SPS Snow White in color

[westwind1124]

I have several pieces of SPS that continue to grow like crazy but they are ALL snow white in color. I get good polyp extension and decent growth rates but ZERO color. I know FOR SURE that I have no PO4 as I have no fish in there right now, I use a 5 stage RO/DI water system, run GFO, Phosguard, AND carbon. I have a hanna checker and it reads 0.00. I have no algae issues at the moment so I can only assume PO4 is not the issue. My standard numbers are as follows 450/9/1500 for the basic 3. I dose a little iodide and thats it. Light is a nova extreme pro with 4 blue pluses, and 2 aquablue specials. Photo period is 9 hours with full lighting only being 6 hours. temp fluctates between 77-78.5. Zoas look fabulous (except my tubbs for some reason), Frogspawn/hammer looks great, acans are good, and the few softies I have look good. I am at a total loss. What are your thoughts.

 

[abrian]

What are the corals feeding on if you have no fish?

 

[Reef Bass]

Sounds like your corals are very hungry. Mine got incredibly pale and some of the whitest died when I wasn't feeding them. When I adopted a consistent feeding regimen, they colored up awesomely and growth was even better.

 

[bmiller1234]

+1 to the above. Sps best fees off fish poo and also need a little "dirt" in water. most read about an ultra low nutrient system and don't realize theirs a big difference between low nutrient and sterile water. I battled that problem a long time. Threw in some chromis and fed the heck out them and within days color and growth exploded. You could start with some foods such as reef chili or the rods foods but fish will give you the most "natural" food for your sps.

 

[buy_baff]

I agree add some fish and feed them.

 

[westwind1124]

I can't add fish yet as they are in quarantine for another 3 weeks but I can feed the coral....Marine snow or such perhaps.

 

[twelvejewelz]

You may want to start dosing your tank with amino acids.

 

[sweet ride]

can you post some pictures as well.

 

[westwind1124]

Well I can try...my camera is pretty terrible for those kinds of pics but I will see what I can do.

 

[mike_cmu04]

Start feeding and the color should come right back.

 

[westwind1124]

Sorry for the crappy images but you can atleast see how white they are. I know the pics don't really show it but they continue to grow fine just no color. The bigger one is supposed to be emerald green with light blue tips and the other one was at one point dark purple. I started feeding some kent zooplex. I don't know how good this stuff is but its all I could get as my LFS is basic at best.

 

[westwind1124]

not sure why only one of the two pics thumbnailed but click on the link for the other one.

 

[allsps40]

Many sps will have white or even a light blue growth tip, this is normal. It is hard to tell from your pictures. I would also say feed the corals something. Oyster Feast is great from what I hear, I will be trying it soon. I have also used Liquid Life and never had any issues. I to think I starved my corals. I fed lightly and only had a few fish.

 

[Ian]

squirt some oyster feast in there.

why are you using phosguard and GFO if there's no po4?

 

[westwind1124]

Well I did have PO4 as I used to have a heavily stocked tank. I recently got amyloodinium and it wiped out 7 of my fish. The remaining four are in QT for 3 more weeks. So I had it running when the fish were there. I have recently shut those reactors off but I am still not convinced that lack of nutrients is necessarily the problem. I say that because this problem started long before the fish were out of there. I am sure its not helping, which is why I got some food to put in there for now but I feel like there is still an underlying problem.

 

[dun2run]

squirt some oyster feast in there.

why are you using phosguard and GFO if there's no po4?

Does it hurt to run GFO with 0 phosphates in this situation? Honestly, I'm just curious because I'm having the same problems.

 

[hankschen]

Absolut no PO4 is not a very good thing. Nature corals are most brown if you see them at the sea.
Keep PO4 low but not at zero.

 

[allsps40]

I my po4 is around 0.2 I feel that is a good level, to much po4 can cause color issues and browning. Have your po4 tested on a more sensitive kit and test other major elements as well. What lighting are you running??

 

[westwind1124]

I am running a nova extreme pro. It has 4 blue pluses and 2 aquablue specials. I dont have any other PO4 meter other than my hanna checker. It says it's as accurate as their $300 jobs so thats all I can do.