Quote:
Originally Posted by gon08
The corals actually looked starved to me. Your algae is not really alot and seems to be growing in possible dead spots or areas of liitle flow where detritus accumilates. In cases of detritus settlement which can be high in nutrients algae my grow using the localized nutrients from the detritus. This could be why you are not getting any NO3 or PO4 when you test. I would increase the flow to the back corners of the tank and see if that makes a difference.
I would also increase feeding to see if the corals color up again.
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I have a extra koralia nano pump that I could put in place to help the flow. I will also turn up the flow on the MP10.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Swerve's Reef
I'm sure there are many unknown causes for color loss, but IME when I've had this happen and the lighting hasn't been changed recently, it seems to be caused by my adding to much carbon/GFO to the system, or to little food for the corals (not feeding the fish enough/not enough fish), or maybe alkalinity/temp swings.
Elevated PO4 causes browning out, but bleaching? I don't think your problem has to do with PO4 levels, it's more likely something else.
Stay on top of regular water changes to eliminate the unknown factor, maintain your skimmer regularly, keep feeding your fish daily, add mexican turbo snails/hebivores as needed, and if you deem it necessary, maybe get a hanna checker for PO4. Also keep your alkalinity stable, and importantly don't add to much carbon/gfo to quickly, that alone can cause coral bleaching and tissue recession.
This was one thing it took me a while to figure out, sps need food in the form of fish waste. I was always scared of getting algae blooms, but IME corals need nutrients to maintain color. it's a balancing act isn't it?  |
This is interesting. Now that I think about it this could have started when I began using GFO and carbon. I actually read a few threads from other reefers about the BRS ROX 0.8 stripping the water of nutrients. With this in mind I cut back the GFO and carbon in half by their recommended dose. I didnt see any changes.
I just picked up some Coral Frenzy but I have been hesitant to use it because of the algae. It seems that most of you think that the corals are being starved. Should I not worry about the algae and feed the corals?