Reefer40b
Valuable Member
If things have halted and are not STN'ing. I would keep doing what your doing and not change a thing... if all is well you will start to see the rebound... it will be slow though so patience.
Green Slimer brown and closed up
- Thread starter ps2cho
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If things have halted and are not STN'ing. I would keep doing what your doing and not change a thing... if all is well you will start to see the rebound... it will be slow though so patience.
ps2cho
Well-Known Member
Well its been over a month now and color seems to be slowly coming back, but things still aren't perfect. I am planning to go pick up a couple clownfish tomorrow so I can increase fish poop. PO4 and NO3 still undetectable even with daily Reef Energy A+B dosing, 1/2 cube of frozen per day and an algae pellet for the Kole tang.
Managed to get the colors almost exactly what they are in person.
What do you guys think? Progress from the original photo (although quality sucks)
Managed to get the colors almost exactly what they are in person.
What do you guys think? Progress from the original photo (although quality sucks)
Sounds like your nutrient export is much greater than nutrient import.. try to balance your nutrients by reducing export slightly whether it’s from reducing water changes, turning skimmer off, removing cheato or by chemical import of nitrates and phosphates
zsuzsu
Active Member
things are looking up. btw, i feed really quite alot, it seems with red sea rcp i can basically swamp the reef with food/nutrients and nothing bad happens. i would never turn off the skimmer but thats just me. imo the red sea programs are the easiest way to go. virtually no cyano or algae, just feed and go. its pretty amazing... ive seen it all since the 90's and i will be switching my zeo tanks over to red sea soon.....zsu
ps2cho
Well-Known Member
I picked up today two clownfish and a damsel to add. I think both of those will be hardy enough and add some more fish to eat and poop. They are currently in quarantine for 6 weeks, then I will transfer them over. Looks like in the New Year they will move over.
I can attest to feeding more food over dosing nitrates. I upped my feeding, dramatically, and now my nitrates stay elevated. I was doing nitrates, daily, before just giving fish food a try. I'm waiting on my Hanna ultra low phosphates meter to get here so I can see where my phosphates are at. I was dosing them as well. Hoping I can keep nutrients up via feeding alone.
ps2cho
Well-Known Member
I've also noted my royal gramma has gained weight. He was skinny before, and I think it was because the clowns ate all the food before he got enough. He looks a lot more healthy now. Need him fat though!
Glad to see things turned around. For tweaking the color I would consider backing off the LEDs and add more T5's if you can. 6 hours of t5's seems to be enough to make coloring acros easier. It's possible with LED but if you're running a cheaper unit you will want to be almost all blue with white provided by t5's like coral+ IMO. The Slimer should achieve a good bright green under LED's only so I always used it as a judge of tank health. To this day I've been unable to color up acros in my mostly LED lit 40. Nutrients always too low and feeding heavy hasn't helped other than muck up the rest of the tank. Maddening. 
mstockmaster
Active Member
I've been having very similar issues to you. I recently moved my struggling green slimer into a newly set up frag tank (new salt water with a large chunk of established live rock). Only been in it for a couple of days. I'll let you know if it turns around.
now that your SPS seem to be doing better, are you seeing any polyp extensions? I was basically on the same boat as you were until i was able to balance out my tank and now my SPS are showing some bright colors but i yet have to see any polyps, wondering if they will pop out later on.
ps2cho
Well-Known Member
I see polyp extension on everything, but I feel like it will improve once I get detectable NO3/PO4. Just have to keep dosing until January 1st, then I can add the two clowns and the damsel to the tank to increase bioload. Hoping that will do the trick.
LuizW13
Well-Known Member
I think i'm in the same situation, I have a green mile acro frag (that is starting to encrust the frag plug), that is no longer green; it's like brownish green. Going to try the steps done here.
I haven’t been able to get this turned around. The best I get is color comes back, but no PE. Then stn for a month before a final rtn event.
I don’t have sand bed nor a sump, so I’m suspecting that my nutrient instability is to blame. Alkalinity swings seem to kill the quickest, but nutrients swinging seem to do it too.
My nitrates are a bit more stable, but my phosphate falls off quickly. Over feeding just seems to result in brown algae.
I don’t have sand bed nor a sump, so I’m suspecting that my nutrient instability is to blame. Alkalinity swings seem to kill the quickest, but nutrients swinging seem to do it too.
My nitrates are a bit more stable, but my phosphate falls off quickly. Over feeding just seems to result in brown algae.
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If by instability, you mean bottoming out, then I agree. SPS, in my very limited experience, seem to be much more sensitive to low nutrients than to elevated nutrients.
If you mean swings from 10-40 nitrate, or .1-.4 phosphate, I respectfully disagree. I've experienced wild swings in those ranges with no real negative response from the corals, not even browning. There are lots of other anecdotes of this as well, and the research also supports it.
I mean to bottom out. All I’ve ever seen from high nutrients were healthier corals and more algae.
I can’t keep my nutrients from bottoming out without dosing. Nitrates take a lot longer to fall than phosphate. Phosphate will be near zero after two days or so.
I’ve begun giving my tank a shot of nitrates, phosphate, and aminos in the morning, before work. At night, I dose some alkalinity to make sure alkalinity stays over 7dkh.
Back when I had a sad bed, I had little trouble with sps. I’m probably going to try to add one soon. Seems to make a great nutrient buffer.
I mean to bottom out. All I’ve ever seen from high nutrients were healthier corals and more algae.
I can’t keep my nutrients from bottoming out without dosing. Nitrates take a lot longer to fall than phosphate. Phosphate will be near zero after two days or so.
I’ve begun giving my tank a shot of nitrates, phosphate, and aminos in the morning, before work. At night, I dose some alkalinity to make sure alkalinity stays over 7dkh.
Back when I had a sad bed, I had little trouble with sps. I’m probably going to try to add one soon. Seems to make a great nutrient buffer.
Are you using an “active” export mechanism like carbon dosing, biopellets, etc? Try a reactive one instead: Fuge, Siporax, etc.
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