Still not happy with my SPS coloration

[cwegescheide]

I'm not happy with my SPS coloration. Recently I have been meeting more reefers in my area, there's quite a few here in Tampa, and several have amazing tanks. I ask them what they do to have such beautiful corals. I'm definatley not doing something right.

Most of the frags that I have came from AtlantisAquarium.net or from friends tanks that when I got them had spectacular coloration.

I've been in the game long enough to know there are many variables that lead to nice coral coloration but still I am not satisfied.

A little about my tank:
90 Gallon rimless custom acrylic tank w 1" external overflow
Shallow Sandbed I guess you could say. Just enough to cover the bottom.
2x 6100 Tunze for circulation with ACIII and Aquasurf
Giesemann Eco 14K Pheonix lighting
T5 9:30am - 6:30pm
MH 11:00am - 6:00pm
Temp = 80 - 81 Aquacontroller
Salinity 1.026 refractometer calibrated with Randy's calibration solution
PH = 8.1 - 8.3 Aquacontroller
Nitrate 0 to 10ppm it varies a little from time to time Lamotte
Alk = 2.7 - 3.5 meq/L I'm trying to get this more stable and finally thinking I'm on the right track Lamotte
Ca ~ 420ppm Sailfert - I run a Geo reactor with the Korallin media (coral
skeletons) controlled by my Aquacontroller.
P04 = ? I don't have a reliable test kit. Need to find a local with Hanna meter. I do use GFO in a bag floating in my filter sock.

I use a lot of carbon in my system 2+ cups that I change every two weeks. I think the name is chem-gone, algone or namegone something like that. I put it in a bag and run it in my filter sock which I change 3x/week.

I have chaeto in my sump with a PC light. It grows but not that fast.

I do 10% water changes every other week. Sometimes every week with Tropic Marin Salt. I have an RO/DI unit that has an inline TDS meter. Output of Di is 0.

I have a EuroReef skimmer rated for 120 gallons and it seems to do a pretty good job. I did put a hopped up pump - sedra 5000 I think. Came with 3500.

I would say I have a decent bio-load. My list of fish is the following:
1 3+" Flatback Angel - Gorgeous fish btw..
1 4" Powder Brown Tang
1 4" Hippo Tang
1 5" Wrasse cant remember the type
5 or 6 Chromis
1 Coral Beauty
1 Anthia - The rest had a death wish. They jumped out of my tank.
1 < 2" (umm I dont know what he is but he's small and he's got REALLY BIG EYEBALLS)

I feed 2x/day via electric autofeeder which contains a mixture of pellets, cyclopeez, couple different types of flake. I'd say its the equivalent of 2 generous pinches of flake food. I'm out of town m-f so on the weekends I feed a little heavier and give Rod's food and a little more pellets and flake.

One thing that I have noticed is some of these tanks have a few common denominators. Every tank that I've seen that has amazing coloration is using SE 14K AquaConnect bulbs with VHO supplementation.

I am considering adding a Kalk reactor to my system and a litemeter. I used to top-off with Kalk a year or so ago and stopped. It seemed to me that my corals actually had more vibrant colors when I used Kalk as well as Ca Reactor.

Any words of wisdom? I'd appreciate it.

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
Everything looks to be in excellent range. The only thing I can recommend is to change your halides to the same brand and wattage as the tanks you like the coral color in. Also be sure they are mounted at the same distance or the corals are the same distance from the bulbs as your tank.

The addition of Kalkwasser is always helpful overall.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[cwegescheide]

OK Thanks Kevin. I just keep thinking I'm missing something. I hate to get a litermeter and a Kalk reactor but i want to keep the supplementation as accurate as possible and I think the addition of Kalk is a good thing.

The reason I took the Kalk offline to begin with is it was difficult to keep my alk stable just topping off at night. I was getting some wild swings from time to time. A litermeter or something similar that can be automated should do the trick.

 

[Acro76]

I have a few suggestions for you, but it sounds like you have a great tank with very nice equipment! Hopefully with the levels you mentioned, your coralline algae is growing all over the glass and live rock.

1. Try and keep the alkalinity at 3.5 to 4.0...Worry about this more than the calcium, once you get this stable then you can add some kalk to keep the pH and calcium up. I believe stable, good levels of alkalinity is far more important than calcium or pH!

