need advice...please

[veselym]

I have a 55g that has been set up for 7 months...I just added coral over a month ago and not sure if I am doing the right thing with my lighting


I have 2 AI Vega's at 10' off the water line...I initially had the lights setup at 30 white, 80 blues, 10 red, 30 green. I was running them with a 2 1/2 hour ramp time and 6 hour total intensity time

I initially had a couple zoanthids close so I set them back to 20W, 60B, 5R, 20G with a 4 hour ramp and 5 hour but still have some zoas that look faded and they are only growing down (they have been down for 2 weeks)

do I need to go way low at like 10W, 40B? I feel like that may not be enough light but everything is growing in the tank right now

Parameters

ALK 9
CAl 420
MAG 1320
SAL 1.025
Temp 79
PH 8.1
NO3 .25
P03 (I do have a little phosphate but don't have a good test kit, only API which indicates under.25 so it could be anything...I do have some SPS browning and am trying to get phosphates down)

fist pic are some fruit loops 5 inches from the bottom and the sps is 7 inches from the water line...both are growing but the sps is brown and the fruit loops have no purple and look dull

 

[veselym]

anyone...this is really stressing me out

 

[Alex villa]

Been feeding them?

 

[veselym]

I was under the impression corals did not need to be fed

 

[veselym]

I have nutrients in the system so they are not starving and are growing...just not getting good color so need lighting advice

 

[Lenny_S]

I'm actually kind of surprised that there have been issues from the lights being pretty high AWL and pretty low percentage. For the zoas I agree with Alex villa, they need to be fed, the SPS however will need the light so you may want to move it higher if it's already been in there a while.

 

[Alex villa]

Ya get some reef chili or something similar might be to late for some of them but won't happen again in the future

 

[veselym]

So how are they growing then? not trying to argue but I don't think feeding them is the answer, I can try but it is super hard to get zoanthids to eat and I don't want to pollute my tank

The SPS are as high as they can be

I would really like a good starting point for these lights...maybe they are fading from too little light?

 

[Alex villa]

The food is tiny basically it's just plankton I just throw a spoonful(the one included it is tiny) In a half up of aquarium water let it soak for a minute then throw it in a high flow area of the tank twice a week. I also spot feed with a turkey baster once a week you can't see them eat it but they are.

 

[sawdonkey]

Typically, sps gets brown with two little light. Too many nutrients typically turns coral brown too.

I'm just guessing here, but I'd feed the tank a little more (just feed the fish more) and try turning your lights up a little. I doubt you're even close to having too much light with the settings you mentioned. Do you have any other sps? Birdsnest is hard to gauge because the flesh of the coral doesn't really color up much. However, you do have pretty poor polyp extension.

What do you have going on for flow?

 

[veselym]

I do have a blue table acro which is brown but glows green at night...I have about 35X times turn over in the tank

I did have good PE but started to up feedings which raised my nitrates, then the one birdsnest turned brown and less PE...I have an ORA Borealis which came in pale but then turned darker almost brown

I do have nutrients in the tank, it is not an ULNS so that is why I am confused on why I need to feed

all my sps is growing however, along with the zoas and lps

 

[veselym]

bump...the fruit loops looked like that when they came in so maybe just a bad frag?

maybe I just need to leave everything alone

 

[sawdonkey]

Brown acros point to not enough light.... Or too high nutrients.

 

[veselym]

Has to be nutrients then because they are growing

I wouldn't think an acro would grow under low light

 

[veselym]

So My birdsnest has started to loose some flesh in the middle...it is still brown and less PE

there is an ORA Borealis right next to it that is continuing to grow/getting more fluorescent so I am at a loss

I also have a table acro that is still enrusting/getting more color across the tank at the same level with a little less flow

I have done 6 10% WC's in the past week and a half to not drastically lower the nutrients but I still have some hairy looking cyano in the sump even though p04 shows zero.

what should I do next

 

[veselym]

I guess I am just confused on what the issue is...is it a nutrient problem or light problem

Nitrate is .25 and P04 is 0

lights are at 23% white and 65% blue for 5 hours a day at that max

some stuff is brown/mostly sps and some zoas look faded or more lack of color

 

[veselym]

anyone? Thinking of just quitting, coral is closing more day by day and I have no idea what to do

 

[Lenny_S]

I hope I can help you... I feel for you, don't give up!
What is your water source? (Tap, bottle, RO/DI...)?

 

[veselym]

Rodi 4 stage with new DI, carbon block and sediment reading 0 TDS

 

[Lenny_S]

Is there anything in your tank you can think of that could have any kind of metal in it or on it? Even the rocks! Anything in your sump or in any way in contact with your system water?