Too much light? Too little? Or something else?

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I don’t know how you’re drawing conclusions based off of an API nitrate test kit and Salifert phosphate test kit.

I like alkalinity at around 7 nowadays, particularly given your nitrate and phosphate levels (which you may be wrong about).

I don’t have any experience with Vibrant but there are members who agree that it can adversely effect SPS.
 
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Rick5 said:
I don’t know how you’re drawing conclusions based off of an API nitrate test kit and Salifert phosphate test kit.

I like alkalinity at around 7 nowadays, particularly given your nitrate and phosphate levels (which you may be wrong about).

I don’t have any experience with Vibrant but there are members who agree that it can adversely effect SPS.
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Because i figured regardless of which test kit, zero is zero. I know API is garbage, but if there were nitrates at all, I would think it would register something. I use the API more as a yes or no as to whether nitrates are there. Salifert I trust, I like there other kits.
 
I would get a Hanna Checker for phosphate and Salifert for nitrate.

9 isn’t high per se. however, I’ve found it to be too high for low nutrient systems. Additionally, I can’t exceed 7 in my current tank (even though it isn’t a low nutrient system). I never had that issue in the past. Others seem to have a similar experience.
 
I’m just learning more about my sps and have recently had my sps also brown out or lose color. I found there is a delicate balance between par, NO3, PO4, and Alk. I am trying to get mine balanced as we speak by slowly increasing my Alk to meet my nutrients and par so my corals will color back up and start growing. (I’ve had very slow growth for months.) Anyway, it may be something you might want to look into to see how these should balance out in your tank.
 
Rick5 said:
I would get a Hanna Checker for phosphate and Salifert for nitrate.

9 isn’t high per se. however, I’ve found it to be too high for low nutrient systems. Additionally, I can’t exceed 7 in my current tank (even though it isn’t a low nutrient system). I never had that issue in the past. Others seem to have a similar experience.
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Out of curiosity, what happens to your corals when the alk starts getting high? This is a first for me, never had these issues in the past. Blows my mind I have to consider dosing nitrates and phosphates and consider lowering the alk.
 
BRS
PhantomHalo said:
I’m just learning more about my sps and have recently had my sps also brown out or lose color. I found there is a delicate balance between par, NO3, PO4, and Alk. I am trying to get mine balanced as we speak by slowly increasing my Alk to meet my nutrients and par so my corals will color back up and start growing. (I’ve had very slow growth for months.) Anyway, it may be something you might want to look into to see how these should balance out in your tank.
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Honestly I may not put too much more effort into it, if it means I have to keep SPS. I’ll be plenty happy with zoas and LPS, so if I have to settle on not keeping SPS, I may be fine with that
 
reef_ninja said:
Honestly I may not put too much more effort into it, if it means I have to keep SPS. I’ll be plenty happy with zoas and LPS, so if I have to settle on not keeping SPS, I may be fine with that
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Yeah, it’s definitely more involved than my last sps tank. I didn’t monitor anything and had stuff growing like crazy. However, I got the tank as an established system and just did water changes every month. This is a whole new story all the way down to the bacterial level. I started with base rock and have had quite the uphill battle to get it ready for sps. I was in the same mindset as you, but I like the puzzle of trying to get it to work. However, I don’t blame anyone for not having the time or patience to figure out the balance needed for sps to thrive in their system. Lol
 
PhantomHalo said:
Yeah, it’s definitely more involved than my last sps tank. I didn’t monitor anything and had stuff growing like crazy. However, I got the tank as an established system and just did water changes every month. This is a whole new story all the way down to the bacterial level. I started with base rock and have had quite the uphill battle to get it ready for sps. I was in the same mindset as you, but I like the puzzle of trying to get it to work. However, I don’t blame anyone for not having the time or patience to figure out the balance needed for sps to thrive in their system. Lol
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I should clarify to mean Acros. May just stay away from those. Seems the easier SPS are actually doing well. My birdsnest grows like a weed and has some very nice PE and coloration. Same with the poci. So I’ll drop the alk a bit, I took the lenses off the led unit, I think that will help a lot, and ill go from there.
 
Deltec
Gotcha. Yeah, my monti’s are doing well, just acros that won’t color up. I think it’s more of me just needing patience and waiting for them to color up now that things are more stable.
 
reef_ninja said:
Out of curiosity, what happens to your corals when the alk starts getting high? This is a first for me, never had these issues in the past. Blows my mind I have to consider dosing nitrates and phosphates and consider lowering the alk.
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The tips tend to burn.
 
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I know you're getting a lot of solid advise on changes needed but I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. Please only make one significant change at a time and observe. Chasing par and nutrient numbers is moot if you start changing everything at once. You'll never pinpoint the issue and could end up having drastically regrettable results in the end. Good luck you got this!
 
Nutrients at 0 kill corals much faster then too little light. My guess is the nutrients at 0
 
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Will Wohlers said:
I know you're getting a lot of solid advise on changes needed but I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. Please only make one significant change at a time and observe. Chasing par and nutrient numbers is moot if you start changing everything at once. You'll never pinpoint the issue and could end up having drastically regrettable results in the end. Good luck you got this!
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I agree. I addressed the par issues, and it’ll be another 4 or 5 days before addressing the nutrient issues. I’d like to take it a little slower than that, but there’s a big part of me that feels a sense of urgency here. With the PAR readings I was getting, and the consensus about the nutrients, seems like a good place to start with those. Lots of good advice here.
 
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reef_ninja said:
I agree. I addressed the par issues, and it’ll be another 4 or 5 days before addressing the nutrient issues. I’d like to take it a little slower than that, but there’s a big part of me that feels a sense of urgency here. With the PAR readings I was getting, and the consensus about the nutrients, seems like a good place to start with those. Lots of good advice here.
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Although faster then I would prefer, I do understand the sense of urgency. Higher par numbers with no nutrients though will escalate a nutrient deficiency much more rapidly though. If they're getting decent par then worse thing could happen is a brown out from just not enough light. No nutrients on the other hand is much more dangerous. What kind of bio load do you have and what's your import and export methods for po4 and no3?
 
Will Wohlers said:
Although faster then I would prefer, I do understand the sense of urgency. Higher par numbers with no nutrients though will escalate a nutrient deficiency much more rapidly though. If they're getting decent par then worse thing could happen is a brown out from just not enough light. No nutrients on the other hand is much more dangerous. What kind of bio load do you have and what's your import and export methods for po4 and no3?
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The PAR was way too high with the reflectors on. Pushing 500-600 at the top ( and that’s with the intensity turned down to about 25% overall) But the reflectors were making it to where there were extreme differences between areas in which corals were only a couple inches from each other. With the reflectors off, coverage is much more even and consistent now.

nutrients have always frustrated me. I have large maroon clown, a good sized lawnmower blenny, a yellow clown goby, and a smallish splendid dottyback. Plus a small CUC. When I feed, I feed heavy, probably a 1.5 cubes per day, plus pellets daily, plus reef roids 2-3 times a week. Export is only a skimmer. No socks, no gfo/carbon/etc. I change out five gallons every two weeks.
 
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