]

Have you considered heavy metals, or another contaminate?

 

[JustAClownFish]

Think critically. You have to do a water change to solve the issue. So if 20% of new water solves the issue then you need to dose whatever the 20% replenish. Or alternatively you could stop sucking all the nutrients out of your system. Carbon GFO and ATS? ATS are powerful.

 

[JustAClownFish]

i always had problems with nitrates bc chateo never worked for me. While gfo handled phosphate, I needed a better method at reducing nitrates. thats where the scrubber came in. and it worked.

I use carbon for polishing... makes water crystal clear
gfo is for phosphate control

i guess if nobody else has a solution, I can take the gfo/carbon offline and post back a month later?

Just dose trace elements. Get red seas ABCD and AB. Hook it up to a doser. Chateo only works if you have strong lighting. Never worked for me with mediocre lighting options. It needs strong red/blue light.

 

[reefgeezer]

Just dose trace elements. Get red seas ABCD and AB. Hook it up to a doser. Chateo only works if you have strong lighting. Never worked for me with mediocre lighting options. It needs strong red/blue light.

Help me out. Thinking critically, I don't understand why you would spend a lot of money on bottled trace elements when they can be replaced cheaply with water changes. If convenience is an issue, automatic water changes can be done with virtually the same dosing pumps required to dose the trace elements.

Again, thinking critically, does dosing trace elements mitigate ionic imbalances that build up over time? Does dosing trace elements work well for new systems as well as mature ones?

 

[JustAClownFish]

Help me out. Thinking critically, I don't understand why you would spend a lot of money on bottled trace elements when they can be replaced cheaply with water changes. If convenience is an issue, automatic water changes can be done with virtually the same dosing pumps required to dose the trace elements.

Again, thinking critically, does dosing trace elements mitigate ionic imbalances that build up over time? Does dosing trace elements work well for new systems as well as mature ones?

I see! A smartass! I like people like you! If you do weekly 20% water changes as recommended, you will only replace 20% of whatever was used up each week. If your tank is PACKED with corals, meaning it uses up a lot of trace elements, and if your tank is bigger than just a few gallons, you will NOT replenish 100% of all trace elements with a god damn 20% water change! Even BRS did a segment on this saying that it is pointless to only change 10-20% of the water as it will only replenish 10-20% of what is missing. How about you shoot them an email urging them to think critically?

A 200-gallon bucket of salt costs 50-80 bucks (and doesn't even contain all trace elements depending on the brand). If you have a 100-gallon tank and you want to replenish at least 50% of all trace elements every week you will have to do a 50% water change every week. That's 50 gallons for a 100-gallon tank. That means that you will have to buy a bucket of salt every month. How is that cheaper than buying a concentrated bottle of trace elements which you can dose every single day to ensure STABILITY?

He has a 300g reef tank and you are suggesting he do 10% water changes every week to replenish all elements. Talk about critical thinking. Lmfao

 

[Daddi0]

Is there a concentrated bottle that contains all the trace elements required?

 

[pscheel]

Maybe it's their time of the month and just cranky

 

[reefgeezer]

My apologies if I came off wrong. It was unattended.

I like BRS, and buy a lot of stuff from them. Their job is to sell things. They do it well. If BRS was speaking of alk, ca, & mg, I would certainly agree. Of course you would have to dose these if you have the demand, and of course trying to keep up with that demand by doing water changes would be expensive... if even possible. I'm not so sure that minor trace elements are used at the same rates and can't be replaced by water changes though.

 

[dadnjesse]

Every time I try GFO I lose corals

 

[ali1]

so i removed GFO and Carbon. Same issue. Take a look at these pics.

 

[Uncle99]

Not sure this helps but I don’t see any comments on flow, and correct flow is necessary to keep the SPS group.

I use 35-50x flow to keep SPS happy.
I trim monthly so as not to allow them to touch each other, or one will die.

 

[ali1]

Seeing as water changes correct this problem, I dont think flow is the issue. i got kits for iodine potassium and iron. Ill test again when this happens.