Nate I have a set of used 10k reeflux bulbs.They were on my tank for about 100 hrs or less. I replaced them with 12k reeflux,I just didn`t like the color of the 10k.Lmk I will bring them down with me the next time I come down. I am asking $35 each...Tim
Help Nate's acros color up
- Thread starter gnatp2
- Start date
pp
wow, that is short. didnt realize less could be more. this doesnt affect your growth at all? I run my halides for 6 to 7 hours and my actinics for around 15.
Want better color but dont want to sacrifice growth.
wow, that is short. didnt realize less could be more. this doesnt affect your growth at all? I run my halides for 6 to 7 hours and my actinics for around 15.
Want better color but dont want to sacrifice growth.
Hello...
Seen these scenerios all too many times...been some good advice tips so far IMO...
#1. As stated those 400 DE are BLEACHING bright unless like 18 plus inches above the water, and on a 4-8 hour light cycle...if they are Hamiltons, thats the cause there I bet...hammys arn't impressive bulbs IME....terrible....
#2. yes PO4 can cause the brown...but these corals are white...this man would love to have deep brown shaded corals instead of extremely thin skinned white corals, that are near dead as we speak...
#3. I use Radiums (250 SE x9 hours), with ATI G-manmn T-5 blue pluses (x3 12 hours)with a short 5 hours of x2 URI aquasun VHO's (brings out the purples and pinks) over my 180 acro tank for example and have the richest deepest colors I've ever imagined....I have near 20 fish in there including 5 large tangs..I feed VERY heavily x2 times per day...literally a handfull of frozen food per day...thats how I get deeper colors is heavy feeding...but one must be able to process that added food...I use a few things not least of which is a DSB..(I'm not anti-BB...LOL)
#4. IME when my ALK gets that high as yours (11Dkh)...I lost mega color...goes below 7 and lose color and PE...my alk is best at 8-9 tops...Alk has a MAJOR part in sps coloration...at least proven to me by my relentless experiments here at my make-shift labratory/frag farm...
#5. The legendary red bugs can have this prolonged effect on only acroporas
#6. MOST IMPORTANT....This is one of the most overlooked things...probably because its so simple....I had problems for years and years as a younger reefer....wanted better color from my sps...and would lose PE on a colony hit and miss followed by STN/RTN death...tried EVERYTHING...well almost everything....its those dirty stinky no good handheld salt meters (hydrometers)...they are BUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The makers of these so called instruments must know this....they are killing hobbiests dreams and corals by the thousands...I had a high quality handheld hydrometer, my brother had one, my cousin had one...every reefer around here had one (probably because I did and I had gotton them all started in the hobby)...all the meters when compared to a real salinity tester (REFRACTOMETER), was reading .031-.035....I near fainted upon my discovery of this...corerected the problem (refractometere reading of a steady .025)...had intense sps color for years now....
BIGGEST TIP I can ever give to reefers...
BUY A GOOD REFRACTOMETER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....its the most important instrument you can have for reefing!
Hope my nickle advice helps..
Doc
Seen these scenerios all too many times...been some good advice tips so far IMO...
#1. As stated those 400 DE are BLEACHING bright unless like 18 plus inches above the water, and on a 4-8 hour light cycle...if they are Hamiltons, thats the cause there I bet...hammys arn't impressive bulbs IME....terrible....
#2. yes PO4 can cause the brown...but these corals are white...this man would love to have deep brown shaded corals instead of extremely thin skinned white corals, that are near dead as we speak...
#3. I use Radiums (250 SE x9 hours), with ATI G-manmn T-5 blue pluses (x3 12 hours)with a short 5 hours of x2 URI aquasun VHO's (brings out the purples and pinks) over my 180 acro tank for example and have the richest deepest colors I've ever imagined....I have near 20 fish in there including 5 large tangs..I feed VERY heavily x2 times per day...literally a handfull of frozen food per day...thats how I get deeper colors is heavy feeding...but one must be able to process that added food...I use a few things not least of which is a DSB..(I'm not anti-BB...LOL)
#4. IME when my ALK gets that high as yours (11Dkh)...I lost mega color...goes below 7 and lose color and PE...my alk is best at 8-9 tops...Alk has a MAJOR part in sps coloration...at least proven to me by my relentless experiments here at my make-shift labratory/frag farm...
