coral growth/colour

s@ki · 03/14/2017, 08:58 AM

Hi all,

what would be ideal nutrient value and lighting period for good coral growth for AF based system?

For about a month I've had almost 0 coral growth.
~100g mixed tank was started mid October with live rock, water from old tank and dry sand. I dose BioS from start, later ProBioS and ProBioNP. 4drops each.
After a while corals were bleached, purple stylopora was pink, cathalaphylia was neon green with white "tentacles", pavona was neon green but everything was growing.
No3 and Po4 were unmeasurable with SalifertPo4 test and JBL NO3 test.
Hanna Po4 meter showed 0.01

After adding 6 chromis and Foxface and a bit better feeding NO3 rised to about 1. this was maybe because foxface eat all dyctiota that grew from rock and there was lots of it.

I dosed about 10ml KH solution (500mg sodium bicharbonate in 5l bucket) and 5ml CaCl (2kg to 5l bucket) + AF Mineral salts 10ml mixed by original recipe (25mg / 1l).
This lasted about 3 weeks along with 10% water changes as I was chasing parameters. Then I concluded it was more stable to change 5%, 20l.

As colours were still bleached I started dosing AVBE, first few days one drop, then 2 drops, then 2 and 3 alterating and for last 10 days 3 drops.
On the AV day I dose 2 drops in tank and mix one drop of each with some frozen food and powdered flakes and target feed LPS.
I do this as AF Power food is unavailable localy.

As for the lights, 8xT5 ATI 54W:
5pm - 3AM 2 blue
6pm - 1:30 AM 2 white
7PM - 1AM : 2white+2 blue
Untill abotu 2 weeks ago it was shorter by an hour, starting at 5PM and ending around 2AM.

I have small reactor with about 60-70ml of Phosphate minus and about 400ml carbon with 300l/h pump

I was suggested to cut back NP and ProbioS so I can try with 2 drops per day.
Maybe I should cut reactor too?

But wouldn't I suppose to be looking forward to ULNS not away from it?

For last 3-4 weeks I didn't dose a single drop of Ca, KH, Mg and they are perfectly stable until I raise them a bit with waterchange.
Ca 440 measured by REdSea - drops maybe 20 from water change to waterchange
KH 8.4 - 0.2 drop in a week measured with hanna
MG 1410 - Salifert

s@ki · 03/14/2017, 09:21 AM

just for example:
stylophora purple and pink before and after.

Stock list:
2 ocellaris
2 b.cardinals
6 chromis
1 foxface

1 abonensis shrimp
2 oliva snails
few rock/glass grazing snails (some sort of turbo probbably)
tuxedo urchin
adriatic sea urchin

cathalaphilia
green sarco
trachyphillia
10-15 head size blue and green

frag size:
5 differen zoanthids
3 different lobophylia (head size)
3 different euphylia (one head each)
2 heads of green torch euphylia
3 green ricordea and one brown/red (florida and yuma)
unknown mushroom with small euphylia like tentacles
rhodactis
pink stylopora x2
purple stylopora
green acropora tumida
blue milleopora
green milleopora
pocylopora
blue/gray finger montipora
red finger montipora
green caliendrum (started STN)
pink histrix
green purple plate (lost color about 2 months ago) now brown with dark purple line
purple plate
duncan
kenya tree
lobophytum
gorgonia

Kenya, gorgonia, lobophytum and rodactis will go first out as I plan to have mostly SPS.

Anirban · 03/15/2017, 06:12 AM

If you are running the system with 0.01 PO4 and 1ppm NO3 then its fine as you are running an ULNS. Sometimes the corals can take a while before they start growing back after they get bleached. As far the light concern it seems fine as well as your other parameters. I will suggest just give the system a bit more time as its still young and it will be fine soon.

03/14/2017, 08:58 AM	#1
s@ki Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Zagreb Posts: 18	coral growth/colour Hi all, what would be ideal nutrient value and lighting period for good coral growth for AF based system? For about a month I've had almost 0 coral growth. ~100g mixed tank was started mid October with live rock, water from old tank and dry sand. I dose BioS from start, later ProBioS and ProBioNP. 4drops each. After a while corals were bleached, purple stylopora was pink, cathalaphylia was neon green with white "tentacles", pavona was neon green but everything was growing. No3 and Po4 were unmeasurable with SalifertPo4 test and JBL NO3 test. Hanna Po4 meter showed 0.01 After adding 6 chromis and Foxface and a bit better feeding NO3 rised to about 1. this was maybe because foxface eat all dyctiota that grew from rock and there was lots of it. I dosed about 10ml KH solution (500mg sodium bicharbonate in 5l bucket) and 5ml CaCl (2kg to 5l bucket) + AF Mineral salts 10ml mixed by original recipe (25mg / 1l). This lasted about 3 weeks along with 10% water changes as I was chasing parameters. Then I concluded it was more stable to change 5%, 20l. As colours were still bleached I started dosing AVBE, first few days one drop, then 2 drops, then 2 and 3 alterating and for last 10 days 3 drops. On the AV day I dose 2 drops in tank and mix one drop of each with some frozen food and powdered flakes and target feed LPS. I do this as AF Power food is unavailable localy. As for the lights, 8xT5 ATI 54W: 5pm - 3AM 2 blue 6pm - 1:30 AM 2 white 7PM - 1AM : 2white+2 blue Untill abotu 2 weeks ago it was shorter by an hour, starting at 5PM and ending around 2AM. I have small reactor with about 60-70ml of Phosphate minus and about 400ml carbon with 300l/h pump I was suggested to cut back NP and ProbioS so I can try with 2 drops per day. Maybe I should cut reactor too? But wouldn't I suppose to be looking forward to ULNS not away from it? For last 3-4 weeks I didn't dose a single drop of Ca, KH, Mg and they are perfectly stable until I raise them a bit with waterchange. Ca 440 measured by REdSea - drops maybe 20 from water change to waterchange KH 8.4 - 0.2 drop in a week measured with hanna MG 1410 - Salifert

03/15/2017, 06:12 AM	#3
Anirban Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: North Carolina Posts: 77	If you are running the system with 0.01 PO4 and 1ppm NO3 then its fine as you are running an ULNS. Sometimes the corals can take a while before they start growing back after they get bleached. As far the light concern it seems fine as well as your other parameters. I will suggest just give the system a bit more time as its still young and it will be fine soon.