SPS Coloration Help

childress5tyler · Jul 7, 2013

I upgraded tanks 3 and a half months ago to an 80 deep blue rimless and since then my sps coloration has been dull and I'm ready to really take action and do what I need to do to get the coloration back so here we go. I'll give my tank specs and just leave it to y'all for feedback.

Tank: 80 deep blue rimless
Lighting: 2x 250 watt HQI Phoenix M.H. (will be adding 2x 24" super actinic VHOs) suspened roughly 12" above the water
Skimmer: Vertex IN-100
Filtration: Macro algae fuge, carbon
Pumps: 2x MP10w, Speedwave DC 790 gph
Fish: 2x onyx clownfish, 1 purple tang
GEO Calcium Reactor (6x12) with pH controller set at 7.0
Salt: Tropic Marin Pro Reef

Tested last week and this is what I got:

Ca- 420
ALK- 7.8
Mg- 1280 I believe
pH- 7.9
NO3- 0
PO4- 0
Ammonia- 0

I realize that ALK and pH are a little on the low side and I've decreased the amount of CO2 intake to buffer the pH and ALK. I have no clue what else I can do and I'm willing to try anything I can do to get my coloration back to normal (and I realize that it takes time to do, that's why I've been patient ever since I set this tank up)

Any suggestion will help

spspirate · Jul 7, 2013

I'd raise your magnesium to at least 1350ppm. Not to familiar with the Vertex IN-100. Are you feeding enough? The VHO supplementation will help too.

childress5tyler · Jul 7, 2013

I'm pretty happy with my skimmer so far; it isn't great, it isn't bad.

I'll test again and add accordingly as far as magnesium

Should I be worried about my low ALK and low pH

And finally:

No, I'm not feeding enough as I should. I switched 3 months ago from Tropic Marin Bio-Actiff to the Tropic Marin Pro Reef. And I understand, the Tropic Marin Bio-Actiff naturally feeds your system at the cost of raising nitrates. Maybe I should switch back or maybe I should start dosing with some phytoplankton? Which is your first plan of attack?

childress5tyler · Jul 7, 2013

Also, it probably doesn't help that I have only 3 fish in an 80 gallon. Fish poo= nutriton

mcarroll · Jul 7, 2013

U know to up your alk dosing with TMpr salt, right? It carries very low alkalinity. May account for your low-ish alk and pH as well as delay in your corals regaining color.

-Matt

childress5tyler · Jul 8, 2013

I think I may switch back to tropic Marin bio actiff

childress5tyler · Jul 8, 2013

Or add phytoplankton. I'm not sure which route I should take first.

Chris155hp · Jul 8, 2013

following along

mcarroll · Jul 8, 2013

I think only you can decide since only you really know the tank, but I will say it's far more likely for any of us to over-feed our animals than to under-feed.

Far, far more likely.

If you do decide to add to your feeding regimen, at least keep this in mind.

Also, you might consider significantly paring down your macro algae (and/or its lighting) to "fit the size" of your fish load and/or reducing (or eliminating) the carbon dosing...both in addition to, or instead of (my pref.) additional phyto. feeding. If anything I would just do more feedings for the Tang, who is the most likely to be underfed on a feedings-per-day basis (probably not on a calorie basis though)...probably just more noori through the day if it were my situation.

I usually angle toward "simpler" and "less" when the opportunity presents itself. You have arrived at a place where you already have "less" bioload....you can now opt for "simpler" by eliminating two primary filtration components. This angle also keeps your skimmer "right sized" for the tank for the foreseeable future.

It's certainly not the only way to go, but there's a lot to recommend that strategy IMO. This will be a super-easy tank to keep stable.

-Matt

P.S. Nothing wrong with TMpr per se if you wanna stay with it, just make sure you are actively managing your alkalinity until you get your new equilibrium in dosing. Go (and stay) with what works, I say.

Zero Nitrates · Jul 8, 2013

You might have already seen this , but I read it recently and found it helpful.

