Help Me Color My Sticks!!!

[hotnickz07]

Triton tests are indeed informative but they are not a panacea. Coloring sps is dependent on so many key factors, from what's in your water that triton may elucidate, but there are lots of things that triton does not tell you. Triton does not tell you about chlorine,chloramine, tds and the other components of your water. Additionally, need to make sure you're maintaining all the basics of stability: temp, alk, ca, mag, nitrates, phosphates, flow, lighting, filtration. Neither triton testing nor the triton method may be the issue at all.

For the most part i have maintained a very stable tank. Other than that alk spike i had last month my numbers have been spot on. I used to do wc every 3 weeks , i know do 2 weeks. Also like previously posted i use ocean water, and as far as my top of i use r.o from my lfs. Now i have no idea how much tds or how clean their r.o di must be, but their display lools amazing

 

[twilliard]

You can tell that you maintain stability by looking at your tank
Good job on that!

 

[watchguy123]

How are you keeping your nitrates near zero. Are you limiting fish food, doing water changes, growing macro algae, carbon dosing?

 

[watchguy123]

We are discussing using the ICP testing to detect an issue
He is using ocean water

No you are talking about icp, the op is asking about coloring. Second, icp has limitations, you need to understand that as well

You can tell that you maintain stability by looking at your tank
Good job on that!

Happy corals have great color and great growth. Stability is measured by checking parameters. A once a month icp test, does not necessarily imply stability. Both careful observation and regular, frequent testing are the hallmarks of stability.

To suggest good color and growth, the tank needs to be running on all cylinders and you need both subjective and objective evaluation to appreciate that.

 

[twilliard]

I do understand triton
This may be an issue of a missing or lacking element or elements

You disagree on this?

I am home every day all day so observation of my tank is maintained
If you noticed he switched methods now we need to fill the gaps

 

[hotnickz07]

Nope I feed 2 times a day. 1 cube mysis 1/2 cube brine and vice a versa. I do 20 gallons w.c eow, and dose bioptim/biofuel. I also run matrix and gfo in a bag in the sump, along with cheato

 

[watchguy123]

I do understand triton
This may be an issue of a missing or lacking element or elements

You disagree on this?

I am home every day all day so observation of my tank is maintained
If you noticed he switched methods now we need to fill the gaps

I don't know if he is missing elements. Triton icp test will show results that are either in range, high or low. But I am not convinced that an element "out of their range" is indicative of a problem or issue specifically. I don't think anyone knows that for sure e.g., lithium. There have been lots of incredibly high lithium results shared from triton on the forum but not sure it presents a problem or not.

You always start from the simple and basic and expand from there. It's not exciting or brilliant, but tanks that keep within a range and we can debate the range, but alk, ca mag, nitrates, phosphates that are stable generally result in a happy tank. Once that is established , you expand out. Light, flow, filtration. Observation is indeed an invaluable asset, but if you're growth and color aren't there, then you need to know your basics first. As an example, I don't measure copper, so triton indeed gives me info that I know is important but I don't measure otherwise. But missing elements is not necessarily what I would be considering. Lack of color...when I hear hoofbeats, I don't first think of zebras.

So maybe it's a missing element, but that's not what I would put at the top of my list. Low nitrates is hard to achieve and requires a specific protocol or regimen. So the first thing I would look at is how is he keeping his nitrates so low and second if that might be the problem in and of itself.

 

[twilliard]

So maybe it's a missing element, but that's not what I would put at the top of my list. Low nitrates is hard to achieve and requires a specific protocol or regimen.

No3 to me is the easiest to control the level. Its not that hard to get nitrates to 1ppm with the proper skimmer and diverse macro algaes. I live with this every day.. have to love potassium nitrate!
This was also brought to the OP's attention of the lack of no3 earlier.

 

[watchguy123]

No3 to me is the easiest to control the level. Its not that hard to get nitrates to 1ppm with the proper skimmer and diverse macro algaes. I live with this every day.. have to love potassium nitrate!
This was also brought to the OP's attention of the lack of no3 earlier.

Nitrates are challenging to control.

The more fish, the more fish food, the more fish poop and the more nitrates.

Virtually all skimmers get very similar success. I am glad to boast about my bubble king skimmer but most brands are almost equally efficient.

Some macro algae are more prolific growers and therefore more nutrient removal. But again depending on growing style, arid, ats, Refugium with or without spinning chaeto, different results.

And we haven't even touched upon bacteria consuming nitrates via rock, sand, matrix, siporax, and carbon dosing.