#5. The legendary red bugs can have this prolonged effect on only acroporas
#6. MOST IMPORTANT....This is one of the most overlooked things...probably because its so simple....I had problems for years and years as a younger reefer....wanted better color from my sps...and would lose PE on a colony hit and miss followed by STN/RTN death...tried EVERYTHING...well almost everything....its those dirty stinky no good handheld salt meters (hydrometers)...they are BUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The makers of these so called instruments must know this....they are killing hobbiests dreams and corals by the thousands...I had a high quality handheld hydrometer, my brother had one, my cousin had one...every reefer around here had one (probably because I did and I had gotton them all started in the hobby)...all the meters when compared to a real salinity tester (REFRACTOMETER), was reading .031-.035....I near fainted upon my discovery of this...corerected the problem (refractometere reading of a steady .025)...had intense sps color for years now....
BIGGEST TIP I can ever give to reefers...
BUY A GOOD REFRACTOMETER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....its the most important instrument you can have for reefing!
Hope my nickle advice helps..
Doc
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One interesting observation. From another thread I was reading, someone stated that when they had high phosphates, their corals went brown and green. The greenish corals in my tank are looking much better than the others in my tank and even one of the frags I got started turning greenish when I put it in my tank (it was redish/blue in the tank I got it from). This gives further evidence to the problem being phosphates.
I've got a Hanna meter on the way and soon I'll have the real answer of what my phosphates are at. I'm also going to try to do some larger water changes and see if that helps.
A quick question on how much flow to put through the phosban reactor: I'm powering it with a maxi-jet 400. I know you aren't supposed to have the phosban media "tumbling" in the reactor, but what exactly does this mean. I can get it where there are a couple small areas at the top of the media where about 50 granules seems to be moving around kinda like a mini volcano. But this flow is far below the 70-80 gph setting that is recommended. If I turn it any higher, then the phosban media is stiring throughout the bottom half of the reactor, but still staying in one large section. There are no particles that are free floating in the water column above. What is the right setting?
Nate
I've got a Hanna meter on the way and soon I'll have the real answer of what my phosphates are at. I'm also going to try to do some larger water changes and see if that helps.
A quick question on how much flow to put through the phosban reactor: I'm powering it with a maxi-jet 400. I know you aren't supposed to have the phosban media "tumbling" in the reactor, but what exactly does this mean. I can get it where there are a couple small areas at the top of the media where about 50 granules seems to be moving around kinda like a mini volcano. But this flow is far below the 70-80 gph setting that is recommended. If I turn it any higher, then the phosban media is stiring throughout the bottom half of the reactor, but still staying in one large section. There are no particles that are free floating in the water column above. What is the right setting?
Nate
Also, I know that my tap water is very high in iron and phosphates. I do have a TDS meter that reads 0, but does a TDS meter check for phosphates? My ro/di is quite old and I'm skeptical that it isn't doing a good job even though the TDS meter reads 0.
TDS
I was not sure about the tds testing for Po4, so I looked it up.
There's a site called www.tdsmeter.com go figure
http://www.tdsmeter.com/abouttds.html
in the above section they state that phosphorus is a disolved solid and that will show up in the TDS reading. that site by the way is a great source of info, I did not want to copy their work so click and read
they even have info about Coffee! now I really like them!!
http://www.tdsmeter.com/abouttds_coffee.html
I was not sure about the tds testing for Po4, so I looked it up.
There's a site called www.tdsmeter.com go figure
http://www.tdsmeter.com/abouttds.html
in the above section they state that phosphorus is a disolved solid and that will show up in the TDS reading. that site by the way is a great source of info, I did not want to copy their work so click and read
they even have info about Coffee! now I really like them!!
http://www.tdsmeter.com/abouttds_coffee.html
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Thanks Jonathan. Great link. Makes me feel a bit better about the phosphates.
Update: So far here's what I've done. The photoperiod is at 5 hrs 45 mins. (and will continue to taper it down over the next month to 4 hrs). Changed 40 gallons of water. Will be doing another larger water change this week.
Still going to add another phosban reactor.
So far I haven't noticed any improvements, but definitely too early to tell.
Nate
Update: So far here's what I've done. The photoperiod is at 5 hrs 45 mins. (and will continue to taper it down over the next month to 4 hrs). Changed 40 gallons of water. Will be doing another larger water change this week.
Still going to add another phosban reactor.
So far I haven't noticed any improvements, but definitely too early to tell.
Nate
Update:
So today the Hanna meter finally came in. My phosphates are .18 according to the meter. This was after about a 50% water change so I'm guessing my phosphates were about .35 when I started this thread. For 2 weeks, I've been running 1 phosban reactor with phosban media and changed out the media a few days ago. I haven't noticed any coral coloration improvement, but I did pick up a couple nice corals from Ronen the other day which seem to be holding their color so far.
