Help with levels and SPS turning brown

19frank90

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I have a Red Sea 425XL that is mostly soft coral and LPS. I have 5 SPS frags (2 acros, 1 milli, and 2 mantis). I'm trying to figure out how to get my levels in order and correct the SPS frag issues. The red monti cap is fine. Deep red and growing. The rainbow monti has gone from light blue with green polyps to a mostly solid light blue. I believe one of the acro frags is gone but I've had some SPS come back from nearly complete white to fully colored again. The other two - one has a slight brown, fuzz algae on the tip and the other (the christmas millepora) has faded and one side has the brown fuzz algae. I've read that brown algae on SPS can be a sign of excess nutrients and overfeeding. I usually feed the tank 1-2 times per day with frozen and usually feed what I'd consider decently heavy. I also dose 20 mL of Red Sea AB+ per day based on Red Sea's "Reef Care Recipe" suggestions.

The Reef Care recipe suggests the following levels:
Salinity 34 ppt/1.024 sg
Calcium 450 ppm (recommends dosing 15.3 ml/day. I've set the doser to 5 ml/day as I've usually tested high)
Magnesium 1350 ppm (recommends dosing 5.1 ml/day. I've set the doser to 1 ml/day and to follow the one-third Calcium dosing)
Alkalinity 11.5 dkh (recommends dosing 45.8 ml/day. I've set the doser to 15 ml/day. same as above, staying with one-third)
Nitrate 2 ppm
Phosphate 0.1 ppm

NoPox - 5 ml/day (that's what been being dosed)

My last two water tests: 8/31/20 9/23/20
Salinity 34/1.024 34/1.024
Temp 77 78
Calcium 600 ppm 585 ppm
Magnesium 1395 ppm 1425 ppm
Alkalinity 8.6 dkh 12.5 dkh
Nitrate 2 ppm 2 ppm
Phosphate .034 .273
Ammonia 0 ppm 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm 0 ppm
PH: 7.8 7.8

Mag and Alk are slightly over Red Sea's recommendation. Calcium is way over. I thought raising Alk would cause Calcium to drop based on some materials I read but 600 to 585 isn't that big of a change. Phosphate is the other issue I can never seem to get in line. I've just started dosing Brightwell Aquatics Phosphate-E (5 ml once per week). The display doesn't have algae. I have a clump of gracillaria in the sump. I run two 12 oz bags of Chemi-Pure Elite and one 100-ml bag of purigen in the return pump chamber (just tossed around the pump itself). I did let the purigen go an extra 7-10 days from when it should've been replaced, for what it's worth.
 
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19frank90

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blasterman

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That tank is ~110 gallons, right?

You have 5 SPS frags, right?

Stop dosing calcium. You dont have enough SPS to begin to bother dosing calcium and thats why its high. You could probably stop dosing calcium for a month and not see it budge.
 
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19frank90

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That tank is ~110 gallons, right?

You have 5 SPS frags, right?

Stop dosing calcium. You dont have enough SPS to begin to bother dosing calcium and thats why its high. You could probably stop dosing calcium for a month and not see it budge.

That's was one of my thoughts too. That maybe loading the tank with more frags would cause the levels to drop and actually require dosing. But the flip side of that then is, what if I add more frags and have the same result? Doesn't seem economically the best option.
 

Fishingandreefing

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Tell me if I miss reading it but what’s your par? A lot of sticks I got from were under at least 250-400 par. When I put it in my tank at about 125, it brown out in about a few days. I can’t ramp up my lights as it will burn my lps and softies.
 
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19frank90

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Tell me if I miss reading it but what’s your par? A lot of sticks I got from were under at least 250-400 par. When I put it in my tank at about 125, it brown out in about a few days. I can’t ramp up my lights as it will burn my lps and softies.

I haven't used a par meter for exact readings but BRS did a video using a tank of approximately the same size as mine (40" x 20") and the same lights (xr15 pro radions) and their readings were between 250 par (at 12") and 425 (at 6"). My lights are about 80% the intensity they were running so mine would be about 200-350. Though if the 6" and 12" measurements mean from the light itself, as opposed to from the surface, I'd guess a little lower than those numbers. I hesitate to raise the lights because the one acro still has it's multiple colors (think it was called a bonsai - purple and green), albeit a little light, and is on the same level as my millepora which has really whitened which I assumed was due to the light intensity.
 

Fishingandreefing

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I haven't used a par meter for exact readings but BRS did a video using a tank of approximately the same size as mine (40" x 20") and the same lights (xr15 pro radions) and their readings were between 250 par (at 12") and 425 (at 6"). My lights are about 80% the intensity they were running so mine would be about 200-350. Though if the 6" and 12" measurements mean from the light itself, as opposed to from the surface, I'd guess a little lower than those numbers. I hesitate to raise the lights because the one acro still has it's multiple colors (think it was called a bonsai - purple and green), albeit a little light, and is on the same level as my millepora which has really whitened which I assumed was due to the light intensity.
I would suggest you get a par meter. But looks like your par should be good. Then you need to lower the dkh and make sure your nitrate is not bottom out.
 
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19frank90

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I would suggest you get a par meter. But looks like your par should be good. Then you need to lower the dkh and make sure your nitrate is not bottom out.

You mean nitrates hitting 0 by "bottom out?" I assume so and have shut off my skimmer too to try to get that level up.
 

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