Corals Look Dull and Not Growing

[kayman1124]

Hello- First time long time. I have a 50gal mixed reef system with a pair of clowns, lawnmower blenny, blood red shrimp, bunch of snails, RBTA, and mix of SPS, LPS, and zoas. Everything looks faded and dull and just kind of there, not much growth. Zoas aren’t growing and some are melting away, SPS are very dull. Tank is a year old, lights are 2x 39W T5s and 2 Orphek strips. Stats are below. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hanna Alk @ 6:00PM = 8.1
Salifert Alk @ 6:00PM= 8.3 (0.46)
Salifert Mag @ 6:15PM = 1380 (0.08)
Salifert Cal @ 6:30PM = 400 (0.2)
Salifert Nitrate @ 6:30PM = 2 (25 from side)
Hanna Phos @ 6:45PM = 2ppb/ 0.006ppm
Salinity = 1.025 @ 78F

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

browning IME is often due to lights too weak or nutrients too high.

Nutrients seem low so I rule that out.

I don't know if there is a typo, but I read only 2 x t5 of 39 watts each for 78 watts total? IMO, a 50 gallon tank should be somewhere between 200 and 250 watts. (4-5 per gallon)

 

[kayman1124]

browning IME is often due to lights too weak or nutrients too high.

Nutrients seem low so I rule that out.

I don't know if there is a typo, but I read only 2 x t5 of 39 watts each for 78 watts total? IMO, a 50 gallon tank should be somewhere between 200 and 250 watts. (4-5 per gallon)

Hi thanks for the reply. Lights are 2x T5 ATI blue plus and 2 orphek strips. I rented a par meter and SPS on the rock work get between 200-250 par and corals on the bottom get anywhere from 100-180. Tank is bare bottom if that matters. The whole system is 50 gallons it’s a custom tank that’s about 35 gallons with a 29 gallon sump holding about 15 gallons. I think total wattage is 158 with all lights on!

 

[MrGisonni]

Your car seems good makes me think Trace elements might be an issue. What are you dosing and how often are you performing water changes. If it's any consolation, I have a pocillopora Coral that look lousy for a year and a half with no polyp extension and muted colors that now finally is beautiful and fuzzy, pink, yellow and green

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Your phosphorus is too low in my opinion. That's why your Zoes are melting away. And your other corals are dulling out. Mine did the same thing when I tested phosphorus and it was reading 2ppb .. in my opinion your Coral is starving.

 

[F i s h y]

Your phosphorus is too low in my opinion. That's why your Zoes are melting away. And your other corals are dulling out. Mine did the same thing when I tested phosphorus and it was reading 2ppb .. in my opinion your Coral is starving.

this was my initial thought as well. i see it in my tank when my PO4 bottoms out.

 

[Lavey29]

Your phosphorus is too low in my opinion. That's why your Zoes are melting away. And your other corals are dulling out. Mine did the same thing when I tested phosphorus and it was reading 2ppb .. in my opinion your Coral is starving.

I agree with this. Nitrates and Phosphate along with par for SPS are to low.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Try to raise it to 7ppb. That will take your corals out of starvation mode and give them some added fuel as in food. Maybe try and feed more or turn your skimmer off for 24 hours and see if your phosphorus goes up. I know people shoot for ultra low but you are super low.

 

[kayman1124]

Your car seems good makes me think Trace elements might be an issue. What are you dosing and how often are you performing water changes. If it's any consolation, I have a pocillopora Coral that look lousy for a year and a half with no polyp extension and muted colors that now finally is beautiful and fuzzy, pink, yellow and green

Hey- thanks for the reply. I dose 2 part Alk and Calcium haven’t needed to dose magnesium. I water change 10 or 20% every 2 weeks. I use reef crystals.

 

[kayman1124]

Try to raise it to 7ppb. That will take your corals out of starvation mode and give them some added fuel as in food. Maybe try and feed more or turn your skimmer off for 24 hours and see if your phosphorus goes up. I know people shoot for ultra low but you are super low.

I was on this same thought path and bought Neophos. Started dozing trying to get ppb up and was dozing to the instructions but phos wouldn’t budge and corals started looking worse. My montis always are the first to dive off the deep end and we’re struggling when I dosed the Neophos.

 

[kayman1124]

I agree with this. Nitrates and Phosphate along with par for SPS are to low.

What would you suggest par go up to?

 

[X-37B]

Pics can only help.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I was on this same thought path and bought Neophos. Started dozing trying to get ppb up and was dozing to the instructions but phos wouldn’t budge and corals started looking worse. My montis always are the first to dive off the deep end and we’re struggling when I dosed the Neophos.

