Acropora tricolor becomes brownish

[meermann]

No don't dose ammonia........don't add any chemicals. Don't worry about the cyano, be more concerned with the acros. Your second set of pics don't look as bad, but you still need to be proactive with what I mentioned.

Throwing in some fish food will create some P04 but the amount of ammonia is practically nill. Fish excrete the ammonium and urea from their gills, that's what the corals want.

I guess you could put a hunk of shrimp in there and let it rot, but I don't think things are that dire. In your second set of pics the corals don't look as bad as I thought. Look at them at night and see if you see polyp extension.

Slow down and quite doing a bunch of stuff. Just feed the corals with the Easy.......that's just smashed up shrimp, so it's going to create food juices and some P04 for the corals

Even once you get fish back in there you're looking at 3 months for corals to be thriving again. MB7 results have to be measured in months, same with AA's.

Just maintain the tank and don't make any more changes.

OK,
so what was done:
1) moved the Tricolor acro a bit lower and put Strawberry Shortcake on Tricolor's place
2) Continue to add 2 drops of KZ Vitalizer every day (at noon)
3) Continue to add slightly reduced amount of Easy Reefs SPS Evo Gel (at midnight) and 10-12 Ocean Nutrition Formula One pellets (in the morning) to feed nitrate-producing bacteria up.
4) Continue to add 0.7mg/l NO3 and 0.007mg/l PO4 daily
5) Connected a dosing pump and started dosing TM All-For-Reef to mitigate Alkalinity drop (at minimal recommended dosage)
6) Changed a bit the schedule: shrunk it a bit, so now it has 13 hours durations instead of 14. Full-throttle light duration remains the same. But now I'm considering to change B/RB channels to 100% instead of 120% and decrease CW to 30% instead of 45%.


Now the problems:

1) Today morning I found zero PO4, yesterday added approx 0.007 mg/l. I think that's because I started using All-For-Reef that contains calcium formiate or like this and uses biological way (bacteria) to convert it into KH/Ca. So bacteria probably need PO4 to growth and consumes it.
I also noticed my skimmer started producing a lot of dry foam once I've powered the dosing pump on.

2) Shortcake acro still hides polyps, should I move it down?



3) Noticed a pretty weird thing. I have this acro (believe it's Pikachu?) on the left, the light pucks are on the right from the acro. So PE on the dark left side of this acro is significantly better than on its right branches.
What does it mean? Could be caused by excessive light?


4) I also have Bali Shortcake acro and on Friday I noticed white spot on the coral (very small) on the edge of encrusting area. Now it's increased - maybe a burn?
It was on its place more than a month. The only changes was: I glued it into the small dry rock fragment and thus it became 1.5 inches closer to the lights. And moved a bit towards the led pucks, not more than 1-1.5 inches.

I would try sps evo as a food source for your corals in the meantime. Like others mentioned, your sps are hungry and not having fish can lead to starvation. Btw, your parameters are fine, don’t chase numbers, just listen to what your corals are trying to tell you. “Feed me Seymour”

The problem I can't understand what they whisper.
I'm not chasing the exact water parameters but PE. IMO it's the possible way to check if an acro stressed or not.

 

[meermann]

OK I measured PO4 and it was 0 few hours after I increased it to .01 ppm.
But I see film algae on the side and front glasses definitely going well

But how to be sure if I add PO4 and it'll be available for my acros too?
I add .01 ppm and in 5-6 hours something consumes it (bacteria, algae or whatever else), should I put it on dosing pump as well?

Note that NO3 is on the same level around 5 ppm (I use Salifert tests for NO3)

 

[Uncle99]

I’d dose that PO4 upwards to .08-.1ppm. .01ppm is nothing.
Nitrate I would leave.
The system is very young for that coral so maintaining water chemistry will be critical.

 

[meermann]

I’d dose that PO4 upwards to .08-.1ppm. .01ppm is nothing.
Nitrate I would leave.

My previous level was .03-.06.
On Sunday my old Milwaukee MW-12 said it's 0.
I ordered new Hanna 774, got it today and it also says PO4 is 0

0.01 is daily dosage, I had a hope it's enough to keep desired level
Now I probably need to add .02 / day.

 

[Big E]

I don't know what KZ vitalizer offers as a supplement, but you didn't do either of the things I told you need to do.

Dose an amino acid supplement this allows the corals to absorb it as they are not getting anything from the polyps to feed the zoo and the zoo isn't producing any amino acids to the coral like they would normally.

Also add a bacteria.........this again is food for corals.

Moving the corals and changing the lighting were just introducing stress/adjustments the corals don't need to deal with right now.

Dosing the P04 is ok. Dose more so you are keeping a level of .08-.11 the next day.
You should be able to find the tanks level of depletion daily fairly easy.

Nitrates are fine at 5.0 even down to 1.0 isn't a concern.

 

[meermann]

I don't know what KZ vitalizer offers as a supplement, but you didn't do either of the things I told you need to do.

Dose an amino acid supplement this allows the corals to absorb it as they are not getting anything from the polyps to feed the zoo and the zoo isn't producing any amino acids to the coral like they would normally.

Also add a bacteria.........this again is food for corals.

Moving the corals and changing the lighting were just introducing stress/adjustments the corals don't need to deal with right now.

Dosing the P04 is ok. Dose more so you are keeping a level of .08-.11 the next day.
You should be able to find the tanks level of depletion daily fairly easy.

Nitrates are fine at 5.0 even down to 1.0 isn't a concern.

I guess there are amino + other supplements in KZ.
I ordered Acropower + Microbacter7, but I live in Germany, delivery isn't so fast. Haven't received it yet.
Meanwhile I made an ICP test, so the result is attached. I suppose there are no trace elements at all, do I need some urgent actions?
My salt is Tropic Marin Pro Reef, water changes 10% per week.
Also Arsenic, have no idea why it's in my water, I use DI filter with my RO.

 

[Big E]

Those numbers are fine and typical of many systems that are successful. Just continue with your 10% water changes to keep up with any depletion and also to keep levels consistent.

 

[meermann]

Guys, an update after more than 1 month treatment

Unfortunately my Pikachu? acro fallen down and I lost a part of it, have 2 frags now

Before:


Now polyp extension is significantly better but colors getting worse...


It's in the same place like before, light wasn't changed as well.

PAR levels: on the left of acro it's 250, and 260 is on the right side of acro. I guess it's pretty enough?

Another problem is Acropora Austera, also became brown/grayish:


PAR levels are: 230 on the right tips, 250 on the left side.

Should I increase PAR levels and what's the adequate value for such acros? I could just increase output of my Hydras, or put the acros into more light-flooded place in order not to bother other SPS with increased PAR.

NO3: 2.5 - 5 mg/l
PO4: .03 - .04 ppm
KH 8.3

Fish stock: 1 clownfish, 5 blue chromis, feeding: 2 pieces of frozen red plankton or brine shrimps per day
Sometimes (not too often) Easy SPS Evo Gel (~ .5 ml)