Help Me Color My Sticks!!!

[hotnickz07]

Hey guys , first of happy Turkey Day to every one. I been struggling with my tank to get any good color out of my sps for a while now. Its really getting to me lately. Just seems, that few weeks after I get any new frag , I starts to loose its color. Specially reds and pinks. Yes I have LED, but I refuse to give in on the thought that they suck. Plenty of tanks out there that are thriving with them and getting good to decent colors. Anyways here are my parameters

n03 . Undetec Salifert
PO4. 0.01 hanna
Calcium - 400
Alk - 8.6dkh Salifert
Mag - 1400 Salifert
Temp - 81F

Dosing- TLF Calc-12ml A day , Alk 6 lm a day, 5ml of Acropower daily. Mag 5 ml EOD. All is done by Doser, Calc and alk are dosed in half doses 2 times a day. IMO im consuming almost no ALK, even dosing 6ml and im having trouble to bring it below 8 dkh. Also started on the prodibio program about 4 weeks ago. Since my no3 was at 10 and po4 at .40. I also had GHA everywhere. However surprisingly my sticks were growing very good, but color lacked. So I decided to give Prodibio a try.

Lights
2 Ai hydras(1 26, and 1 regular). Im using Someone a fellow reefer graph is is having great success with these light at 65 reduction.

I will try to document this as often as I can. Please Advice on what can I do to improve things Thanks in advanced for the suggestion
Enjoy

 

[twilliard]

First thought lack of nutrients

Do you have a tank shot so we can see what you have in the tank?

 

[trido]

I'd start by turning the temp down to below 80. What %s do you have your lights running at?

 

[hotnickz07]

Could be but i have been at ulns for only a few weeks.

 

[hotnickz07]

Ill take a more recent one today. Those are about 2 weeks old. Some of the new frags i got fro. Cc and ads have completely lost their color. Like my cc rasp shortcake and limeade. All brown

 

[trido]

Looks like plenty of color to me. I have had great result from TLF Acro Power.

 

[Fitz_bizZle]

Also curious of your light settings as I just got a hydra 26 hd

 

[Fitz_bizZle]

I'm having similar problems but I had no no3 so I'm dosing potasium nitrate to maintain nitrates.

 

[hotnickz07]

This graph at 65% reduction. Actuall number are in the other pic

 

[hotnickz07]

I'd start by turning the temp down to below 80. What %s do you have your lights running at?

Thats gonna be next to impossible. I have no room for a chiller , plus im in Miami. Good side is that i have my temp stays there all year long even in summer. Since my ac is at 73f all day

 

[Fitz_bizZle]

This graph at 65% reduction. Actuall number are in the other pic

How long are you running the 65%reduction?

 

[hotnickz07]

How long are you running the 65%reduction?

Been running it for 2 weeks now. Specially since the whites spike so high. I wanted a hybrid graph that offers both 14/20. This one does. Plus that guy is having amazing success with these lights. I will run reductio s for 4 months maybe more. I been doing 5 % increments every 2 weeks to play it safe. Before i ran my blues at 70 and whites and 20 with reds green and uv at 15

 

[hotnickz07]

Looks like plenty of color to me. I have had great result from TLF Acro Power.

Yea my blues and greens look pretty good, its just my reds and pinks. Just cant get them to show they all brow. Out

 

[twilliard]

Do you triton test to know where your elements are at?

 

[twilliard]

To me the colors are looking good.
Now with the lack of reds and pinks would point me to trace elements

 

[Diesel]

Try the K.
Still I will hit you with the No3 as that's part of the foundation for Zooxanthellae and I'm sure your corals are lacking that.
Reds and pink will improve if you dose K.

 

[hotnickz07]

Do you triton test to know where your elements are at?

no I have never triton tested my water. Would you recommend some T.E then

 

[hotnickz07]

Try the K.
Still I will hit you with the No3 as that's part of the foundation for Zooxanthellae and I'm sure your corals are lacking that.
Reds and pink will improve if you dose K.

Been Feeding like Crazy 2 cubes a day plus Coral Frenzy EOD. I can clearly tell some of my sticks look pale lately, however its only the ones I cant color up. Some of my other ones like my purples looks fantastic. Also on a side now I have almost 0 P.E during the day, however at night they are insane. Could be due to my nipper filefish, but I didn't have any before him either so idk

 

[twilliard]

Yes yes i am a nitrate doser
I actually got out my red sea dusty coral colors box to see what promotes red and pink lol

 

[hotnickz07]

Yes yes i am a nitrate doser
I actually got out my red sea dusty coral colors box to see what promotes red and pink lol

lol good luck finding any box in my house my wife throws them away. If im not careful, she will throw them out even without opening lol. Do you likr that Red Sea stuff?