Sps newbie help

[Dan7575]

Hi guys,

I bought a few sps frags, 1x green monti, 1 x orange monti, 1x birds nest and 1 x acro online. When I got them in the tank the colours were lovely and bright but have been dulling down in colour since I got them, the vivid green has gone a light green and the orange has gone a dirty pink. Now I know that there is something not the same in my tank as the lfs but wondering what can change the colour so quickly?

 

[kzenoni]

Far from an expert but lighting plays a big part and good water flow.

 

[7akata]

Whats your lighting and tank size?

 

[Dan7575]

The tank size is 4 x 2 x 2 with 2x ai primes. I have placed the frags after a few days on the sand to the top third of the tank in a fairly high flow position

 

[7akata]

How high off the water of those primes? Was there any lighting acclimation done? Have you done an PAR measuring?

With that lighting schedule too you're only getting about 2 hours of full light on them I believe? This may boil down to a lighting problem, both intensity, duration, and amount of fixtures. How high are those primes off the top of the tank, since it's 24 inches deep.

 

[Dan7575]

They are 15 inches off the surface, I haven’t done a par test. I think it is getting 4 hours of full light with 4 hours of ramp

 

[SPR1968]

They are 15 inches off the surface, I haven’t done a par test. I think it is getting 4 hours of full light with 4 hours of ramp

I would probably increase the light schedule significantly and myself, with Hydra 26’s (in my S650) and Radions XR30 Pro in my large system I have sunrise at 9am ramped up in 1 hour and sunset at 10pm ramped down slowly from around 7pm and I also go ‘blue’ from then.

These are the settings in my S650 and you can see the higher intensity

Assuming your water parameters are ok, including magnesium, the lighting may be the issue.

 

[7akata]

They are 15 inches off the surface, I haven’t done a par test. I think it is getting 4 hours of full light with 4 hours of ramp

I will let much more knowledgable people take over the thread, but I really believe this is a case of not enough light!

There is a very nice BRS video on the Prime 16's to give you a vague idea of placement in the meantime also:

 

[Dan7575]

Thanks, I’ll give that a try. I scaled it back a bit to try and combat algae but that isn’t so bad now

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

The tank size is 4 x 2 x 2 with 2x ai primes. I have placed the frags after a few days on the sand to the top third of the tank in a fairly high flow position

2 primes on a 100g tank is not enough light for sps long term. I doubt this would be the cause after only a couple days. What are your parameters? And please don’t say “good and stable”. That means nothing really

 

[SPR1968]

Thanks, I’ll give that a try. I scaled it back a bit to try and combat algae but that isn’t so bad now

If your combatting algae check your phosphate level, ideally it should be less than around 0.03 and any higher than around 1 or thereabouts you may start to see GHA.

If you have GHA and a zero reading, it’s probably being used as a food source and therefore giving a false zero reading. I personally use rowaphos to keep it under control

 

[dank reefer]

Also take into consideration that when Corals (Specifically SPS/Acros) might lose color from the chemistry in your water. You might be giving it the correct par and lighting, but you parameters might be in play.

 

[Dan7575]

My parameters are as follows

Alk - 8.0
calc - 410 (this was down to 350 but dosing now to raise up to 430 to match the salt level)
mag - 1400
sal - 1.026
PH - 8.2
nitrates - 20
phos - 0.17 (trying to get this down with an algae scrubber but not having much luck in getting algae to grow on the plate, might start dosing phos x)

 

[Dan7575]

2 primes on a 100g tank is not enough light for sps long term. I doubt this would be the cause after only a couple days. What are your parameters? And please don’t say “good and stable”. That means nothing really

I think the tank is only 50g (it is a 215 litre aquaone tank, I may have got the dimesions wrong)

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I think the tank is only 50g (it is a 215 litre aquaone tank, I may have got the dimesions wrong)

Still probably not enough light

I have a prime 16 over a 7g cube and it’s barely enough light halfway down with settings higher than yours. Only delivers 250 par 6” below the water

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

My parameters are as follows

Alk - 8.0
calc - 410 (this was down to 350 but dosing now to raise up to 430 to match the salt level)
mag - 1400
sal - 1.026
PH - 8.2
nitrates - 20
phos - 0.17 (trying to get this down with an algae scrubber but not having much luck in getting algae to grow on the plate, might start dosing phos x)

How many fish do you have and how much do you feed? There is nothing wrong with 0.17 po4. My no3 and Po4 are 30 and +.20. You’ll probably kill every coral if you use phosphate rx and over strip the water too fast.

 

[Dan7575]

Still probably not enough light

I have a prime 16 over a 7g cube and it’s barely enough light halfway down with settings higher than yours. Only delivers 250 par 6” below the water

Hmm, maybe I need to get another one then.

Do you has an LPS in there, how do they react to the high light?

 

[Dan7575]

How many fish do you have and how much do you feed? There is nothing wrong with 0.17 po4. My no3 and Po4 are 30 and +.20. You’ll probably kill every coral if you use phosphate rx and over strip the water too fast.

Wow they look stunning, nothing like mine haha

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Hmm, maybe I need to get another one then.

Do you has an LPS in there, how do they react to the high light?

I have some acans but they are shaded by rock bridges and acros.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Wow they look stunning, nothing like mine haha

Thank you.
How many fish do you have and how much are you feeding?