SPS fading under Kessil A160s

[mochaclownlover]

I have a 40 gallon Nuvo Black (Dimensions: 23.6" x 19.68" x 18.89")with two kessil A160s over it at ~75% color and ~60% intensity. The tank has a 10 gallon sump, a MP10 set to tidal mode, a tunze nanostream 6025. Skimmer will be here thursday. Tank has been set up since September. I currently have(don't know their names) a green monty, a red monty w/blue polyps, an acro frag, and two other sticks that I have no clue of what they are. There are also some BTAs, which are retaining their color fairly well, and some LPS which have faded a bit also. The only one which has not faded is the green monty. I also only dose some liquid Seachem calcium and WC once a month. This is my first few steps into keeping an SPS dominated tank and so far it has not been going well:( Any help is greatly appreciated. All SPS corals are shown in the pic below:
Red monty w/blue polyps, bottom right, Green monty, top right, Acro, middle left, Unknown branching SPS, top left(next to acro), #2 Unknown branching SPS, middle.

Full tank shot

 

[Justfebreezeit]

If you are going to keep sps knowing and maintaining your alk is going to be your biggest concern.

Id recommend the hanna dkh checker and dosing 2 part.

The kessils should be sufficient for sps, especially the top half of the tank

 

[mochaclownlover]

Thanks! I'll look into the hanna checker, I was planning on doing 2 part, but hadn't gotten around to getting it yet.

 

[LetItReef]

How did you acclimate those corals to your Kessils?

 

[mochaclownlover]

I lowered the intensity to ~25-30% intensity and every 10 days, I increased the intensity by ~8-10%. Currently I am at ~60%, I've kept it at this level for awhile now.

 

[HB AL]

For good help, listing water params would be a good idea.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Oops... forgot that... I'll do some testing and post in a bit

 

[mochaclownlover]

Okay here they are:
pH: 8.2 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Alkalinity: 9 DKH

 

[jda]

Although I am not a fan of Kessil for keeping and coloring SPS, I think that it is probably more the new/sterile tank than the lights.

It can take about a year for a tank to get good at keeping SPS... not just alive, but thriving.

 

[mochaclownlover]

Okay, thanks. Maybe I'll just hold off on SPS for a while till my tank matures more, for now I'll focus on keeping these guys alive. Do you think it would be a good idea to move the SPS to a more established tank till this one matures more? I have a nano that has been up and running since 2013(It was actually where my green monty was before this).