Am I missing something?

[zygote2k]

This is one of the best arguments for testing and keeping accurate records. You can look back over the past few months and determine if there's a trend or a spike and take actions based upon those results to correct it. I test the big 5- C,A, P, N, Mg, salinity, temp, TDS, plus keep a dosing log showing mix concentration and dosed amounts. General observations like r/o filter cahnges, hardware upgrades, media changes, etc.

Without accurate records, it's a crap-shoot.

[YHSublime]

This is one of the best arguments for testing and keeping accurate records.

 

Without accurate records, it's a crap-shoot.

This is well put.

[stonerjohnson]

Just feed more , your tank sounds like it's starving

[bbyatv]

I am not in support of feeding more.  I feed my 150g tank once a day very lightly (2 cubes of brine and a pinch of flake) and my fish, corals and macro are growing well without any nuisance algae to speak of.

 

Bruce

[dangros]

My old nitrate kit was the crappy API one so I ordered the Salifert.  They are either undetectable or the lowest reading on the salifert test kit.  If my 3yr old gives me more than 5 minutes to myself, I'll try to vacuum out the sump today.  It's been a while.  My fish load is definately light. My tank is not a new tank.  It's been up and running for almost a year and 1/2 now.  Here's a video of the contents.  Note the alg on the sand and on the coraline. The tang died on friday so only the clown and firefish fight on.  They seem perfectly healthy.  

[paul b]

YOUR TANK IS TO CLEAN, even the ocean has algae in it. There's just thousands of creatures competing for it, unlike our tanks. Algae will grow in a bottle of RO water if it gets light. Get your Nitrates up to around 3-5 and phosphates around .03-.05 and your SPS will be fine. 

 

Ditto.

Your tank is to clean.  My nitrates are between 30 -40.  I don't use GFO or anything else.  My nitrates should be less I would like them around 15 but I have to many fish.  SPS would require less nitrates than what I have but not as low as many people say as I have had many SPS for many years.

[dangros]

Happy Mother's Day fellas
Just wanted to post an update.  I did a couple of things that seem to be helping.  I usually run 1/2 GAC and 1/2 carbon in my reactor.  For now, I replaced all the GAC w/carbon.  If I start seeing GHA, I'll put some of the GAC back.  I also cut down the water changes by about 1/2.  The corals seem to be looking and growing a little better.  I dont expect to be GAC free long but for the first time, I was able to measure nitrates and phosphates (WHOO HOO!!) - never thought I would be happy to see those   Nitrates are almost impossible to read on the Salifert test but in crappy light, I "interpreted" the test to read b/w 1 and 2.5ppm? My low range Hanna checker read 4 which at parts per billion is low but at least measureable! 

I also decided to order a white tail bristle tooth tang but that won't arrive till tues and I'm gonna QT it for at least 2 weeks. 

So at this point, I would say that evidence suggests that my issue seemed to be low nutrients stunting the growth of my SPS's.  

[dangros]

So even though most corals seem fine, and fish are great, I have noticed a small increase in algae starting.  I am about to swap out the carbon and mix in a bit of GFO (after measuring params, of course).  However, notice this one frag that refuses to look like the red polyp table that I think it is. It's brown during the day and this color at night. This image is a long exposure taken with the lights out - so the image is a bit brighter than it really is in person.

Why does this turn BROWN during the day?  Initially, I thought it was going to die but it's been doing this for months. This frag has been in the tank since Sept and hasnt done much.

[YHSublime]

If your Nitrates and phosphates are at 0, then your SPS are starving. Any LPS you have in the tank are taking in what little nutrients there are.

YOUR TANK IS TO CLEAN, even the ocean has algae in it. There's just thousands of creatures competing for it, unlike our tanks. Algae will grow in a bottle of RO water if it gets light. Get your Nitrates up to around 3-5 and phosphates around .03-.05 and your SPS will be fine. 

 

Once you start running carbon and gfo again, you're going to bump your nitrates and phosphates down again. I find that tanks that use things like Zeo, or GFO/carbon combo, usually have washed out colors in their SPS, with slower growth. I used to never check my nitrates, and my phosphate readings were embarrassing, but my SPS were colorful, and growing like weeds. I don't think you mention your tanks age?

