Reefs.com - Saltwater Aquarium - Reef Aquarium
  • Why not take a moment to introduce yourself to our members?

SPS color discussion

Jarrett

Jarrett

Advanced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Bethpage
Rating - 100%
60   0   0
Hows it going guys, i figured i would start this thread based on my own experiences and see if i can get some answers from this. my 75 gallon has been going strong as an sps dominated reef for about 3+ months now. everything is doing great i have awesome PE but my colors on some of my sps are a little washed out and i am not sure what to contribute this to.
A little background on my tank maintence i feed every other day, i change 15 gallons of water every week, i dose 20 ml of alk and 20 ml of cal a day. CAL=450 ALK= 8.4 mg= 1300, and i have a photo period of 9 hours, with a 6 bulb tek elite system, 4 blue plus,1 purple plus, 1 aquablue special. i am not sure what to contribute the corals paleish color to, possibly my tank is nutrient deprived? or could it be the spectrum with my lighting. im not to sure about the last part because everything i have read so far suggest my lighting is in perfect range for sps (around 14K) just wanted to get your guys opinions on this thank you.

PS. the only corals i am really talking about as far as color are blue and purple corals appearing washed out, my green and pink corals are all vibrant with no problems.
 
Jarrett

Jarrett

Advanced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Bethpage
Rating - 100%
60   0   0
i also run GFO, never tested my phosphates personally but i have had other people do it for me on hannah checkers, it has always come back at 0 and my nitrates are 0. maybe i should stop running GFO for a little
 
Jarrett

Jarrett

Advanced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Bethpage
Rating - 100%
60   0   0
yea i know i need to test them but with 15 gallon water changed every week, low feeding, low bioload, no algae. i dont think my color could be contributed to phosphates if anything maybe they are to low. i have heard that you should have some trace amount of phosphates and nitrates for sps. i dont know how true that is.
 
J

James983

Advanced Reefer
Location
Long Island
Rating - 100%
59   0   0
You are starving your fish if your only feeding them every other day. I know we are all concerned with excess nutrients but you should feed your fish every day. You will stress them and possibly have problems down the road. The key is feeding your fish well enough, but not over feeding. I usually just put in a little at a time rather than dumping everything at once. What you don't want is uneaten food decaying, but if you have shrimps, crabs and some snails they depend on some leftovers to survive.

So basically you have to walk that fine line to keep everything fed but not over doing it. Personally, I feed well, skim with and an oversized skimmer, and siphon as much detritus as possible at water chages.

If you feed you fish a bit more you may see an improvement in color. Faded colors to me indicates low nutrients or too much light, but I don't think with your fixture it could be the latter unless the corals are very close to the waterline.
 
Jarrett

Jarrett

Advanced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Bethpage
Rating - 100%
60   0   0
well i disagree with the starving part. because that is not true at all. all my fish i have kept for over 2 years and they are all fat and healthy. as far as the overall system health then maybe more feeding could help but i feed heavy when i feed. so i like my every other day routine. maybe i will try to feed more at the times i do feed them.
 
Jarrett

Jarrett

Advanced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Bethpage
Rating - 100%
60   0   0
and the anthias, is 6 months old and fat so i dont think hes having a hard time eithier. its a lyretail which i believe is the easiest or among the easiest of anthias to take care of. so i think i am ok with my current stock list. if i obtain other fish that require more feeding then i will have to change something around.
 
Jarrett

Jarrett

Advanced Reefer
Manhattan Reefs
Location
Bethpage
Rating - 100%
60   0   0
no plan to carbon dose, i was going to start with staying on my regular feeding schedule but maybe once or twice a week i will put some cyclopeeze in front of a powerhead and the fish and corals can feed off that, to add a little more nutrients to the system but not over doing it. see how that works if i see no improvement i will try those zeo products see where they get me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Sponsor Reefs

We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.

Click here to sponsor $10:


Top