SPS fading under Kessil A160s

[mochaclownlover]

I have a 40 gallon Nuvo Black (Dimensions: 23.6" x 19.68" x 18.89")with two kessil A160s over it at ~75% color and ~60% intensity. The tank has a 10 gallon sump, a MP10 set to tidal mode, a tunze nanostream 6025. Skimmer will be here thursday. Tank has been set up since September. I currently have(don't know their names) a green monty, a red monty w/blue polyps, an acro frag, and two other sticks that I have no clue of what they are. There are also some BTAs, which are retaining their color fairly well, and some LPS which have faded a bit also. The only one which has not faded is the green monty. I also only dose some liquid Seachem calcium and WC once a month. This is my first few steps into keeping an SPS dominated tank and so far it has not been going well Any help is greatly appreciated. All SPS corals are shown in the pic below:
Red monty w/blue polyps, bottom right, Green monty, top right, Acro, middle left, Unknown branching SPS, top left(next to acro), #2 Unknown branching SPS, middle.

Full tank shot

 

[Justfebreezeit]

If you are going to keep sps knowing and maintaining your alk is going to be your biggest concern.

Id recommend the hanna dkh checker and dosing 2 part.

The kessils should be sufficient for sps, especially the top half of the tank

 

[mochaclownlover]

Thanks! I'll look into the hanna checker, I was planning on doing 2 part, but hadn't gotten around to getting it yet.

 

[LetItReef]

How did you acclimate those corals to your Kessils?

 

[mochaclownlover]

I lowered the intensity to ~25-30% intensity and every 10 days, I increased the intensity by ~8-10%. Currently I am at ~60%, I've kept it at this level for awhile now.

 

[HB AL]

For good help, listing water params would be a good idea.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Oops... forgot that... I'll do some testing and post in a bit

 

[mochaclownlover]

Okay here they are:
pH: 8.2 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Alkalinity: 9 DKH

 

[jda]

Although I am not a fan of Kessil for keeping and coloring SPS, I think that it is probably more the new/sterile tank than the lights.

It can take about a year for a tank to get good at keeping SPS... not just alive, but thriving.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Okay, thanks. Maybe I'll just hold off on SPS for a while till my tank matures more, for now I'll focus on keeping these guys alive. Do you think it would be a good idea to move the SPS to a more established tank till this one matures more? I have a nano that has been up and running since 2013(It was actually where my green monty was before this).