A. Florida lost color tips

[NEWSALT]

I have a nice sized A. Florida frag that I got from Stan (smcooler. When I got it, it had great color, especially the red tips. It's been in my non-zeo tank for several weeks and in that time, the red tips have faded. I have pretty good flow in the tank and all the other corals have colored up nicely since I added more flow. Even though I'm not using Zeo, I do use the following additives 3x a week:

3 drops PIF
4ml Croal Snow mixed w/3 drops Amino Acid & Coral Vitalizer
5ml B-Balance mixed w/3 drops Sponge Power

I found out last night that my alk is low, and I'm slowly raising it. Perhaps this has an impact. Any other ideas on the faded tips? Oh, the tank is lite with (2) 250W, 14k Ice Cap MHs and (2) 110W Super Actinic VHOs.

Thanks

 

[smcooler]

low dkh how low? DKH is one of the most critical things to keep rock solid when keeping sps. That coral needs as much light as you can provide.


s

 

[NEWSALT]

low dkh how low? DKH is one of the most critical things to keep rock solid when keeping sps. That coral needs as much light as you can provide.


s

dkh was 4.9 using LaMotte kit. I've been slowly trying to raise it to 7.5. The lighting is what I've mentioned above which I think is similar to your tank Stan. The frag is toward the back of the tank not directly under a MH bulb, but not shadowed by anything either.

 

[smcooler]

low dkh how low? DKH is one of the most critical things to keep rock solid when keeping sps. That coral needs as much light as you can provide.


s

dkh was 4.9 using LaMotte kit. I've been slowly trying to raise it to 7.5. The lighting is what I've mentioned above which I think is similar to your tank Stan. The frag is toward the back of the tank not directly under a MH bulb, but not shadowed by anything either.

OMG 4.9 your lucky you did not lose the whole tank, 7.5 is to low go for 10 now you know why your sps are not happy.

 

[pnoyreefer]

I agree with stan 4.9 wow u are very lucky not to loose your tank. I remember when my alk hit 6 most of my sps rtn . I keep mine 7.5-8.5 ..

 

[smcooler]

if i let my dkh go under 6 basel tn will start and acro colonies will be on the way to the trash can.



stan

 

[NEWSALT]

low dkh how low? DKH is one of the most critical things to keep rock solid when keeping sps. That coral needs as much light as you can provide.
s

dkh was 4.9 using LaMotte kit. I've been slowly trying to raise it to 7.5. The lighting is what I've mentioned above which I think is similar to your tank Stan. The frag is toward the back of the tank not directly under a MH bulb, but not shadowed by anything either.

OMG 4.9 your lucky you did not lose the whole tank, 7.5 is to low go for 10 now you know why your sps are not happy.

10. Really? I'm not using full Zeo, but in the Zeo Guide it tells you that optimum parameters for dkh is 6.5-7.5 and to aim for that. It also says "Higher concentrations show no advantage. Neither growth nor coloring in SPS corals can be positively affected".
From what I remember Stan, you're not using full Zeo anymore either right? You dkh is around 10?

 

[smcooler]

trust me dont go by what i do, keep your tank 9-10 do your w/c, if your not running the zeolith media dont worry about keeping your dkh low. the 9-10 area will keep you in the safe area. The zeo guide is for hard line users of the whole system all the color helpers like bb and sp and all the rest are when you have uln stable system/ or your just feeding alge.



s

 

[NEWSALT]

Thanks for your input Stan..and yours as well Steve. I'll slowly adjust the dkh to 9-10 and see how it does along the way. My system is probably not totally uln, but it has to be close. Nitrates are undetectable using a Salifet test and PO4 is in the 0.04 range using the Hanna photometer.

 

[JRodrig692]

If I could run the system at 10 I would be happy with that. The corals seem to love that number.

I am running my dkh at 8.5/9 and running full Zeo. With the zeo they tell you to run it low but when you are in the 7 range, the moment something goes wrong, you are now in the 6's and asking for trouble. Keep on the higher end and as Stan said, you are not running the Lith, so higher for you is fine.

Like the guys before said, you are SO lucky it was not half the tank that began to die out.

You look good on the PO4, just a bit more of a drop and you will be fine. Obviuosly, the 0 mark is great, but as close to that as possible is the way to go.

Good Luck!

 

[NEWSALT]

If I could run the system at 10 I would be happy with that. The corals seem to love that number.

I am running my dkh at 8.5/9 and running full Zeo. With the zeo they tell you to run it low but when you are in the 7 range, the moment something goes wrong, you are now in the 6's and asking for trouble. Keep on the higher end and as Stan said, you are not running the Lith, so higher for you is fine.

Like the guys before said, you are SO lucky it was not half the tank that began to die out.

You look good on the PO4, just a bit more of a drop and you will be fine. Obviuosly, the 0 mark is great, but as close to that as possible is the way to go.

Good Luck!

That's interesting that you're running full Zeo with Alk at 8.5-9. Like I said, the Guide says it should be 6.5-7.5. But you're right, one blip in your Alk and you're in trouble, and that's what happened to me and I was losing corals left and right.

 

[JRodrig692]

I started running the dkh around 7 and the tank went south one day and I lost a few colonies I had to frag to save them.

As Stan said, the guide is just a guide. I have slowly over time acclimated my corals to a higher dkh and they are doing great. Now, it was not over night, it takes time.

In regards to the additives, once again, they are a time tested thing. The guide is a guide, and you have to look at your tank and see what the corals respond to and adjust from there. If you follow the guide you will go crazy. Stan and I speak about what the dose should be and I manipulate what the amount should be to find what works, sometimes more, sometimes less, but ALWAYS slowly. Things that he does to his tank may work for him and only him, where I do something that works for me and me only. I guarantee that if everyone ran the same exact system, we would all have different results, you have to find what works for your corals, and make it stick.

To tell you, the guide may say for me to add 6 drops, so what have I done, I give it a squirt and see what happens. Most of what I add is a full squirt here, pour some there and so on, but like I said, you need to watch the tank. But I have gotten to the point where I I am off the guide and am pusing the tank more and more.

 

[NEWSALT]

Well the A. Florida is still not doing well. It may be gone. I don't wan't to say it's bleached, but it is so pale and I don't see any PE, not even with the lights out. I got the Alk and Mg in check and again, other corals look great.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Don't give up on it just yet. You may have shocked it quite a bit, and it just may need some time to come back in all its glory.

Some of my SPS bleached on me numerous weeks ago because I changed too many things at once, but they have all slowly recovered. Did yours bleach out rather quickly or slowly? The 3 stonies that pulled the bleaching act on me did it within less than a week, and it took a good month for them to come back.

 

[NEWSALT]

Wendy:

I'm not pulling it out of the tank just yet. I am going to give it some time. Actually it looks like it might me encusting on the LR. It's not bleached or totally white, it's just very pale. It didn't happen quickly. It happened around 2 weeks after I put it in the tank. I don't know if 2 weeks is considered quick.