Getting discouraged......

[Mules1]

Trying to summarize and keep as brief as possible.

I set up the tank in December 2011, added first sps in June of 2012 and have had trouble with colour ever since....

So this is what I did (all changes were done at least a month apart to see what would happen):

Added 400nm, neutral white, and green to led spectrum because I thought it was the lighting. No noticeable change.

Messed around with photoperiod for around 2 months. No noticeable change so left at 10 hrs with ramping of 1 and 1 hr.

Added brs dosing pumps in lieu of manual to try to make params more steady. Very steady at 160 ppm Alk and 420 Ca (mag always around 1200). No change.

Added 40 breeder as sump (about 25 gallon running) with upgraded skimmer from reef octopus hob to internal with chaeto in 10 gallon fuge. No change.

Added gfo reactor (brs) at half recommended dose and ramped up twice a week.

KILLED EVERYTHING - RTN on all acropora, montipora, and even killed my short plate coral and my doughnut.

All the while I was doing bi-weekly 10% water changes.

Nitrates always seem 0 (salifert)
Phosphates read 0 (Hana) but have algae hence starting gfo.

All fish are fine.

So what now?

I have taken gfo off line now for 2 weeks and the remaining sps that still have some life have not shown any improvement.

This week cyano outbreak and burnt tips because all spike due to no growth. My dosing has been cut by more than half.

I think I will put gfo back online and let whatever will die, die and try again.

Any input appreciated.

[shaggss]

I think a lot of people have trouble because they chase 0 no3 and po4. Striping the tank of all nutrients. What fish are in the tank and how often/much/what are you feeding?

Was the RTN from the top or bottom of the coral? If the top, then I would suggest either Alk burn or lights. If from bottom then lack of nutrients maybe?

[Mules1]

Fish
Pair of clowns
Tail spot Blenny
YWG
Royal Gramma
Mckoskers wrasse

Feed cube frozen and some flake every day.

RTN was from the tips down. 24 hrs and gone.

[tang daddy]

I hope some of my input helps....

First off, the LEDs they may be too bright and if your sps have not acclimated to the led they could bleach out and possibly die, I had all my montis bleach when I switched to led and none bounced back.

Second, if your tank didnt have enough nutrients that could explain pale sps, add to the mix strong gfo stripping the water clean and it would explain your sps dying.

Third, cyano showing up? When you have coral death it adds to the bioload causing excess nutrients and cyano.

You never said what kind of LEDs you use, also what are your nitrates and phosphates.

Some more info may help.

Lighting, how much they are turned up, running lenses, wattage?

If your sps was bleaching I would lean to light before nutrients, LEDs are very powerful and can bleach Lps, sps and everything else.

[tang daddy]

Also how often are you testing and what test kits do you use?

When I set up my doser I was testing daily, at the same time everyday. Once the params stabilized I was testing every 3 days and now finally after dialing it in for over 2 months I test weekly.

When I first started dosing params were everywhere, even with dosing 100ml of alk daily my tank dropped .5, it wasn't till I was up at nearly 180ml of alk that it stabilized. Then after a few weeks I had to drop the alk abit, now I am dosing 120ml daily to keep it stable at 8.3.

If I were you I would stop gfo for awhile, turn down your lights abit if you can and shorten the period of your lights 10 hrs is plenty. I usually run atinics for 12hrs and main lights for 6 although this is T5.

[trueblackpercula]

Do you think you can post a few pictures of you sps so we can see what you are talking about?

[Mules1]

They are 3w Cree LEDs. The weird thing is that these coral have been in the tank for over a year and didn't bleach. Just didn't have any colour. I tested alk daily while setting up dosing, ca weekly. I use salifert for mag and ca. Hanna for alk and phos and have double checked each with other test kits.

I probably agree with the stripping and maybe too high nutrients before gfo causing lack of colour. But to find the balance.....,....

That's why I think I will continue running gfo and let the meek perish and start with new coral accustomed to clean water.

[YoungREEFA]

Its kind of contradicting, many are saying ur stripping the nutriens, but there is no doubt nutrients being supplied to the water collum hence the cyano and algae, its consuming the phosphates, whats your ro water po4 reading and tds?

[Mules1]

0 Tds and 0 phos in rodi.

I have progression pics that I will post.

[mbingha]

how many 3W Leds, how many of each color, what size tank, Optics on Leds? if so what angle, do you have them on full, or are they dimmable. If dimmable what percentage are they dimmed to?

[Mules1]

65 gallon Tank is 36" wide. 20 cool white LEDs on dimmer with 120 optics at 75%. 20 blue LEDs same. 6 neutral white LEDs no optics 85%. 4 green and 4 near uv at 75% no optics. All dimmable in controller and are about 14" off the water surface.

[mbingha]

I claim to be no expert, but from everything I've read, shouldn't you have a 2:1 blue to white ratio? That may help color up your coral. That's a lot of white light...

[Annie3410]

Your lights may be turned way too high. My reefbreeders are only at 40% and your crees are supposed to be even brighter. I would turn them down to at least 50%. LEDs are deceptively bright.

[Annie3410]

They are 3w Cree LEDs. The weird thing is that these coral have been in the tank for over a year and didn't bleach. Just didn't have any colour. I tested alk daily while setting up dosing, ca weekly. I use salifert for mag and ca. Hanna for alk and phos and have double checked each with other test kits.

I probably agree with the stripping and maybe too high nutrients before gfo causing lack of colour. But to find the balance.....,....

That's why I think I will continue running gfo and let the meek perish and start with new coral accustomed to clean water.

The corals themselves r not the problem. Letting them die is just wasting life and money. Turn your light way down, if your corals r dying they don't need a ton of light anyways. Test, test, test. Do a few water changes with a high quality salt. If your phos reads low, take ur GFO offline for a week or so.

[Mules1]

I have already tried lights dimmed for 2 weeks with no change (don't know if I mentioned) as well as decreased photoperiod with no change and to the point where I was worried about the clam. I did take gfo off for a week as well and algae took over.

I do regular water changes with tropic marin pro reef. I test the water just about daily.

[mbingha]

I don't think 2 weeks is enough time to get them to color up. Personally I would get my blue to white ratio to 2:1 and power the blues at 75 and whites at 25-50

[Mules1]

I will try that light ratio.