DPS Colors

[fishflipper]

I am struggling to get good color out of my SPS. They are growing very nicely since getting my dosing set up. I have a wall Disney that has more than doubled in the last 2 months but I'm not getting the good colors out of it or any other one for that matter. What can I do to get better colors? I tried using the red sea color program but after a few weeks of that I had an algae bloom so I stopped.

 

[xilez]

Need all of your parameters, as well as information about your tank... what tank? Lighting? Flow? Filtration? Pics?

 

[fishflipper]

I have a 90 gallon tank using SB reef lights. For flow I currently have 2 Jeboa rw8's and will be adding 2 mp40's as well. I am using a bubble Magnus curve 7 and 2 reactors with carbon and GFO.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Looks pale to me. Too much light & bleached?. Water too clean, lack of nutrient?

 

[Pife]

Listing your parameters and par numbers would be a great help towards figuring this out. An fts is always good too.

 

[fishflipper]

Listing your parameters and par numbers would be a great help towards figuring this out. An fts is always good too.

Parameters are listed above. I have no idea what my par readings are. Have no way of testing that.

 

[fishflipper]

Phosphates are around. 006. I don't have a nitrate kit so not sure what they are.

 

[cwalton00]

From the sounds of it your tank is stripped of all nutrients. Would need to know nitrate numbers too and is your PO4 .006 or .06? Are you dosing anything besides 2 part? What settings do you have your lights on?

 

[fishflipper]

I guess phosphates would be .06. I am hopping to pick up a nitrate kit today. Not dosing anything other than 2 part at the moment. I tried dosing the red sea color program but just ended up with an algae outbreak. I am running my SB reef lights at 20% white and 40% blue. I have 3 of them over a 90 gallon tank. My canopy is very short which is why I need 3 and they are only 4 inches above the water.

 

[Pife]

FYI parameters are your calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, salinity, nitrates, and phosphates. Knowing how you keep these parameters stable and what you use to keep them stable will help us understand what is going on in your fish tank. It appears that you have some type of bacteria or algae covering your live rocks in your display. This makes me question your clean up crew and feeding habits. It could also have to do with your flow. How old is your tank and how long has it been cycled? How many fish do you have? How often and what do you feed?

 

[fishflipper]

FYI parameters are your calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, salinity, nitrates, and phosphates. Knowing how you keep these parameters stable and what you use to keep them stable will help us understand what is going on in your fish tank. It appears that you have some type of bacteria or algae covering your live rocks in your display. This makes me question your clean up crew and feeding habits. It could also have to do with your flow. How old is your tank and how long has it been cycled? How many fish do you have? How often and what do you feed?

parameters are:

Temp: 78-79
Salt: 1.025
Cal: 470
Alk: 8.2
Mag: 1350
P04: .06
Nitrate: dont have test kit yet

Tank has been running for almost a year and a half. I have only started dosing a few months ago. I do have something covering my rocks. I am assuming it is some sort of algae but not 100% sure. It started after setting up the red sea color program on my Jeboa DP4 doser. Before dosing the color program my rocks were clean. I have stopped dosing the color program and now i am only dosing cal and alk. I am using 2 Jeboa rw8's for flow and will be adding 2 MP40's as soon as I have the time to add them to the system. I usually feed once a day with flake food. I only have 6 fish at the moment as well as blue, red, and regular hermit crabs, 2 big turbo snails and a few other random snails.

 

[Velcro]

They look hungry

 

[Scorpius]

Those coral are very hungry. I'd slowly reduce the amount of gfo and lower your light intensity and then slowly work on feeding fish more to get more nutrients into your system.

Looks like your rock is fuzzy? Algae issues?

 

[fishflipper]

Those coral are very hungry. I'd slowly reduce the amount of gfo and lower your light intensity and then slowly work on feeding fish more to get more nutrients into your system.

Looks like your rock is fuzzy? Algae issues?

So I should spot feed them?

Yes the rocks are a little fuzzy. That happened after dosing the red sea color program and now I can't get rid of it.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Agreed with the other posters, it looks like the nutrients are a bit too low for the corals' liking. Regardless, I think your tank looks very nice. You have a few nice big colonies and everything looks really healthy.

 

[Scorpius]

So I should spot feed them?

Yes the rocks are a little fuzzy. That happened after dosing the red sea color program and now I can't get rid of it.

I've tried supplements and I now have abandoned them. I only dose Alk, Ca, Mg, potassium and strontium when needed. I like to run carbon to avoid chemical warfare and sop up any nasties. I used to run gfo, but I always had swings in phosphate that created havoc with my Acropora. Slowly, but surely, the learning curve of simplicity with my SPS is leading to greater success over running media's, supplement programs, and all the other things we as reefers can fiddle with.

It's crazy how much happier my coral are when I keep my hands out of the tank and just feed my fish heavily.

 

[Pife]

I've tried supplements and I now have abandoned them. I only dose Alk, Ca, Mg, potassium and strontium when needed. I like to run carbon to avoid chemical warfare and sop up any nasties. I used to run gfo, but I always had swings in phosphate that created havoc with my Acropora. Slowly, but surely, the learning curve of simplicity with my SPS is leading to greater success over running media's, supplement programs, and all the other things we as reefers can fiddle with.

It's crazy how much happier my coral are when I keep my hands out of the tank and just feed my fish heavily.

I hear you. Water changes and a ca reactor.

 

[fishflipper]

Can I just turn off my GFO or do I need to remove some and keep it running?

 

[Abhishek]

:DGFO ???? What's that !!

I removed everything except for live rocks in sump and a skimmer . No GFO , carbon or other stuffs .

Threw my PH meter away , threw all my testkits away except for calcium and alk moved to simple alk and calcium dosing with occasional magnesium dosing .

Now I spend all the extra money in these things -

1. Buying salt and doing water change every 5-7 days
2. Test ALK twice a day - so buy a lot of Hanna reagents .
3. Cultivate different types of phyto and also buy algaebarn combo packs with all the extra cash to keep up with the bio diversity
4. Feed as much natural food like oyester feast , rotifeast .
5. Stopped bothering about algae and then come and go . Like right now I have Dinos but haven't changed my routine and I just ignore them .

Couldn't be happier to get over the OCD of adding stuffs to my tank .
In fact I had empty gfo and carbon canisters lying around that I connected to my 6 stage RODI to make it 7-8 stages and get as best water as possible

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[fishflipper]

:DGFO ???? What's that !!

I removed everything except for live rocks in sump and a skimmer . No GFO , carbon or other stuffs .

Threw my PH meter away , threw all my testkits away except for calcium and alk moved to simple alk and calcium dosing with occasional magnesium dosing .

Now I spend all the extra money in these things -

1. Buying salt and doing water change every 5-7 days
2. Test ALK twice a day - so buy a lot of Hanna reagents .
3. Cultivate different types of phyto and also buy algaebarn combo packs with all the extra cash to keep up with the bio diversity
4. Feed as much natural food like oyester feast , rotifeast .
5. Stopped bothering about algae and then come and go . Like right now I have Dinos but haven't changed my routine and I just ignore them .

Couldn't be happier to get over the OCD of adding stuffs to my tank .
In fact I had empty gfo and carbon canisters lying around that I connected to my 6 stage RODI to make it 7-8 stages and get as best water as possible

Regards,
Abhishek

Testing alk twice a day seems a bit excessive, don't ya think?