Guide of SPS coral coloration (make them more vivid, bright)

Magicalmets · Jul 8, 2013

I'm having the same issues. SPS colors looks pale, even my Xmas Party rock looks very pale. For the most part my ALK and Cal is stable thanks to the doser. Last night I tested for Pho before a water change And it was on zero guess I tested wrong lol. I just lower my intensity on my Radions to 65% maybe that will help. As far as feeding maybe I should feed more than what I usually do. I think this thread should help with my issues as well.

childress5tyler · Jul 8, 2013

mcarroll said:
I think only you can decide since only you really know the tank, but I will say it's far more likely for any of us to over-feed our animals than to under-feed.

Far, far more likely.

If you do decide to add to your feeding regimen, at least keep this in mind.

Also, you might consider significantly paring down your macro algae (and/or its lighting) to "fit the size" of your fish load and/or reducing (or eliminating) the carbon dosing...both in addition to, or instead of (my pref.) additional phyto. feeding. If anything I would just do more feedings for the Tang, who is the most likely to be underfed on a feedings-per-day basis (probably not on a calorie basis though)...probably just more noori through the day if it were my situation.

I usually angle toward "simpler" and "less" when the opportunity presents itself. You have arrived at a place where you already have "less" bioload....you can now opt for "simpler" by eliminating two primary filtration components. This angle also keeps your skimmer "right sized" for the tank for the foreseeable future.

It's certainly not the only way to go, but there's a lot to recommend that strategy IMO. This will be a super-easy tank to keep stable.

-Matt

P.S. Nothing wrong with TMpr per se if you wanna stay with it, just make sure you are actively managing your alkalinity until you get your new equilibrium in dosing. Go (and stay) with what works, I say.

Thank you for your input, and you've given a lot of options. I think my first plan of attack is to dose with phytoplankton and see how my tank responds to it. If it doesn't show any coloration change then I believe that i'll switch my salt back.

childress5tyler · Jul 12, 2013

I bought some phyco pure zooxanthellae. I'm hoping I see some results soon

childress5tyler · Jul 12, 2013

Has anybody had good results with this product?

I bought it off of a recommendation from my manager at Premium Aquatics, but I'm kinda skeptical about it cause I didn't think zooxanthalle was a free floating particle. I could be wrong though, I'm not a microbiologist

jservedio · Jul 13, 2013

You say your Nitrates and Phosphates are 0, but what test kits are you using? Unless you are using a very, very high sensitivity test you may actually have levels high enough to effect your SPS coloring that just aren't registering on your tests. Try and find someone locally with a Hanna Checker for Phosphates and bring them a water sample - see if you truly have 0 phosphates.

I have had a similar problem with some of my SPS - they were are all very colorful, but not AS colorful as they could potentially be. Two things that helped me bring the colors back to how they looked coming from the store were reducing the amount of GFO and Carbon I was using and I have been trying to experiment with Amino Acids and SPS specific food. I keep pictures of the frags I get from Unique Corals so I can always compare for growth/color. Always a good idea to take a pic of anything new you get.

I haven't had a reading for N or P in months - and I have been feeding more and more and more into my tank every day to get my "max" feeding amount. Basically, I stopped increasing the food going in the second I stated seeing tiny spots of cyano pop up. Now, I try feed my tank the absolute max I can without triggering algae/cyano. These things together have greatly increased the colors on my SPS since I have few fish and

childress5tyler · Jul 13, 2013

I just tested 5 minutes ago using salifert test kits and here are the readings

Calcium- 450
ALK- 9.3
Magnesium- 1350
Nitrate- 0
Phosphate- 0

childress5tyler · Jul 13, 2013

I'm going to cut my carbon filtration in half

Coral Revolution · Jul 17, 2013

Your Alk and pH is ok. Higher consistent pH would help but wouldn't be a deal breaker.

childress5tyler said:
I'm pretty happy with my skimmer so far; it isn't great, it isn't bad.

I'll test again and add accordingly as far as magnesium

Should I be worried about my low ALK and low pH

And finally:

No, I'm not feeding enough as I should. I switched 3 months ago from Tropic Marin Bio-Actiff to the Tropic Marin Pro Reef. And I understand, the Tropic Marin Bio-Actiff naturally feeds your system at the cost of raising nitrates. Maybe I should switch back or maybe I should start dosing with some phytoplankton? Which is your first plan of attack?

Coral Revolution · Jul 17, 2013

Yes you can have too much carbon, 1 cup per 50gal is a very good rule of thumb. Be sure to use high quality carbon, there are many different kinds and brands.