What's wrong with my SPS? No growth. Parameters & Light OK?

[sgrosenb]

Hi all,

I've had my tank up and running now for about 6 months. I have had a few SPS acros in there for roughly two months (I understand this might be a bit early on in the tank's life to put SPS; maybe that is part of the issue). I had the ugly phase of my tank just finish a few weeks ago - so there is no nuisance algae in the main tank. I have chaeto and sea lettuce in the fuge which is doing well. Protein skimmer running nicely. No filter socks. Currently dosing soda ash to maintain alk; 15-20% water changes every week or two.

My parameters are all below (including lighting cycle, Triton ICP test, and Apex monitoring). Most of these seem to be in line, so I'm wondering why I'm not getting any coral growth. The corals are literally the exact same size they were when I put them in - no growth whatsoever. The colors look pretty bland and somewhat washed out - certainly not the vibrant colors I would hope to one day see. One of the corals has started to turn white at the base (STN maybe?).

Hoping that someone might see something in here that is a red flag; and input from the group is appreciated! Thanks!

Salinity: 1.026
Phosphate: .01
Nitrate: Undetectable (would like to get it up, but don't want nuisance algae)
Ca: 380 (salifert)
Mg: 1275 (salifert)
Alk: ~8.0 dKH with swing of roughly +/- 0.3 dKH in any given week (GHL KH Director)

pH movements: 7.9 - 8.1 daily like clockwork

Lighting cycle:

I have a T5 hybrid setup with 4 T5's and then 3 Radion LED's. I rented a par meter and during the day when T5's and LEDs are on full, it's anywhere between 200-350 lower in the tank up towards the top of the rocks.

Timing:
T5's (four bulbs): 10am-6pm daily
LED's: ramp up from 5am (royal blue only) to 8am, then ramp up to regular setting at 75% from 10am-6pm each day. Ramp down (royal blue only) from 8pm-midnight

Here's the schedule for the LED's.

I also got a water test from Triton:

 

[Acrofiend]

I think you’ve answered your own question. Raise up your nitrates. I’ve had good success with brightwells neo nitro.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

What test kit are you using to test for nitrates?I would raise my nitrates up to a detectable level. I maintain mine between 2-4ppm

Do you broadcast feed the tank any aminos, phytoplankton, etc?

 

[sgrosenb]

Ok - I can try to up my nitrates. I use a salifert test kit - if there is another that is good to use I'd definitely use it! I don't broadcast feed anything right now - do you recommend something like that?

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Did you start with dry rock? and what is your flow like?

Tank age is probably the biggest factor here but it can still be done with good quality light (which it seems you have), good random flow, and as stable as you can be.

Maybe feed just a tad more but don't over do it. Your filtration should balance itself out since theres no chemical filtration going on.

 

[sgrosenb]

I did start with completely dry rock. it has a bit of coraline algae on it at this point but not much. flow is OK. I have maxspect gyres but they are only at like 20% and they switch every 6 hours. maybe I should up that a bit and make it more random? looking for input there. thanks!

 

[ycnibrc]

Sps lack of color and grow is the sign of your tank lack of nutrients. Between the protein skimmer and your fuge they did a great job of reducing nutrients and there aren't any left for your coral to consume. Feed more, turn down skimmer just let it make bubble and reduce chaeto in fuge for a week and test your nitrate n phosphate. If u have algae in the tank add more Tang or cleaning crew to take care of it. Dose amino if u haven't, a good choice is acropower. Your tank is also lacking of bacteria source because now a day everyone start the tank with dry rock. If u want to run low nutrients system then u have to dose more and feed more.

 

[Crustaceon]

If you’re running chaeto, that means nearly all of the tank’s nutrients are going to the chaeto and not the coral. Feed more (maybe even double what you’re feeding) and don’t worry about nuisance algae. The only thing that is going to happen is your chaeto is going to grow much faster and will need to be harvested more often. When I had sps and was running chaeto, I fed my 100 gallon display with fourteen 2-3” fish 4 cubes of frozen mysis per day AND had an eheim feeder automatically dumping pellets in every few hours on top of that. I had no hair algae and only had to clean film algae off of my panels once a week.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I experienced stn when carbon dosing (nopox) and using gfo. I’ve also had stn from vermatid snails. Look around and see if there are any tiny grayish purple spiral cocoons. If you’re not carbon dosing or using gfo then you definitely want to follow the recommendations and get your nutrients up.

