SPS not as bright as once was

[Scubajoe1]

Hey guys,
I have several pieces of SPS coral in my tank. From a month ago when I first got them I noticed the color has faded a bit but not completely. My water parameters are very steady as I test a few times a week, Nitrates and phosphates are at 0. I use radion pro LEDs at a max of 50%. I just turned them down this evening to a max of 42% to see if the light intensity was an issue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Joe

 

[tomae]

Perhaps hunger , feed

 

[Scubajoe1]

I have been spot feeding them but not like every day. I have been adding some reef energy to the tank and spot feeding now and again with that. Will try doing more of that. Do you think 0 nitrates are a problem?

 

[undertai]

Not enough like, the brighter the light the lighter the color. The less light the darker the color, you should turn the light up to 60% instead of going down.

 

[nashorn]

Hey guys,
I have several pieces of SPS coral in my tank. From a month ago when I first got them I noticed the color has faded a bit but not completely. My water parameters are very steady as I test a few times a week, Nitrates and phosphates are at 0. I use radion pro LEDs at a max of 50%. I just turned them down this evening to a max of 42% to see if the light intensity was an issue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Joe

Are you ramping up and down the lights? I run radions at max of 50%.( max peak for only 3-4 hours)
Also Acropower help with my color.

 

[ReefBum]

Just a theory here, but your tank might be too clean. I always like to keep a slightly "dirty" tank with barely detectable nitrates and phosphates. I feed my fish a lot (fish poop is a good thing for corals), do large weekly water changes and skim heavily.....it's like a high import/export type of system.

 

[Scubajoe1]

Reefbum. I am leaning towards the too clean theory as well. i removed half my biopellets last night and will go from there. I don't think there it too little light, These are in the middle top of the tank and I am using Radion Pros which are pretty bright. I am ramping them up to 50% for about 5 or so hours max. I think the bright light with the ULNS may cause issues. The lights could probably go brighter once the tank gets a little dirty and I have some detectable nitrates like 1 ppm.

 

[Wazzel]

What sized is your tank? Hard to tell if you need to go up or down with the intensity without knowing that. I would be inclined to increase the intensity and feed more before decreasing the intensity.

How are you running you lights? I use a hydra 52. My experience is a long ramp up and down with a period of high intensity works well.

 

[Scubajoe1]

I have a 180 gallon. 24" deep. I spoke to vividaquariums and they run Radion Pros on their tank and they suggested turning them down. I will call again today and get a second opinion. They said they run their tank at about 5 ppm nitrate.
09:27 8% All Blue
10:52 19% 18K
12:03 33% 18K
13:11 41% 14K
14:07 42% 12K
15:06 42% 14K
16:18 42% 18K
17:45 40% 20K
19:15 30% All Blue
20:32 14% Deep Blue
21:28 0% Sunset

 

[Scubajoe1]

By the way the higher values were at 55% I just decreased those last night until I can get my nitrates to read something beside 0 then I would increase again. may purchase a PAR meter to get some idea of where I am although I am aware that PAR meters are not 100% accurate with LED lights.

 

[Wazzel]

I think you are running them way to low. I run my Hydra 52 around 96% of total power.

 

[Scubajoe1]

Wazzel,

What are you nitrate and phosphate levels?

 

[Wazzel]

Wazzel,

What are you nitrate and phosphate levels?

I do not know, once my tank cycled I quit checking. I suspect it is in the detectable range since I have a small amount of algae and it grows really slow.

 

[sethsolomon]

I agree with the tank too clean theory. When my phosphates and nitrates get too low, I feed 1 cube of Cyclops per day until things start to color back up.

 

[Scubajoe1]

Seth,
Currently I am dumping food in the tank and can't get it to even 0.25 ppm nitrate. I removed half my biopellets so I am hoping that helps me detect nitrate soon. I don't want to remove all of them because I don't want a swing in the other direction and have nitrates shoot up above 10 ppm or something similar.

 

[Wazzel]

Not making a big change is good thinking. I only use a skimmer and 10 gal weekly water changes for filtration.

 

[tomae]

do not think the ideal is to decrease the filtering , feed more fish and corals. nitrate need not be detectable since he exists and is being readily absorbed

 

[Scubajoe1]

I already have a three foot protein skimmer on the system and lots of live rock. There is a surplus of filtering on the system already.

 

[ECreefer]

With biopellets and aggressive skimming, you need to feed a lot and often Imo

 

[Scubajoe1]

Agreed. I took the bio-pellets off yesterday and feeding a lot still. Still no ammonia, nitrite or nitrate or phosphate but leather coral now has all of its polyps extended as opposed to being shrunk up. Brought the lights back up to original 55% max. Will only make one change at a time to ascertain the real issue. There is a big skimmer and lots of rock (now live rock) which is still managing the filtration. I need to hit that equilibrium where the the nitrates that are formed are used by the SPS and the bacteria. will take some time to get it to about 1-2 ppm. may to to get a few more fish. Currently at 12 fish, 4 shrimp, 2 sea cucumbers and 3 brittle stars one bubble tip and lots of snails.