Pale SPS colors, trying to rule out lighting and flow. Looking for suggestions, feedback. (PAR map included)

[2Wheelsonly]

Trying to figure out why my corals are going pale, I am blanketing my tank with light and my par levels are what I believe to be in a good place. The only difference with this tank over my last is I basically don't have any shadow spots as I feel I may have went overkill with the "quantity" of lights this time around. I did test potassium low at 330 but other than that I feel most parameters I have tested for are good. Tank has a healthy stock of mature fat tangs that are fed daily. My greens and some blues look great but reds turn light pink to almost white and what was purchased as hot vibrant red has become a very white pink, my BC firecracker is turning light green and very pale blue (almost pastel purple), in my old tank it was a vibrant blue with red polyps. Part of my says be patient, let it mature but I also did carry over all of my rock and added some from other mature systems for the additional tank size.

Flow is also a concern, I have a lot of flow but the tank is basically acting like a peninsula because the left side is display only (corner in wall) so blasting corals with direct flow is slightly difficult in some areas. I'd say I have close to 100x turnover but mostly indirect random flow.

Above is my current PAR map I just made using a new apogee USB par meter I ordered from BRS (Quantum SQ-420). This tank is currently an upgrade from my old 300G SPS dominant tank where I simply ran out of room and wanted larger front to back dimensions. This tank is a 72x48x30, using the same rock from my previous established SPS tank (5 years) and mostly the same equipment. Calcium and alk are extremely stable (7.5 alk and 420 calc) as the system is fed by a large calcium reactor I feel is dialed in (test daily with Trident). The tank is currently 11 months old but all the livestock transferred over from the old established tank but as you can see I am very light on SPS as I wanted to start fresh with my own hand picked frags.

pH is very stable at 7.9-8.2 (fish room is controlled by ERV and it's own AC unit to keep temps constant at 77.4).

My nutrients are 0.01-0.02 phosphate and 8-12 nitrate. Salinity is 35ppt (calibrated with LFS). I do not feed the corals other than feeding the fish for what it's worth as I never saw any advantage to it.

Flow is:

2 XF-350 Gyre's (5000gph each) running 100% on the right side wall near the surface.
4 MP40qD pumps (2 on back wall, 2 on right wall running 100% reefcrest)
2 Neptune FLO pumps on back wall running 95% running reefcrest equiv)
2 static Mover pumps to flow behind the rock work running 6,000gph each)
Core20 return pump running 60%

Lighting is:

6 Ecotech XR30 G4 pro running AB+ 75%
1 Ecotech XR30 G5 Blue running AB+ 70%
1 Neptune SKY running AB+ 75%
4 Orphek Blue+ OR3 strategically placed over corals to fill in gaps

Lighting focus was spread to prevent shadowing, here is my layout:

Here is my lighting schedule:

Should I just be patient and let the tank mature? What's making me crazy is seeing some red/blue corals green out a bit usually points to "not enough light" but this tank just seems filled with light.

 

[Waters]

If I had to guess, it is the higher par values (especially with LEDs) and lower nutrients (specifically your phosphates). I would start broadcast feeding the coral which will also increase your phosphates.

 

[kenchilada]

Agree, feed more, increase nutrient availability, not residual nutrients.

 

[Pistondog]

Although your nutriets are already low, some carbon dose to put more bacteria in the water. Consuming these bacteria may provide an easier phosphate uptake path for sps and other corals.

 

[sculpin01]

Phosphate should be above 0.05.

 

[Lavey29]

I agree although I am a novice with SPS. Your lighting looks perfect and I assume you have flow dialed in with stable parameters so appears to be nutrient related.

 

[coralbeauties]

I agree with everyone else. Bring up your phosphates. I run mine at around .1 and my colors are very nice.
Jeff

 

[2Wheelsonly]

So I received my ATI sample back and I think I may be leaning towards a smoking gun as to what's causing my pale colors.

Most params look good (been doing trace elements via coral colors) but the two biggest things are my salinity refractometer must be off because they have me at 31ppt which makes sense because it's been so long since I calibrated the screw is rusted so I ordered a new one.

My nutrients are way out of balance 26 no3 and 0.02 po4.

K is a bit low at 360

Everything else was on point. Here are some of my params:

31ppt
8.5 Alk
430 Calc
1400 mag
360 Potassium
26 no3
0.02 po4
*all other trace elements in good range of NSW*
slightly low zinc (very slight)
slightly elevated aluminum but not bad

The biggest question is can low salinity cause the pale colors in my SPS? My calcium reactor keeps the big 3 up to snuff even with that low salinity and my trace element dosing looks to be keeping levels good even with the low salinity. My chaeto grows like crazy.

Not sure if low salt matters when most params look good. My pale colors could also be a result of my po4 being so low and nutrient balance way out of whack. I feed frozen reef frenzy daily so I am probably introducing lots of no3 and very little po4. My livestock is actually very low for a tank this size but my tangs are pretty darn big. They are also the reason I don't have any algae in the display with my climbing no3.

Going to start by bringing salinity up very slowly without causing my calc, alk and mag to sway. I'm then going to focus on bringing nitrates down but first will probably need to dose po4 because there is 0.0000000000 chance carbon dosing will lower nitrates with that low of po4 in relation. I have to at least bring up that po4 to 0.08 I would think.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I think waiting for a little more maturity will be the main thing.

