SPS Brown and White in 15g HELP!

spacetime · Mar 21, 2013

Hello,

As my thread in the members forum doesn't get much love I'm posting my specific question here.

I have a 15g 24x12x12 with ~5g sump. Over it I have a 24" 4x24w Aquatic life fixture running 1x Coral Plus 1x ATI Blue+ on day light (6 hrs) and 1x Blue+ and 1x Geisemann Pure Actinic for 8 hours.

As far as flow I have the return no idea how many gph but its not too crazy and a MP10 set on the random mode at 50% power.

My acan's, zoa's and pallys all are colored up pretty nicely and are growing pretty well. I have a pokerstar monti which has decent color, psmacora, another sps (no idea the species) and my chalice's have great color and are growing but all my acro's are either brown or white.

I have a Tunze Nano Doc which pulls out a decent amount of gunk. I am dosing B-Ionic daily to keep calcium and alk in check. I recently noted that my Ca dropped to 300 last week it is back up at 400 and I will continue to get it to 420~. DKH is 9-10 and PH is always 8.1 during day (I don't check at night). I also have chaeto in the display in a plastic soap holder and it grows pretty well. I get very little algae growth on the glass. I have micro dusters instead on the glass and back wall. Coraline has not taken off but I started with BRS Reefsaver. I have 1 piece of LR and have noticed coraline on the overflow box and return.

I dose reef fuel and mico vert every other day over the recommended dose. I target feed corals mysids essentiallyover feed my tank with cyclops and mysids for my 1 PJ cardinal. I have no nitrate or po4 thatn is detectable with Salifert.

I run 4 TBS of BRS GFO with 2 TBS of Rox. I have filter socks as well.

I've recently moved my tri-tip (WWC) corals lower as per advice from my LFS, these are the white (with some purple) acros.

I have 2 other one I believe was green has turned brown (low to mid placement), the other was blue but has turned brown, but has hits of green flouresence (this is highest in the tank).

All of the SPS appear to be growing, the Tri-tips are growing at the base and perhaps at the top. The brown(green) has latched onto the rock around it from its plug as well as the antlers, and the blue at the top has also began growing at the base and in its antlers.

How can I get these guys colored up?

twintrades · Mar 21, 2013

whats your mag lvl ? I had some acros that brightened up after i raiesed the mag lvls

spacetime · Mar 21, 2013

I'm not certain... My salifert test says only 1100 before and after adding additives. I suppose I'll pick up a new test. I add about 4 tsp of Seachems product every other day, and will continue until my Coraline starts taking off, on my last tank thats how I knew mg was in check.

My LFS said my water may be too clean... is this possible, should I turn off my reactor and run gfo and carbon in bags in the return chamber? I should qualify this statement because the coral guy there has a successful nano. He also tops off at night with kalk.

jedimasterben · Mar 21, 2013

Four TABLESPOONS of GFO on a 15g tank?

WillKatt · Mar 21, 2013

I agree with Jedimasterben. This is too much GFO for 15G I use 2TBS max for my 28 gallon. IMO BRS's GFO calculator needs to be adjusted. I usually start with 1/3rd the recommended amount then work up to half the recommended amount if I can.

There may be other things going on as well but this is too much GFO in my unprofessional opinion. How long has this tank been running?

spacetime · Mar 21, 2013

BRS reef calc FTL. Been up since Nov. but I was using Seagel and having algae issues. I will cut down on the GFO for SURE. What is the best way to reduce the amount, I don't want to SHOCK the corals anymore. Should I jsut remove the reactor and run it in bags? On that note how much carbon should I use? BTW I run both mixed together if that is a concern

spacetime · Mar 21, 2013

What is your opinion on my bulb selection and photo period. Was it the right move to move the white corals lower?

Starblenny · Mar 23, 2013

How long did you have the acros? If they're recent additions, they may turn brown from the trip from LFS to the dip to adding it to the tank. Usually, all brown corals will turn green then, whatever color they're in. How's your nitrates/phosphate? Dosing fuel/micro vert every other day sounds like you're adding lots of nutrients into your system but too much GFO is probably cutting down the phos...

I once had a problem like you but I had zero nitrates, high phosphate. My corals were either brown or white. I eventually figured out the problem and let my nitrats and phosphate balance out and my corals are finally coloring up from brown -> original color or white -> brown -> original color

spacetime · Mar 23, 2013

Thanks again Star!

spacetime · Apr 3, 2013

So an update to this thread, I've removed all the gfo, cut back to 1 TBS carbon and have started to double my H20 changes from 2gal to 4 gal. I currently have my skimmer down for repairs (clogged venturi air intake) but it will be back up later tonight.

I am now reacclimating my acros and have increased the lighting to 9 hours for 2x blue+ and 2 hours all 4 or 3x Blue+ 1x Coral+ which I will start extending by 15 minutes a day.