Given that my phosphates were .35 or so, does this seem like the logical answer to my coral coloration problem (seems like it to me but just wanted your guys opinion)? Also, with about 140 gallons of total water volume and phosphates at .18, how long should a phosban reactor take to remove nearly all the phosphate? (i still plan on doing a couple more larger water changes)
Thanks,
Nate
So today the Hanna meter finally came in. My phosphates are .18 according to the meter. This was after about a 50% water change so I'm guessing my phosphates were about .35 when I started this thread. For 2 weeks, I've been running 1 phosban reactor with phosban media and changed out the media a few days ago. I haven't noticed any coral coloration improvement, but I did pick up a couple nice corals from Ronen the other day which seem to be holding their color so far.
Given that my phosphates were .35 or so, does this seem like the logical answer to my coral coloration problem (seems like it to me but just wanted your guys opinion)? Also, with about 140 gallons of total water volume and phosphates at .18, how long should a phosban reactor take to remove nearly all the phosphate? (i still plan on doing a couple more larger water changes)
Thanks,
Nate
Nate, anything over .05 is high for SPS. With a PO4 level of .18 you have found the cause of your brown acros. keep running the phosban and slow down on feedings. The phosphates will come down. Now that you have the hanna meter check every possibility for PO4 addition i.e. RO water, cal reactor, food etc.
nate, since the first page of this thread, people have been telling you it is PO4 and long photoperiod. So, I'm sure we still feel that is the reason. .18 is still way too high for SPS. Great move on the Hanna. I consider it one of my best equipment purchases.
Keeping PO4 low is hard. You're going to want them @ .06 before you see better colors and they need to be kept @.03 or less for best results. These numbers are for the Hanna, not Salifert.
With all the phosban and water changes, not to mention your previous feeding schedule, I'd bet your PO4 was over .35, but it is hard to speculate. It's going to take some time to get color. A couple of months rather than a couple of weeks.
Keeping PO4 low is hard. You're going to want them @ .06 before you see better colors and they need to be kept @.03 or less for best results. These numbers are for the Hanna, not Salifert.
With all the phosban and water changes, not to mention your previous feeding schedule, I'd bet your PO4 was over .35, but it is hard to speculate. It's going to take some time to get color. A couple of months rather than a couple of weeks.
Chris, I think you're right. My phosphates were probably much higher than .35. I just did a test tonight and came up with .08 now after just a few more days of phosban.
I've added some amazingly colorful frags from Rich's tank and hope they do well in the newly improved water (still got a little more to go though).
Thanks,
Nate
p.s. Rich's frags are by far the most colorful of any frags I've gotten. I got lucky on that pickup.
I've added some amazingly colorful frags from Rich's tank and hope they do well in the newly improved water (still got a little more to go though).
Thanks,
Nate
p.s. Rich's frags are by far the most colorful of any frags I've gotten. I got lucky on that pickup.
Rich has great stuff. If I knew you were in the area, you could have stopped by here on your way out to help fill out your collection a little
Sounds like you're getting a good handle on the PO4. I'll never run a tank without a PO4 reactor again.
Sounds like you're getting a good handle on the PO4. I'll never run a tank without a PO4 reactor again.
Last night's readings were .09 and .08. so the phosphates are getting down a bit and the photoperiod is down to 5hrs 15 mins.
Rich's frags are still holding their color and looking good so far. I doubt they've been there long enough to really tell though. They are at the bottom of my tank for the time being.
I do have something very interesting that I discovered last night. My pink birdsnest colony has continued to turn more and more brown. BUT 2 small frags that I broke off when I originally got the colony and are sitting in my sump are still very pink!!! They are under 10k and actinic PC lighting that isn't all that strong but is on 23 hours/day. The frags are also very close to the surface of the water. I would think that if my problem were solely phosphates, this would not have happened since the water quality is the same. I'm considering on moving the birdsnest higher in the tank and see what happens. Any opinions?
Nate
Rich's frags are still holding their color and looking good so far. I doubt they've been there long enough to really tell though. They are at the bottom of my tank for the time being.
I do have something very interesting that I discovered last night. My pink birdsnest colony has continued to turn more and more brown. BUT 2 small frags that I broke off when I originally got the colony and are sitting in my sump are still very pink!!! They are under 10k and actinic PC lighting that isn't all that strong but is on 23 hours/day. The frags are also very close to the surface of the water. I would think that if my problem were solely phosphates, this would not have happened since the water quality is the same. I'm considering on moving the birdsnest higher in the tank and see what happens. Any opinions?
Nate
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