it's a question of color

[wrenchhead]

hey guys
I have a 90 gallon feef tank with a couple soft corals and a growing amount of sps.I am still new to the sps stuff.I have some different acros ,montis and some i dont even know what they are(donations).
my sps stuff is growing like weeds but the color is not as good as i think it should be.most of the sps stuff is brown with slight hints of color.they were veary colorfull when I got themIwas wondering if I could get some help.

calc 420
alk 3.5
phosphates 0
nitrite and nitrate 0
lighting 2-150 watt hqi 4-65 watt pc 2 blue 2 white
the hqi are 20k do you think I should switch to 10 k?
Any help would be great

[wrenchhead]

any body! maby its not lights any help would be great.still new to all this

[wakefreak33]

First off, get your alk up, I notice color loss/change whenever my alk gets low. I run mine between 7 and 8dKH. Give us more information about your tank. Flow, sand bed, ozone, UV, anything else

[Don Berry]

alkalinity is way too low. You need to raise it up to atleast 8.

[RobTheReefer]

I'm sure he/she meant 3.5 meq/l which would be 9.8 dKH

Your phosphate test kit probably can't detect low levels of phosphate. Even undetectable levels can brown out your corals. I'd suggest running some PhosPure (cheaper version of RowaPhos that Foster & Smith sells) in a fluidized-bed reactor.
AND definately switch to 10K or better yet switch to 250 watt 10k. 150's are kinda weak for a 90 gallon IMO.

[MiddletonMark]

I'm guessing Alk is in meg/l - which 3.5 would be ok :)

[Johnsteph10]

ditto

[GMAX]

Wrenchhead

You mention some softies in your tank. This could be your problem. There could a chemical war going on in your tank. I would remove the softies, just SPS and Lps. Or I would run carbon flitration 24/7 to remove the chemicals the softies emit.

[wrenchhead]

ok here we go. the tank is r/r with a mag drive 9.5 for return.the alk is
at 3.5 meg/l. I have a 1 inch thick live sand bed.also for flow i have 2 maxijet 3200.I have just a coral life skimmer rated for tanks up to 125
gallons.I did order a 10k for one of the hqis today.I only ordered one just to see the differance from side to side.most of the sps is at the top.So with that in mind ,what should I try next.One more thing,the lights are on about 11 hours a day.Do you think thats to long?
Thanx guys for the continuid help!!!

[wrenchhead]

so what do you guyd think. also do you guys think the mag drive 9.5 with to inline squid and to outlets on either side and the to maxi jets is enough flow

[GMAX]

That Squid is a major flow reducer. It creates a lot of back pressure on the pump. I like to keep the flow as strong as possible on the return.

[fishdoc11]

What test kit are you using for P? That's usually the culprit with brown corals. Also how long have you had the corals?
Chris

[dwillingm]

I am curious about the comment of switching to 10k bulbs.

Generally, arent the 20k bulbs supposed to make acros more colorful?