 

[CoralWealth]

if you can, post some pictures of your SPS too. Could help notice some things

 

[sgrosenb]

Thanks for all the input. It sounds like I need to get my nutrients up. Here are a few pics of some of my corals. I did it with flash on and flash off. As you can see, they're kind of washed out and somewhat brownish (which I thought was a sign of too much nutrients?) and they have almost no new growth on them:

 

[thaveteran]

Do not do anything with your nutrients. Stay the course. You just finished the ugly phase, your tank is going to hit its sweet spot over the next 6-8 months just relax and take it slow. At 6 months old and starting from dry rock your tank isn't going to grow SPS at a fast rate. Playing with your nitrate level in the beginning of your tanks life cycle isn't a great idea. Your corals look fine for the age of the tank, just keep at it and I guarantee in another few months you will see the progress you're looking for.

 

[noahg2216]

What app do u use

 

[sgrosenb]

Thanks for the input @thaveteran . I had thought about feeding a tad more, so I think I will do that, but not overly as to adjust my nitrates too high. @noahg2216 I'm not sure what you mean by app?

 

[infinite0180]

I had the same issue. I had low no3 and no po4. I started dosing both a week or two ago. Colors have started to improve, and im seeing new growth. Its hard work though, i have been testing po4 daily with my hanna ulr and im testing no3 every 5 days or so. Its deffinitely an improvement though. When i first added sps my no3 was at 12 and po4 was near 0 but i was feeding very heavy. They instantly took off, but then over time they stopped and i even lost some! Go figure, my no3 was down to under 4 and my po4 was 0. I needed to get those up again and fast!

 

[DarkSky]

As you can see, they're kind of washed out and somewhat brownish (which I thought was a sign of too much nutrients?) and they have almost no new growth on them:

Washed out and light brown is fading, not browning. The coral are starving and trying to get nutrients from where ever they can.

You said you don't want to increase nutrients because you don't want nuisance algae - but every successful SPS tank is going to have some algae if you have proper nutrient levels. It just matters how you deal with it.

WWC's SPS tank method is all about heavy in, heavy out. They use filter socks, run bare bottom, and employ the use of tons of herbivores to deal with any algae. Yellow tangs are plentiful in their tanks.

I struggled in my 220g with SPS because I was feeding very sparingly too. SPS were light brown and not growing. Little coraline growth.

Then I started dumping in the food, ramping it up slowly.
I started at two cubes of frozen a day to now - I'm feeding 5 cubes, 2 auto feedings of pellets, 2 scoops of reef chili and 1 scoop of reef roids. I have heavy export, large deltec recirculating skimmer, 40g chaeto refugium, and 4 tangs. Coraline is now covering every surface that light is hitting. Rockwork completely covered. No algae, tangs get it all. Nitrates at 5-10ppm, phosphates around 0.13ppm.

Don't fear nutrients. "Clean" water for SPS was one of the worst pieces of misinformation in this hobby.

Ramp your feedings up slowly and watch your tank thrive.

 

[DarkSky]

A local hobbyist in my area is all about heavy in, heavy out. He's currently feeding 2 pounds of food a day to his tank.

The results speak for themselves.

 

[sgrosenb]

wow. Seems like the message is pretty clear - up my nutrients. thank you all so much for the help. I will ramp up the feeding and respond back with info on how it is coming along!

 

[thaveteran]

A local hobbyist in my area is all about heavy in, heavy out. He's currently feeding 2 pounds of food a day to his tank.

The results speak for themselves.

Be careful with anecdotal evidence. There's a reason why some tanks can handle higher nitrate levels and some can't. The tank at my house is consistently at 40ppm on nitrates but it's a very mature tank. Something happens with maturity that allows tanks to handle a heavier nitrate load. I've seen too many people crash their tanks playing with the nitrates on their system. My office tank is fairly new and gets algae the minute nitrates/phosphates creep up. Careful when applying a one size fits all approach.

 

[infinite0180]

BRS recommends these levels. There is a typo in this though. They meant to put 0.05ppm po4 in the 1-2 year box as the goal. They forgot the zero, i actually confirmed this on the BRS facebook page because i was confused. I would shoot for these levels. Personally my tank runs better with no3 around 8 though...0