My tank is just over 2 years old. I still consider myself a beginner even though i have had a marine tank for over 30 years because when I left the hobby the first time, SPS were just starting to be kept and they were just brown sticks. So for 2 years I have been reading and listening and learning what it takes to keep these alive. At first I was an utter failure. My fish do wonderful which I attribute to attribute to trying to keep my water quality pristine for the coral and their diet. Everything else, coral wise, died and pretty quickly. I have tried many different methodologies. Right now, because of the difference that I have experienced, I am using ATI. I am having an ATI analysis done on the tank tested every 2 months and dosing the suggested supplements to bring my water into spec. I didn't understand that It took time for the tank to mature and stabilize. Now, 2 years later, and I shouldn't complain, but nothing dies, but they just don't grow. Not like I see in everyone else's tank that i see in all the pictures anyway. My corals spread across the rock, encrusting and sending up little off shoots, but nothing substantial. The white growth tips that I see in my dealers tanks don't happen. (It happened once but never again, don't know why). For the most part my corals are bright and colorful. As an exception, my bubblegum Digitata has grown so much that I have 5 colonies that have been transplanted across the tank as I bumped it and broke a piece off. Each has bright green or white growth tips with the green showing the best growth. I had a green Pocillopora that I had to remove because it was spreading so fast that it threatened to take over my tank. I am still fighting that. The small colonies pop up all over. I probably have 20 small colonies. My other colonies, "Walt Disney", my only coral with an actual name, grows, but slowly. My Milliporas, grow, but again, they keep encrusting and actually the existing branches thicken, but do not grow in length. My Staghorns show good polyp extension and color, but no growth. Corals that have died, with just a little bit of life have now re-encrusted their plug but no upward growth. After every ATI test, and supplementation to bring into specs, I do a 50 gallon water change with fresh ESV Sea Water. Obviously I am missing a piece to the puzzle. I run 4, Hydra 52 HD's over the tank. Below are my settings....
Running 7AM to 9PM, ramping up and ramping down. I only get up to a max of about 80 percent on my blues. I have used a PAR meter but have been told the readings with LEDs are not accurate. I have zero nuisance algae growth. What am i missing? I have considered tweaking the color spectrum but when listening to BRS videos, they say to pick something and leave it alone and the corals will adapt. Not sure what I am missing. Any suggestions? I feel that i am very close to being successful but the actual solution eludes me.
Thanks in advance.
Jeff
Running 7AM to 9PM, ramping up and ramping down. I only get up to a max of about 80 percent on my blues. I have used a PAR meter but have been told the readings with LEDs are not accurate. I have zero nuisance algae growth. What am i missing? I have considered tweaking the color spectrum but when listening to BRS videos, they say to pick something and leave it alone and the corals will adapt. Not sure what I am missing. Any suggestions? I feel that i am very close to being successful but the actual solution eludes me.
Thanks in advance.
Jeff
Last edited: