SPS losing color

[Reeflow]

Hi,

My SPS reef has been going great until a couple of months ago. I noticed that some of my corals were slowly losing their color and growth rate. I have noticed some nuisance algae growth around the tank lately. I am not sure what is going on and I need some help from the pros!

I have a 29g tank that has almost been running for a year. I am currently using a DIY led light fixture with 25 CREE leds. I am running a skimmer, mp10, GFO, and carbon. I do weekly 3-5g water changes with RSCP salt.

Current tank Parameters:

Alk 8 (redsea)
Calcium 510 (redsea)
Mag 1440 (redsea)
Nitrate 0 (salifert)
Phosphates 0 (salifert)
PH 8.0 (salifert)
Salinity 1.026

Any advice would be great! Thanks!

 

[SPotter]

what's the color combination of the leds. I did a diy a while ago and my spectrum had too much blue in it. corals looked horrible and the ha was growing faster than the coral.

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[Reeflow]

My current setup is 13 royal blue xt-e leds and 12 cool white xp-g leds. I have had this light setup since day one.

 

[Monkeyfish]

If you have algae, there must be phosphates/nitrates coming from somewhere. Do you use GFO and if so have you changed it recently?

 

[sponger0]

If you have nuisance algae, you have phosphates.

Also how high above the tank are your LEDs??

 

[Reeflow]

If you have algae, there must be phosphates/nitrates coming from somewhere. Do you use GFO and if so have you changed it recently?

I tested for both nitrates and phosphates today. Maybe I will try and test again. I changed the GFO out a week from yesterday.

 

[Reeflow]

If you have nuisance algae, you have phosphates.

Also how high above the tank are your LEDs??

My leds are in the hood of a biocube. I would guess a few inches from the water.

 

[sponger0]

I am assuming you just put the LEDs in???

 

[Reeflow]

I am assuming you just put the LEDs in???

No, they have been in since the start of the tank.

 

[Reeflow]

I just tested PO4 again and is still at 0ppm

 

[ChrisKirkland]

The only way to truly test your PO4 is to use a hanna meter as they are the most precise. Are you using RO/DI water? Whats your TDS?

 

[562R33f3r]

Have the LFS check your water for po4. Do you have fish? How often do you feed them?


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[sponger0]

I would suspect high nutrients. That would cause brown out.

Usually when SPS bleach its due to too much light. A friend of mine, as soon as he built his new tank with LEDs, all his SPS bleached within the first month.

And yes, for an accurate PO4 reading, I would recommend a hanna checker. Do you have an nuisance algae? If you do, the algae is making PO4 unreadable.

 

[Reeflow]

The only way to truly test your PO4 is to use a hanna meter as they are the most precise. Are you using RO/DI water? Whats your TDS?

I am using RO/DI from a LFS so I am not sure.

 

[Reeflow]

Have the LFS check your water for po4. Do you have fish? How often do you feed them?


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Ill stop by today and see if they can test. I usually feed every other day.

 

[Reeflow]

I would suspect high nutrients. That would cause brown out.

Usually when SPS bleach its due to too much light. A friend of mine, as soon as he built his new tank with LEDs, all his SPS bleached within the first month.

And yes, for an accurate PO4 reading, I would recommend a hanna checker. Do you have an nuisance algae? If you do, the algae is making PO4 unreadable.

The leds have been on the tank for almost 10 months and I have never experienced bleaching. I will try and get some before and after pics up. As far as the algae I have it on the sand and some of the rocks. I try to take out as much as I can with water changes.

 

[yh1185]

I just tested PO4 again and is still at 0ppm

From my understanding the algae use up some of the phosphates and nitrates, so readings of 0 for those two are probably due to the algae.

 

[Reeflow]

From my understanding the algae use up some of the phosphates and nitrates, so readings of 0 for those two are probably due to the algae.

If this is the case what would be my next step?

 

[marlinman86]

what do u dose?

 

[Reeflow]

BRS recipe 1