Alk is high, temp is low. You'll really slow SPS growth at 76.

P.S. It's not the lights :)

Are the corals actually colorful? To me, the word "pop" is in reference to lighting and nothing else. If the corals themselves are lacking color that's a whole different subject.

This may be part of the issue. Yes they have color. Do they have the color they should? Not sure as I am fairly knew to the hobby and have only seen a few other reefers tanks. I look at Slyguys and I think mine do not have anywhere near that color. Then I can look at some other tanks and say mine has better color. Again, is it lighting, is it me, is it water....I tend to want to agree with you that the pop may be just lighting.. In the end, I want my corals to Pop like Nicks, whether that is achieved by lights , water or both is becoming quite frustrating...


and to prove I am new...I can not even figure out how to multi quote...lol..argh...


"Aquattro Alk is high, temp is low. You'll really slow SPS growth at 76.

P.S. It's not the lights"

Ok, I will keep it around what it is now (9)or a bit lower. I was told high end was better for SPS, but You and Nick think it is high , so I will change it.

As for temp, what should I run it at? Is higher just for SPS, as I have quite a few softies etc as well.

Slyguy00 "your alk seems a bit high to me. probably not dangerous levels, but I usually keep mine between 9-10. Also you have to be very careful with gfo/rowaphos. when I first started using it, i added to much and it really sucked the colors out of my sps. Just a few ideas, every tank is different though so its hard to say forsure.
Today 05:13 PM"

The gfo has been running for about 2 months now. Hard to say if I noticed a change in coral color as it has been awhile and a month or two before that, I upgraded the tank and that did cause some stress to everything. Everything seems to have come back fully since the upgrade

I now keep my tank at 78/79. I used to keep it lower, 76/77, but read an article posted here somewhere on coral metabolism and increased mine. Growth improved. No, not limited to SPS

K, thanks. I will let it run around 78/79. It will be easier on the chiller as well. Damn thing has been running all day with this hot weather.

My temp never fluctuates off of 78 more then half a degree

In the cooler months I can maintain within a degree, but this type of weather causes it to fluctuate 2 or 3 degrees. It is 80.2 now and by morning it will be 77ish.
Halides give off alot of heat, then add in 320 watts of T5s inside a canopy and it keeps the chiller running...

If that's the case, then bump up the night temp to 79 so that you have a smaller swing. IME, it's the swing that bothers them more than the actual number. My SPS tank ran at 84F with halides and T5s and it did pretty good. Our house temperature doesn't change much from summer to winter, so that temperature was maintained all year. I had fans to keep it that "cool". :D

So bumping the temp up has helped level it off. I have it 78. It bumps up to 80.2 during the day.

I also changed the T5s to the ATI actinics that I had. Not big improvements to coral pop, but it is a nicer color overall. Should I have used the super blues?

After all the reading and info gleaned from others, I came to realize that I had not realized the simple concept of what role salt can play in a tank.

Did not realize that different brands had different parms, some made water cloudy etc etc. how it affected my dosing regiment and the fact I have never tested a fresh batch of salt for Ca, mag or alk. I just threw it in the 55 gal tank with water, check temp and salinity and was done. Boy, do I feel stupid , missing something so basic.

The salt polling thread made me aware of my ignorance.