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Greatreefer
Active Member
Some corals are pale in color.
SPS question for all the seasoned reef keepers out there
- Thread starter Greatreefer
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OP
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Greatreefer
Active Member
So.. what are your thoughts on the subject chrisl10?
chrisl10
Active Member
Well there are two ways to go about this the ulns which you add nutrients back in and monitor heavily and the feed your fish and corals keep em fat and happy and watch your parameters.
Ulns seems like lots of additional work and cost.
I like fish so you know where I’m headed lol
Now that I just made a big left turn, back to the issue I’m no expert but everything I read on parameters seems pretty consistent that 1.027 and 1500 for salinity and mag are a bit high as well as the 500 on calcium. And I think that you need to get this phosphates up a bit. I read somewhere that such high magnesium will kill off algae which I believe is killing off the phosphates as well. I could be wrong...
I think the 16 hour a day light is a bit much as well.
Again I’m far from an expert and I fight my tank daily with sps issues but I’m learning as I go. Like I said lots of good info here and good luck with getting that color back!!
Ulns seems like lots of additional work and cost.
I like fish so you know where I’m headed lol
Now that I just made a big left turn, back to the issue I’m no expert but everything I read on parameters seems pretty consistent that 1.027 and 1500 for salinity and mag are a bit high as well as the 500 on calcium. And I think that you need to get this phosphates up a bit. I read somewhere that such high magnesium will kill off algae which I believe is killing off the phosphates as well. I could be wrong...
I think the 16 hour a day light is a bit much as well.
Again I’m far from an expert and I fight my tank daily with sps issues but I’m learning as I go. Like I said lots of good info here and good luck with getting that color back!!
tdileo
Valuable Member
Exactly. You don’t want very much because it will cause corals to brown out and nuisance algae to grow in your tank, but a good balance will produce optimal growth, color, and keep nuisance algae out. This is why I personally prefer to use a large refugium and oversized skimmer rather than GFO or carbon dosing, as you can’t accidentally overdose and strip the water of everything accidentally.
OP
OP
Greatreefer
Active Member
update:
last night I went in and changed my light schedule from 16 hours down to 8.
I also realized that my calcium test kit has expired and all the tests up to this point may not be entirely accurate. ( ugh...)
along with that, my magnesium test kit ran out of a reagent. so in other words all those numbers could be off as well.
SIGH..
I did manage to check my alk yesterday too but it looks like that dropped down to 7. However, I've gone in and readjusted the doser and added half a dose of alk buffer to try and raise it back up a bit.
I came across this article this morning which goes along nicely with this topic it comes from a user that is part of the WAMAS group in the DC area.
http://reefinabox.com/right-alkalinity-coral-growth/
last night I went in and changed my light schedule from 16 hours down to 8.
I also realized that my calcium test kit has expired and all the tests up to this point may not be entirely accurate. ( ugh...)
along with that, my magnesium test kit ran out of a reagent. so in other words all those numbers could be off as well.
SIGH..
I did manage to check my alk yesterday too but it looks like that dropped down to 7. However, I've gone in and readjusted the doser and added half a dose of alk buffer to try and raise it back up a bit.
I came across this article this morning which goes along nicely with this topic it comes from a user that is part of the WAMAS group in the DC area.
http://reefinabox.com/right-alkalinity-coral-growth/
OP
OP
Greatreefer
Active Member
I have incorporated a fuge into the reef so I don't have to go with GFO or carbon dosing. right now, its small because the sump that I have is an OEM sump. However, future plans include a much larger refugium.
OP
OP
Greatreefer
Active Member
I just saw the one avalible on Hanas website. I'm wondering if the reason i'm getting zero readings is becuase I'm not using the ULR test?
OP
OP
Greatreefer
Active Member
Has any one done a side by side comparison of the HI 713 vs the ULR?
XNavyDiver
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The ULR reads in Parts Per Billion (PPB), so yes, that could be the case.
OP
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Greatreefer
Active Member
other than than the conversion, do you think this would have anything to do with the kits inability to always read zero?
according to Hanas website:
HI713 goes from 0.00 -2.50
ULR goes from 0.00-2.00
so in other words, both kits would be effective at testing P04. I was just wondering if the specific kit I have isn't working right because the p04 in my current setup isn't within the calibrated range of the kit thus it keeps spitting out a 0 reading.
I wonder if it would have the test would be the same if I ran it through the ULR?
XNavyDiver
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My guess is, this is correct. The amount of p04 in your tank is too low for the HI713 to detect. I would suspect the ULR would be able to detect po4 in your tank, but I suspect it's at very low amount (<10 ppb). This was (and still is) my experience with starting a tank with dry rock, and why your sps pales. Because the tank is biologically sterile compared to tanks with seasoned live rock. The tank needs to "dirty up" so to speak, find it's natural balance, time to populate with micro organisms. New dry rock tanks LACK this element and sps, especially acropora, don't do well in that kind of environment.
I was told a while back by someone with much more experience than me, "once your rocks are covered with coralline algae, you're ready for sps. It's a good visual indicator of system maturity."
OP
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Greatreefer
Active Member
Makes sense.
If your Hanna ULR truly reads 0, then I would dose some phosphate via a product such as Brightwell neophos. You could also “feed” the tank by broadcast feeding some coral food. The lowest my ULR meter showed was .0015ppm. Adding some coral food, shot them up to .05ppm the next day.
OP
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Greatreefer
Active Member
Ive been feeding the brs coral food everyday for the last week and still havent seen a change in po4 or no3 levels.
Before chasing phosphate do yourself a favor and get an ICP test done. I have run my 700 gallon for quite sometime with very low phosphate. What really changed the colors of my sps has been the addition of missing elements that were identified in Triton ICP test. Potassium is a big one for color. My tank had undectable nitrates and phosphates for sometime. Now I do have nitrates at around 2 ppm and phosphates at .02-04.
rck329
Community Member
I would also consider dropping that peak light down some - 2 XR30's at or near 100%, even for a short amount of time is A LOT of light. Especially if you are low on nutes. Maybe try to duplicate the AB+ program. It ramps up/down fairly quickly and has a long flat top. You could set that top around 60-70% maybe?
Here's mine below - as you can see I'm only going to 50% but my tank is only 18" deep. I've got monti caps and digita and a stylo in about the middle. I just put in a bunch of acro frags but they are starting low on a frag rack and will be raised over time. I may shoot for 60-65% max depending on how the acros respond.
I, also like you have low nutes and have taken to broadcast feeding at night 3-4 days a week (along with heavy skimming, water changes and maintenance). I think Brandon and others have said it very well above.
you would really need a PAR meter to know. Without one your really just guessing.I would also consider dropping that peak light down some - 2 XR30's at or near 100%, even for a short amount of time is A LOT of light. Especially if you are low on nutes. Maybe try to duplicate the AB+ program. It ramps up/down fairly quickly and has a long flat top. You could set that top around 60-70% maybe?
Here's mine below - as you can see I'm only going to 50% but my tank is only 18" deep. I've got monti caps and digita and a stylo in about the middle. I just put in a bunch of acro frags but they are starting low on a frag rack and will be raised over time. I may shoot for 60-65% max depending on how the acros respond.
I, also like you have low nutes and have taken to broadcast feeding at night 3-4 days a week (along with heavy skimming, water changes and maintenance). I think Brandon and others have said it very well above.
rck329
Community Member
You don't need a PAR meter to know that not many people run their Radions at 100%
OP
OP
Greatreefer
Active Member
I dropped it down to 80%
And yes i do have a par meter.
And yes i do have a par meter.
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