2. A 90 gallon is tall tank, what wattage bulbs are you using? Should be 250 or 400 watt for this depth.

3. You did not mention the age of you aquarium, it may be worth checking your magnesium levels if the tank is over a year old.

4. Test the PO4...! Keep it close to 0.00 as possible. A reactor is more efficient than putting a bag of media in. Test your carbon for phosphate as well.

5. If you already know about AEFW (Acropora eating flatworms) I apologize...but google them and do visual and dip inspection of a few of your frags (especially tricolors, millepora sp.). Color loss and declining polyp extension is one of the first signs they may be infecting your corals!

Also look at your friend's SPS tanks after the lights have been off for a few hours. Polyp extension is a great sign of health in Acropora sp.

Good luck!

 

[dailydriven911]

I have a few suggestions for you, but it sounds like you have a great tank with very nice equipment! Hopefully with the levels you mentioned, your coralline algae is growing all over the glass and live rock.

1. Try and keep the alkalinity at 3.5 to 4.0...Worry about this more than the calcium, once you get this stable then you can add some kalk to keep the pH and calcium up. I believe stable, good levels of alkalinity is far more important than calcium or pH!

2. A 90 gallon is tall tank, what wattage bulbs are you using? Should be 250 or 400 watt for this depth.

3. You did not mention the age of you aquarium, it may be worth checking your magnesium levels if the tank is over a year old.

4. Test the PO4...! Keep it close to 0.00 as possible. A reactor is more efficient than putting a bag of media in. Test your carbon for phosphate as well.

5. If you already know about AEFW (Acropora eating flatworms) I apologize...but google them and do visual and dip inspection of a few of your frags (especially tricolors, millepora sp.). Color loss and declining polyp extension is one of the first signs they may be infecting your corals!

Also look at your friend's SPS tanks after the lights have been off for a few hours. Polyp extension is a great sign of health in Acropora sp.

Good luck!

That is not entirely true but it sure seems like it...

 

[Acro76]

Don't we all wish things were entirely true in this hobby

That should have been: "Amount of polyp extension is a great sign of health in Acropora sp."

 

[cwegescheide]

Well I tested my phosphates at the LFS. They have a Hanna meter.

.14!! Yikes.. I was .03 is where I should be.

Off to get a TLF phosban reactor.

Is there a BIG difference in the efficiency of reactor media? I have Phosban and I was told Rowaphos is MUCH more efficient at pulling out phosphates.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Acro76]

Chris,

I haven't noticed a big difference between the two. One thing that can throw people off as to what brand is better is that all the media works fast when your phosphate is high. As the concentration gets very low all media takes longer to absorb the last bit of phosphate (as there is less PO4 floating around!).

Also, you can also have a leeching effect of phosphate from your sand bed and live rock. So after the media is exhausted, you will notice the levels creeping back up.

I am currently using Phoslock by Magnavore, it's quite a bit cheaper than either Rowa or Phosban.

 

[cwegescheide]

Hey Acro76,

My tank has been running now for about 2.5 years.

I have 250W 14K Pheonix DE bulbs that are about 4mos old I'd say.

I am just about to put a Kalk reactor online. My dosing pump should be here sometime next week. I am just going to dose in the evening till early morning with Kalk. I got a litermeter to run it so hopefully I can precisely add Kalk and keep my alk more stable. Before when I ran Kalk with my Ca reactor I was getting some pretty wild spikes because I did not have control of how much I dosed, just depended on how much evap I had at the time. This way hopefully it will be much more stable.

I am also going to be getting my Phosban reactor online as soon as I get my manifold ran off my return pump to drive it. A local reefing friend of mine built one and its a pretty nifty way of running all the perifial (sp lol) equipment that would otherwise require a powerhead.

I am going to try not to bring down my phosphates too quickly. I don't want to shock my corals with good water quality too fast :lol: Hopefully my brilliant colors will return someday. Otherwise I am going to have one hell of an expensive Iguana tank

 

[jedimike]

I had the same problem... corals were lacking good color. My phosphates were way high, so I went and got the TLF reactor. Once my PO4 was under control, the color started coming back.

I'm certain you'll see the same results. I read the same thing about bringing down the phosphates too quickly, but I took mine from 1.+ to .02 in 2 days w/out any losses.

