Help make my corals look good.

[CSJIII]

I would appreciate some help from the experts here. I tank has been struggling with color and growth for a while now. My current tank was set up in January of this year when I switched over from my 57 gallon to my now 93 cube. I had poor color in my last tank as well. Here is my current setup...

THIS ACRO HAS LOST A LOT OF COLOR IN THE PAST WEEK.

BUT THIS ACRO LOOKS GOOD.
93 gallon cube.
30 gallon sump which houses some macro algae in the center chamber. Cheato. The sump also houses a Reef octopus NWB-SS-150 skimmer and I skim dry. 2 filter socks that I change out once a week.


FLOW;
Aqua-Mag 9.5 pump (950 GPH)
Vortech MP-40
Hydor Koralia 600 GPH
All together I have, what I think is great flow and wave action.


My lighting is a 250 watt metal Halide hybrid 8 hours with actinic leds for night.


I recently switched from NeoMarine salt from Brightwell to Reef Crystals because I didnt feel as though the salt was mixing well.


My testing results are as follows and have adjusted my alk over the corse of 3 weeks using Two little fishies C-balance two part, and have been dosing daily for the past 6 weeks.
My alk was at 7(4 weeks ago), now is 8.34 (Hanna Alk checker)
Calcium is 463 (Hanna cal checker)
Mag 1350 (Red Sea Mg test)
Phosphate....0.0 (Hanna phosphate checker) NO I DON'T RUN GFO.
Nitrates 0 (API test)

PH fluctuates. 7.8 at lights on. 8.1 at lights off.

Water changes have been once a week at 10 gallons, or twice a week at 5 gallons per.

I have a yellow tail damsel, two clowns and a foxface. (Not a lot of bioload). I feed once daily.


I'm tired of my corals not growing much and lack of color, although the zoas/palys have colored slightly in the past few weeks. I entered the grow out contest and it has made me do more with my husbandry and check levels.
Please let me know what I can tweak and do. To me, it looks like my nutrients are low? And I have no idea how my phosphates are at zero. I do not run GFO and have not run carbon in quite a while. PLEASE HELP!

 

[Oscaror]

More blue chop chop! Also, the acro in picture 3 hasn't lost colour, it's straight up dying.
Also, doesn't look like you have much coralline, they'll look better on a purple background.

 

[CSJIII]

More blue chop chop! Also, the acro in picture 3 hasn't lost colour, it's straight up dying.
Also, doesn't look like you have much coralline, they'll look better on a purple background.

Thanks for the reply. But I'm not so much worried about a purple background and I know the coral in pic 3 doesn't look good. Hence, my asking for help.

 

[DFW]

That is a maricultured colony that you have not had for very long, right? The one that has slow tissue necrosis? Ihave never done well with maricultured! I never bought one, only was given a few. They all stn'd, like yours. I have never used MH lighting, but could it be that you are running them too long, and/or too close to the water? Just a thought. I hope you get it figured out!

 

[LPS Hunter]

I know it sounds simple, but salinity?

 

[CSJIII]

I know it sounds simple, but salinity?

I use a refractometer that I do calibrate. I just calibrated and checked. It's 1.025

 

[Tankboy]

Please take these as just suggestions.

-Get Alk and calcium peramiters closer to 9 for alk and calcium no higher than 450..
-ad more blue by a different bulb to achieve different color spectrum
-try to let your tank run for 3 weeks and then do a 25 gallon change instead of the small changes you are currently doing..
- cut your white lighting back 1 hour and run actinic during that time.

 

[CSJIII]

Please take these as just suggestions.

1.Get Alk and calcium peramiters closer to 9 for alk and calcium no higher than 450..
2.ad more blue by a different bulb to achieve different color spectrum
3.try to let your tank run for 3 weeks and then do a 25 gallon change instead of the small changes you are currently doing..
4.cut your white lighting back 1 hour and run actinic during that time.

1. Check. I can do that.
2. I was under the assumption that more blue doesn't help with growth. I want growth. Currently I am running a 250 watt MH at 14k.
3. I was lax in doing water changes and thought that was the reason that my corals weren't growing and not coloring. That's why I started doing more frequent water changes.
4. Can do.

 

[hart24601]

I had much better color when I started adding nitrates. I was at 0.0 on salifert, I started dosing just a little bit to get around .5-1 and my corals really responded well.

 

[Reefing Madness]

I agree, let your Nitrates creep up just a tad, or feed corals much more. They need it.

 

[CSJIII]

I had much better color when I started adding nitrates. I was at 0.0 on salifert, I started dosing just a little bit to get around .5-1 and my corals really responded well.

That has always been a thought that I had. I'm not trying to run an ultra low nutrient system. I had thoughts that my corals are starving. how did you add nitrates? I also have 0 phosphates which I am perplexed by since I am not running any GFO.

 

[hart24601]

I added calcium nitrate, but that isn't for everyone. You can try spot feeding the corals more and see how that goes too. Should raise nitrates.

 

[Tankboy]

The longer gap in water changes will help up nitrates..,,
Try a SMALL pinch of premium flake food or frozen shrimp 1- 2 more times a day which will help up nitrates too.., And a very easy way to monitor. Fish want to eat more than once a day anyways.
Corals still grow \ thrive very well when just actinics are on; and reduces risk of possible bleaching of color. Still allowing adiquate \ suggested lighting needs.
Again , just thoughts. Best of luck,.,.,

 

[CSJIII]

Thanks

 

[afamousjohnson]

How close is the light above the water and to the sps in question. Looking at your pics it looks like some of the zoas by the sps doing well have that faded look of getting to much light/par. How long has the sps that is doing well been in the system?

 

[CSJIII]

How close is the light above the water and to the sps in question. Looking at your pics it looks like some of the zoas by the sps doing well have that faded look of getting to much light/par. How long has the sps that is doing well been in the system?

My MH pendant is 8 inches above the water line.
The SPS that is doing well is about 7 inches below the water line. And the two that aren't doing so well are even at about 10 inches below the water line. The Miami hurricane that is washed out is very near the bottom, and offset from the middle of the tank. Its basically in the corner so it's about 20 inches below the water line, 28 inches from the 250 watt halide.

The sps that is doing well has been in my tank for about 8 weeks. The others have been in there for about 4 months. So acclimation isn't the problem.

 

[Reefing Madness]

https://orphek.com/magnesium-mg-and-its-role-in-the-reef-aquarium/
Aquarium Chemistry: Magnesium In Reef Aquaria ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[Kasasah]

What Kelvin bulbs are you running? I'm surprised there's any purple on the tank with that much white. If you have lower Kelvin bulbs it could be effecting coloration and growth (possibly) finding that prefect happy medium is always best. The Phoenix 16k bulbs are supposed to have incredible results. I prefer LED though so I don't know if there's anything new in MH

 

[CSJIII]

What Kelvin bulbs are you running? I'm surprised there's any purple on the tank with that much white. If you have lower Kelvin bulbs it could be effecting coloration and growth (possibly) finding that prefect happy medium is always best. The Phoenix 16k bulbs are supposed to have incredible results. I prefer LED though so I don't know if there's anything new in MH

I am running 14k reefbrite MH. I don't think 14k is that unusual. From what I've read, the lower the K (until a certain level), the better the growth. The higher K, the more color. So 14k with supplemental blue led's should be a good combo.

 

[Kasasah]

I am running 14k reefbrite MH. I don't think 14k is that unusual. From what I've read, the lower the K (until a certain level), the better the growth. The higher K, the more color. So 14k with supplemental blue led's should be a good combo.

Maybe they are just hungry then. I know the reef chili from BRS has good reviews. I've never used it but it's worth a shot.