This. Over and over again, this.

[dangros]

I believe I've had water in it since jan 2015.  

[dangros]

I saw a thread where someone suggested throwing in some TSP.  Sounds insane!  

[dpassar12]

Apologies if i missed it but what is your water temp? What type of water is in your ATO, RODI, Distilled  treated tap? What is you PH? Also what % of intensity are your lights on?

Edited May 18, 2016 by dpassar12

[dangros]

Apologies if i missed it but what is your water temp? What type of water is in your ATO, RODI, Distilled  treated tap? What is you PH? Also what % of intensity are your lights on?

I use an apex so everything is controlled.  Temp is 78, RODI (Spectrapure maxcap 2), lights are Kessil 360we's.  I have 2 kessils and it's a 90g tank.  Intensity was at 81 but now moving it up towards 90 by a degree a day.

pH is 8.0.  My calc reactor keeps it around that all the time.  There is a tiny move down at night but it's small.

Edited May 18, 2016 by dangros

[dpassar12]

If your bleaching SPS I would stop moving your light intensity up, I have never run any of my LEDs ( I have 18 of them) above 75% most of my LEDS are 24 inches above the water as well. I'm not sure how close your lights are but it might be something to think about. Calc Reactors tend to lower your PH over time, it is also really  easy to overdose your ALK tank running a Calcium Reactor,I have run up my ALK to 14 while making adjustment to my reactor. The PH inside my reactor is 6.4. My tank(s) run about 8.0 do you have a probe in your reactor if so what is the PH?. Check your PH probe(s) if you have not calibrated since you started the tank.  Have you checked your PAR values on your lights? In general bleaching from the bottom up is low ALK and top down is light and or temp. I noticed one of your SPS was 1/2 bleached from the top down.. if you don't have a PAR meter you can borrow mine I am in Leesburg. The light intensity may account for your algae growth as well. Cyano is bacteria not algae suck up as much as you can with a turkey baster see if it keeps coming back. 

[dangros]

Thanks dpassar12.  My kessils are about 12" above the water.  I have a pH probe in the reactor and tank. They were replaced and calibrated recently so should be accurate.  The reactor is kept at approx 6.8.  It seems to range b/w 6.6 and 6.8.  Once in awhile, my alk gets high so I turn off the reactor and within a day the alk is back to 9 - I've been trying to calibrate the reactor to stop the pH drift. Currently, it takes about a week or 2 to drift up one dkh so I'm pretty close.  I have a carbondoser regulator that is controlled by the apex so as long as i test alk frequently, things don't drift too far.

I need to take an image of the corals during the daytime.  They look very different.  I just got some extension tubes for my camera so I should be some detailed closeups soon.

As for PAR, I borrowed the WAMAS par meter a while back.  It was getting very low readings low in the tank 75ish?? But was in the 300s at the top if I remember correctly.  The readings were bouncing all over due to the water movement. From what I read, most reefers w/SPSs keep the kessils b/w 10-12" high and at 80-90% intensity.  

 

Frustrating.  There's a lot of money in this tank! 

Edited May 18, 2016 by dangros

[YHSublime]

The club par isn't really cut for LEDs from my understanding.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dpassar12]

I have an Apogee that i use. they say to use a 10-15% range when taking your readings against Leds. What I find is if you try and meet PAR ratings with websites for say random SPS you will pretty much bleach it overnight. My EcoTechs at the top of my tank are about 400 PAR the bottom of the tank is about 150. I have a mostly SPS display and everything is growing like crazy at those PAR levels with LEDs. When I stopped by to pickup some frags at Bruce's, we were talking about PAR level differences between MH and LEDs. If I am not mistaken the top of his tank was 600 - 670 his frags in my tank are growing great. I would love to see some type of comparison of PAR levels between MH T5 and Leds.  Ie. 600 par with a MH would be the equivalent to 400 par with an LED etc etc.. I think that would save a lot of corals from getting bleached..