I upgraded my reef with half old live rock and accumulated sand/muck (started bare bottom!) and still struggled to get SPS especially acropora till year 2. I too thought lighting was the main reason things didn’t thrive like my old reef. 3 years later with the same lighting corals are coloring up and thriving as I had hoped for in the beginning. Corals that I thought were getting burned out with too much light are now at the closest to my 400w MH’s.

I can’t explain why with old mature elements from my previous reef the upgrade didn’t just continue as the old one.

 

[Pistondog]

Low salinity, definitely matters.
35 ppt is more reasonable.
Bring it up slowly, your corals will thank you.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Also the low potassium can kill the vibrance of some reds and blues, but bringing it up slowly is key because you can burn acropora tips by adding too much too quickly.
Salinity (like mentioned already) being low can cause a number of issues. This is one parameter that I see people slack on the most and using the correct (best) equipment and calibration methods is key to keeping healthy thriving acropora. I have seen way to many people, even many veteran reefers, start slacking on proper testing or maintenance of their refractometer and loose everything because of it. Often the glass on some of the refractometers becomes compromised over time and it can be hard to notice. Once corals start dying from salinity issues it’s hard to get them to bounce back unless you cought the issue quickly.
I like to use a digital unit that I can calibrate easily with ro water. I also keep and use a quality refractometer with (fresh, never old) 35ppt calibration solution and double check against each other once a month. The calibration solution I never let sit too long after it’s been opened, I will make or buy more if it’s been opened for a while.

 

[BZreef16]

So I received my ATI sample back and I think I may be leaning towards a smoking gun as to what's causing my pale colors.

Most params look good (been doing trace elements via coral colors) but the two biggest things are my salinity refractometer must be off because they have me at 31ppt which makes sense because it's been so long since I calibrated the screw is rusted so I ordered a new one.

My nutrients are way out of balance 26 no3 and 0.02 po4.

K is a bit low at 360

Everything else was on point. Here are some of my params:

31ppt
8.5 Alk
430 Calc
1400 mag
360 Potassium
26 no3
0.02 po4
*all other trace elements in good range of NSW*
slightly low zinc (very slight)
slightly elevated aluminum but not bad

The biggest question is can low salinity cause the pale colors in my SPS? My calcium reactor keeps the big 3 up to snuff even with that low salinity and my trace element dosing looks to be keeping levels good even with the low salinity. My chaeto grows like crazy.

Not sure if low salt matters when most params look good. My pale colors could also be a result of my po4 being so low and nutrient balance way out of whack. I feed frozen reef frenzy daily so I am probably introducing lots of no3 and very little po4. My livestock is actually very low for a tank this size but my tangs are pretty darn big. They are also the reason I don't have any algae in the display with my climbing no3.

Going to start by bringing salinity up very slowly without causing my calc, alk and mag to sway. I'm then going to focus on bringing nitrates down but first will probably need to dose po4 because there is 0.0000000000 chance carbon dosing will lower nitrates with that low of po4 in relation. I have to at least bring up that po4 to 0.08 I would think.

@2Wheelsonly Was salinity the issue? Have the colors recovered?

 

[wrassie86]

I have that same par meter and have been told more than a few times it doesn't handle blue light very well, and par could be as much as 20% higher than readings show. I don't have anything to compare it too, so grain of salt.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

@2Wheelsonly Was salinity the issue? Have the colors recovered?

Sorry been away a while, colors never returned and they eventually all died (SPS only). Still not sure what caused it, although i'm starting to wonder...I removed a pump yesterday and noticed the magnet plastic was busted and rusted like crazy...been broke a while. Maybe that caused me issue?

 

[Lavey29]

Sorry been away a while, colors never returned and they eventually all died (SPS only). Still not sure what caused it, although i'm starting to wonder...I removed a pump yesterday and noticed the magnet plastic was busted and rusted like crazy...been broke a while. Maybe that caused me issue?

Highly likely

 

[acrojunkie]

So I received my ATI sample back and I think I may be leaning towards a smoking gun as to what's causing my pale colors.

Most params look good (been doing trace elements via coral colors) but the two biggest things are my salinity refractometer must be off because they have me at 31ppt which makes sense because it's been so long since I calibrated the screw is rusted so I ordered a new one.

My nutrients are way out of balance 26 no3 and 0.02 po4.

K is a bit low at 360

Everything else was on point. Here are some of my params:

31ppt
8.5 Alk
430 Calc
1400 mag
360 Potassium
26 no3
0.02 po4
*all other trace elements in good range of NSW*
slightly low zinc (very slight)
slightly elevated aluminum but not bad

The biggest question is can low salinity cause the pale colors in my SPS? My calcium reactor keeps the big 3 up to snuff even with that low salinity and my trace element dosing looks to be keeping levels good even with the low salinity. My chaeto grows like crazy.

Not sure if low salt matters when most params look good. My pale colors could also be a result of my po4 being so low and nutrient balance way out of whack. I feed frozen reef frenzy daily so I am probably introducing lots of no3 and very little po4. My livestock is actually very low for a tank this size but my tangs are pretty darn big. They are also the reason I don't have any algae in the display with my climbing no3.

Going to start by bringing salinity up very slowly without causing my calc, alk and mag to sway. I'm then going to focus on bringing nitrates down but first will probably need to dose po4 because there is 0.0000000000 chance carbon dosing will lower nitrates with that low of po4 in relation. I have to at least bring up that po4 to 0.08 I would think.

I seem to have a very similar issue regarding the nutrients and my calcium reactor maintains the big three as well.