Have you turned your skimmer off? I just did a quick read on the product you're adding to the tank and they said if you see no increase it has to do with something like carbon lock? That's above my pay grade so hopefully @Randy Holmes-Farley can chime in and maybe explain what's going on with your system.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Hi thanks for the reply. Lights are 2x T5 ATI blue plus and 2 orphek strips. I rented a par meter and SPS on the rock work get between 200-250 par and corals on the bottom get anywhere from 100-180. Tank is bare bottom if that matters. The whole system is 50 gallons it’s a custom tank that’s about 35 gallons with a 29 gallon sump holding about 15 gallons. I think total wattage is 158 with all lights on!

I'll just throw this out there and this is just my opinion.. you're hitting 250 par so you are on the lower end for SPS and I really believe your par is okay. You said you're running a bare bottom tank so it's obvious why your nutrients are so low. Plus from everything BRS investigates says that a bare bottom is great for low nutrients it also acts like laser beams of light bouncing all around your tank. But still your nutrients are way too low and turn your skimmer off for 24 hours and feed the heck out of your animals. Yes your nitrates should go up a little but that should also push your phosphate up.

I'm running a small Nano tank and have very low phosphorus but higher nitrates. I don't have any issues with algae but when my zoas and couple of sticks I got in the tank start to lose color I immediately check my phosphorus and lo and behold that was the reason. So I just start feeding more and within a couple days or even within a 24-hour period I'll see the phosphorus level go up. It goes up and a short while later everything starts looking a lot happier and more colorful.

 

[kayman1124]

I'll just throw this out there and this is just my opinion.. you're hitting 250 par so you are on the lower end for SPS and I really believe your par is okay. You said you're running a bare bottom tank so it's obvious why your nutrients are so low. Plus from everything BRS investigates says that a bare bottom is great for low nutrients it also acts like laser beams of light bouncing all around your tank. But still your nutrients are way too low and turn your skimmer off for 24 hours and feed the heck out of your animals. Yes your nitrates should go up a little but that should also push your phosphate up.

I'm running a small Nano tank and have very low phosphorus but higher nitrates. I don't have any issues with algae but when my zoas and couple of sticks I got in the tank start to lose color I immediately check my phosphorus and lo and behold that was the reason. So I just start feeding more and within a couple days or even within a 24-hour period I'll see the phosphorus level go up. It goes up and a short while later everything starts looking a lot happier and more colorful.

Do you worry or see any algae blooms from dumping food in? I know feeding more will jump the nutrients but I worry about other side effects of feeding lots of food and it decaying in the system.

 

[kayman1124]

Have you turned your skimmer off? I just did a quick read on the product you're adding to the tank and they said if you see no increase it has to do with something like carbon lock? That's above my pay grade so hopefully @Randy Holmes-Farley can chime in and maybe explain what's going on with your system.

Couldn’t fully grasp the carbon limited aspect from the instructions and the solution is buying another product lol. This might be something though! Hopefully he can chime in to provide more info! Editing response to say my skimmer runs 16 hours, off for 8 hours at night and at night is when I dose these products and feed!

 

[kayman1124]

I'll just throw this out there and this is just my opinion.. you're hitting 250 par so you are on the lower end for SPS and I really believe your par is okay. You said you're running a bare bottom tank so it's obvious why your nutrients are so low. Plus from everything BRS investigates says that a bare bottom is great for low nutrients it also acts like laser beams of light bouncing all around your tank. But still your nutrients are way too low and turn your skimmer off for 24 hours and feed the heck out of your animals. Yes your nitrates should go up a little but that should also push your phosphate up.

I'm running a small Nano tank and have very low phosphorus but higher nitrates. I don't have any issues with algae but when my zoas and couple of sticks I got in the tank start to lose color I immediately check my phosphorus and lo and behold that was the reason. So I just start feeding more and within a couple days or even within a 24-hour period I'll see the phosphorus level go up. It goes up and a short while later everything starts looking a lot happier and more colorful.

Thanks for the feedback. Could adding more fish be another solution in your opinion?

 

[kayman1124]

Pics can only help.

Pics are almost useless they’re so blue

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Yes definitely adding more animals will definitely bring the nutrients up.

See I have the opposite problem. I can always tell when my wife feeds the fish. She says she doesn't but a quick phosphorus check tells a different story LOL. Then once we start to feed less than the phosphorus drops off pretty quickly.

Do you have any Reef roids or anything like that laying around?

 

[TheDuude]

Have u tried dosing some aminos? I agree with others here it sounds like your corals are starving. I don't think it's a PAR issue..my par is lower than yours and my mixed reef is growing but my nutrients are much higher. Nitrates 15 and phosphate .1