So, I think nitrates require diligent husbandry, and good export methods.

But again, is undetectable nitrates an issue. Should nitrates be in a ratio of perhaps 100-200 to 1 of phosphates? What's better 0.5 ppm or 1 ppm or 5 ppm or 10 ppm. What else should be in line with nitrates

 

[twilliard]

2ppm is where i hold my no3
Po4 stays right between .014 and .016

 

[hotnickz07]

Well i just dosed reefbooster coral vits and stroni and iodine. All from prodibio. Lets see if this will help at all

 

[Diesel]

I agree that their are many roads that get you to Rome, as we say in Europe.
That there is something going on with his SPS we all agree on but before we going into Rocket-science we trying to tackle the basics to see if there are any short comings that are easy to get by to get his system thriving again.
The OP isn't that far off from that success as before he had some ALK issues the system was doing great, laying down the No3, Po4, K and what not other elements is or should be a easy fix.

 

[hotnickz07]

I agree that their are many roads that get you to Rome, as we say in Europe.
That there is something going on with his SPS we all agree on but before we going into Rocket-science we trying to tackle the basics to see if there are any short comings that are easy to get by to get his system thriving again.
The OP isn't that far off from that success as before he had some ALK issues the system was doing great, laying down the No3, Po4, K and what not other elements is or should be a easy fix.

Thank you for the words of encouragement, but yea some of my sps were and are doing good, however seems to be once again reds pins and tricolors i just cant get to flourish. Funny thing is that when i had the spike, the corals that were in the tank took of on growth, not color. I added the new frags , while alk was high so that maybe played a part as it has come down. However some like the superman digi, tricolors and pink milli have never colored up in the 1yr plus i have had them

 

[hotnickz07]

Sorry double post

 

[markalot]

Lots of things posted here but to my eyes it clearly looks like the corals are being fried by the LED's. Turn down the whites, cut the photo period to 8 hours tops, no more than 6 hours full brightness, then work your way back up. LED's are hard as hell to tune, but it can be done. You should also have a PAR meter or rent one if you can. Just my opinion.

I am extremely biased to T5's after horrible experience with LEDs but I have run a smaller tank with just a cheap LED fixture and had good colors ... except reds.

 

[chefjpaul]

Be cautious of the prdibio. It will strip your NO3 very fast and may need to dose nitrate of some kind to bring it back.

(Follow Twilliard on that).

I do use their products on one of my tanks as a nutrient experiment. I had to dose no3 heavy along with their reefbooster & coral vits.

You may not need their products looking at your tank.

 

[hotnickz07]

Ok so i decided to lower my photo period to about 8 hrs to see if it will help a bit. Seing as im running low nutrients, lower light should help. Also lowerd my whites to 30% max. Oh got some k to dose and help reds. Anything else ?

 

[twilliard]

Sounds like you are on the right track!

 

[WetWhistle]

If I was troubleshooting this in my tank with your numbers OP I would say I would look at to low of nutrients and try bumping up your UV settings. I run my Hydra 52 at 35% UV and I have some friends that run it way higher. Think of it this way when you go out and suntan, your skin darkens and colors up to protect you against the suns UV. The same happens with color in corals. The color pigments help protect from UV damage. I found when I first got into LED I originally kept my UV lower around your levels and my color in my SPS was not as good as I had expected. I adjusted the UV higher at a maximum of 2% per week and they colored up. I made no other adjustments at this time only UV. Watch for any distress at this time closely and hold if you see any negative reactions for an extra week before continuing. If you go slow it will allow your corals to accumulate to the new levels and the color should increase. At 2% a week I have not noticed any issues with adjusting the light levels or UV higher. If you have experience with LED and are good at judging coral health you might be able to get away with 3% to 5% a week. If you do not stick to the safe 2% a week. This issue with UV is something unique to LED I find as you can't and don't need to mess with T5 or MH for UV.

I don't add any products for color in my tank and I always caution against adding products it unless it is absolutely needed. (Not saying they don't work just saying I choose not to put more cash in other people's pockets that I done have to.) So I would try upping your nutrients a little and adjust the UV first before making other changes or resorting to products. If this doesn't resolve your issue then look at other options. When troubleshooting tank issues and I am not 100% sure on the cause I like to rule out what is not causing the issue as it makes the pool of causes smaller and helps you focus on the more likely causes. Keep in mind making drastic changes to your tank can make your color issue worse so judge if it is worth it or not before taking any steps.

 

[hotnickz07]

New schedule