 

[cwegescheide]

Well I got my Phosban reactor online today. I'm using Phosban but I also got some Rowaphos. I was thinking I will let this phosban run for a week and test my phosphates with the LFS's Hanna meter this coming Saturday.

I also got my Kalk Reactor built this weekend. I have a dosing pump coming this week so next weekend I will also have that online. I'm hoping the kalk will do good things for the tank.

We will see.

 

[cwegescheide]

Oh here is some pictures of my DIY kalk reactor:

 

[kevinpo]

That looks very nice! Good job.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[trey007]

Beautiful Kalk reactor. I built my own but have a slow drip where my pvc goes into the cylinder. I see you have rubber seals on yours. What did you use, and is it leak resistant?

 

[cwegescheide]

Hey Thanks Trey. I can't really take credit for the kalk reactor though. I got the cylinder from a guy that participated in a local reef club Acrylic workshop. Traded him for a couple frags. Pretty sweet deal. He's a nice guy. I just drilled it and put in the plumbing with the powerhead.

What your refering to is the UNISEALS.. Yes they are water tight.

 

[cwegescheide]

Also a little update 1/14/08

After the first week of GFO in a reactor, it might be my imagination but I think I notice colors of my coral coming out a little.. Slightly but better than nothing. PE is still not that great. Even at night. So this weekend I cranked up the output of the GFO reactor a little bit. I'm going to let it go like this for a couple weeks. I am also going to test the water with Hanna meter this weekend and give you all a report.

ALSO I got my Litermeter in this past week to hopefully solve ONCE AND FOR ALL my erratic drip rate coming from my Ca reactor. I got this idea after seeing one of the nicest tanks in person I have EVER seen. This guy fed his Ca reactor with a dosing pump. This guy preaches stability so my alk/ca is gonna be STABLE!!

I also put a kalk reactor online over the weekend and dosing about 500ml /day for now until I figure out exactly what my dosing should be to be rock solid.

And last but certainly not least... I purchased a new skimmer for my tank today from PA. I upgraded my small Euro Reef to a Bubble King mini 200. The main reason I went with this skimmer is because I think its probably the best small sized skimmer that will fit under my stand.

Ya know I think I have totally went overboard with this whole thing. I guess I can't have any excuses about my equipment now.

Chris

 

[Acro76]

Good to hear it sounds like everything is going in the right direction! Post some pics when things are looking up!

Just out of curiosity, did you consider looking at the ATI Bubblemaster? Build quality on the Bubble king is quite a bit nicer, just wondered what your thoughts were...

 

[cwegescheide]

Good to hear it sounds like everything is going in the right direction! Post some pics when things are looking up!

Just out of curiosity, did you consider looking at the ATI Bubblemaster? Build quality on the Bubble king is quite a bit nicer, just wondered what your thoughts were...

Hey Acro.. Well I thought I was going to get a new skimmer but the CFO just gave me the thumbs down. Bummer. Seems she thinks I've spent enough for a little while on the reef. I will say the main thing that drew me to the Bubble King is that it seems to be a top quality unit and THE MAIN thing is that its under 22" in height LOL so it fits in my cabinet. Now that I think about it I guess I should wait and see what happens since I added the GFO (its only been 2 weeks) and kalk reactor.

I also did away with my Rotameter and got a Litermeter to drive my Ca reactor. I had some problems with the Rotameter clogging over time, don't know what happened because for a few months it was working fine. I want my alk to be a stable as possible. The Litermeter seems pretty nice. A friend of mine drove his Ca reactor this way and seemed to work really well for him. We will see how GFO, kalk and alk stability does for my tank. Maybe I will snap some shots this weekend and post them to show a baseline and take a few after several months to document the change over time.

Maybe in a few months I can talk her into letting me get a new skimmer. I think my small euro reef is definatley NOT cutting the mustard.

Chris

 

[cwegescheide]

Well I thought I would add a few pictures I took from today. I'm no photographer so bear with me. LOL

Green Efflo

Purple Rim Cap - with no purple rim

Ora Tort frag - was browned out but seems to be coming back now.

 

[cwegescheide]

A small green table grown from a tiny frag (this one is very colorful)

I don't know what this is

Larry Jackson - My first SPS grown from a frag

Got this from a local reefer

Pink Stylophora