Crazy unique question, but the corals in my tank don't look as good as from where they came. Almost all came from two vendors who have impeccable reputations and have awesome tanks, so it is clearly MY tank. They are losing their color and tanning. They don't appear to be bleaching as it has been over a month since introduction and they aren't white. I have made a few changes in the last week, which I will note below.
Status of tank by creature:
Zoanthids are very happy and growing
Frogspawn is happy
Toadstool where clowns live is extremely happy.
Corals doing well - all but one SPS introduced 6 or 10 weeks ago:
Setosa
neon green milli
strawberry shortcake
red planet
green slimer
gatorade birdsnet
Lime n the sky slimer
my purple acropurple slimer
Corals that are looking pale:
blue acro (losing blue)
blue rim tenius (much lighter in color)
Bonsai - hardly purple at all. green dots still visable
upscale microclados (losing green and pink/purple color)
Tanks:
75 gallon with sump
Nova Extreme 6x54 watt t5 (ATI 3 Blue+, 2 Coral+, and 1 True Actinic+)
skimmer, etc.
3 hydro powerheads (Evo 1150, Evo 1300, and 1950 Gen 3)
Magdrive 5 return
Parameters:
ph 8.3
ca 440
alk 9
mag 1360
nitrates - not detected
phosphates - not detected
temp 78
water change of 10 gallons every fortnight
Fish:
yellow tang, flame angel and 3 clowns - all very active (2 clowns in sump, but we don't talk about them)
many snails and scarlet hermits.
Notables -
ca and alk have not been constant, but have been between ca 400-470 and alk 7-10. I have been setting up kalk in my ATO and making up the difference with 2 part. I bought a doser so hopefully I will dial this in in the next 2 weeks.
Mag was low, 1150-1200 based on first test with new kit. 4 days ago I increased it to 1360
Lighting was 1.2 years old and replaced as noted above 1 day ago. I had 3 coral+, 2 blue+ and a purple, all ATI
While tank is well established, I have put in many new rocks. All the same, the rocks have been in the tank 3-4 months.
Refugium - chaeto and calpura put in refugium within days of the second batch of corals. It has been in the tank for about a month and is growing well.
Tank has bubble algae (need emeralds), but no other algae is noteworthy. Snails and tang keep all of it out of sight.
Feeding:
3-4 3 inch squares of nori a week
1x a day auto feeder of flake
1-2x a week some form of frozen food (cytopleeze, blood worms, other critter cube)
1x a week 1/4 teaspoon of reef freak (some powder I put in water)
Checked tank at night and there are lots of little things swimming in the water column. There are tube worms in sump. This suggests to me that the corals are not starving for food and if anything, there is excess po4.
So have I done enough with setting up the refugium and getting new light? Will the tank start to color up on its own? If so, how long will it take? If not, what else should I do?
I will post comparison pictures later
Status of tank by creature:
Zoanthids are very happy and growing
Frogspawn is happy
Toadstool where clowns live is extremely happy.
Corals doing well - all but one SPS introduced 6 or 10 weeks ago:
Setosa
neon green milli
strawberry shortcake
red planet
green slimer
gatorade birdsnet
Lime n the sky slimer
my purple acropurple slimer
Corals that are looking pale:
blue acro (losing blue)
blue rim tenius (much lighter in color)
Bonsai - hardly purple at all. green dots still visable
upscale microclados (losing green and pink/purple color)
Tanks:
75 gallon with sump
Nova Extreme 6x54 watt t5 (ATI 3 Blue+, 2 Coral+, and 1 True Actinic+)
skimmer, etc.
3 hydro powerheads (Evo 1150, Evo 1300, and 1950 Gen 3)
Magdrive 5 return
Parameters:
ph 8.3
ca 440
alk 9
mag 1360
nitrates - not detected
phosphates - not detected
temp 78
water change of 10 gallons every fortnight
Fish:
yellow tang, flame angel and 3 clowns - all very active (2 clowns in sump, but we don't talk about them)
many snails and scarlet hermits.
Notables -
ca and alk have not been constant, but have been between ca 400-470 and alk 7-10. I have been setting up kalk in my ATO and making up the difference with 2 part. I bought a doser so hopefully I will dial this in in the next 2 weeks.
Mag was low, 1150-1200 based on first test with new kit. 4 days ago I increased it to 1360
Lighting was 1.2 years old and replaced as noted above 1 day ago. I had 3 coral+, 2 blue+ and a purple, all ATI
While tank is well established, I have put in many new rocks. All the same, the rocks have been in the tank 3-4 months.
Refugium - chaeto and calpura put in refugium within days of the second batch of corals. It has been in the tank for about a month and is growing well.
Tank has bubble algae (need emeralds), but no other algae is noteworthy. Snails and tang keep all of it out of sight.
Feeding:
3-4 3 inch squares of nori a week
1x a day auto feeder of flake
1-2x a week some form of frozen food (cytopleeze, blood worms, other critter cube)
1x a week 1/4 teaspoon of reef freak (some powder I put in water)
Checked tank at night and there are lots of little things swimming in the water column. There are tube worms in sump. This suggests to me that the corals are not starving for food and if anything, there is excess po4.
So have I done enough with setting up the refugium and getting new light? Will the tank start to color up on its own? If so, how long will it take? If not, what else should I do?
I will post comparison pictures later
