Corals losing color...

[advanwoerden]

Hey guys, hope someone can lend their expertise to my predicament:

My LPS and SPS have lost much of their color over the past few months. Here are my specs, I'm hoping someone can easily identify the problem for me:

Tank: 40g cube w/ 20g sump
Lights: LEDs running 8hrs a day- 22 3w XRE blue, 18 3w XPG white on 4 different drivers (120w total)
Skimmer: bubble magus (forget the model, but its sufficient)
Misc: water changes bi-monthly, supplement with kalkwasser, essential elements, coral-vite weekly. SPS closer to the top, LPS on the bottom

Many thanks in advance for your help

 

[prattreef]

High Po4 is always a likely culprit. How long have you been running the LEDs?

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Instead of Bi-monthly,do more frequent water changes like every other week or once a week.

 

[advanwoerden]

bi-weekly is every 2 weeks. I'll try and do weekly though. As for PO4, I have a phosban running, and have been dosing algaefix as well. I have a relatively light bioload- only 3 fishes, and i top off and do water changes with RO/DI. I've been running the LEDs for over 6 months; started with less and added more when I didn't think it was enough. I'd like to add more blue, but not sure if it's too much or not enough light; I can't really find a good reference for watts/gallons for LEDs

 

[jcs11236]

+1.. u need to step up your water changes

 

[CHEMCHEF]

Hey guys, hope someone can lend their expertise to my predicament:

My LPS and SPS have lost much of their color over the past few months. Here are my specs, I'm hoping someone can easily identify the problem for me:

Tank: 40g cube w/ 20g sump
Lights: LEDs running 8hrs a day- 22 3w XRE blue, 18 3w XPG white on 4 different drivers (120w total)
Skimmer: bubble magus (forget the model, but its sufficient)
Misc: water changes bi-monthly, supplement with kalkwasser, essential elements, coral-vite weekly. SPS closer to the top, LPS on the bottom

Many thanks in advance for your help

FYI. This means every other month:scratch:

 

[advanwoerden]

Ah, you're right, i meant biweekly. Sorry...

 

[Gwiz3005]

Depending on where you are from in the world bimonthly can mean every 2 weeks or every 2 months.

I'm pretty sure Advanwoerden said every 2 weeks.

So funny how many times I have heard this argument.

Have you tested your P04? Even running Phosban may not get it to the range you want it to be.

 

[advanwoerden]

last time i tested it, it was pretty low, but its been awhile. I just cleaned out all my filters and pumps, and replaced my phosban media. Preparing for a water change, and I will measure PO4 in a few days.

Any thoughts on lighting though? Typically high PO4 results in brownish corals, but mine are turning white/clear.

 

[Celestin]

i would think you don't have enough neutrients in the water which is causing the light color. you may want to remove the PO4 remove for a week or two as a little phosphates can be beneficial for color as long as it remain under 0.03