sps help

[JOEL]

My sps don't seem to color up what am I
doing wrong?

About my tank

It is a 90gal tank with a 30gal sump
2 lumanarc reflectors
bulbs se xm 250 watt 20000k m58 balast 8hr per day
was using xm 10000k just changed one month ago to
xm 20000k
2 t5 atinics 12hr per day
skimmer euro reef rs 135
Tank has been up and running for 1 year
I am using IO salt and add calcium and magnesium to bring the levels up should I be adding anything else to IO salt

I added some Knife Caulerpa (Caulerpa prolifera to my sump.
Is this statement true about knife caulerpa
Excercise caution when using this iron supplements. They can also encourage the growth of nuisance hair algae and less desirable macroalgae.
should i take it out of the sump?

Livestock
1 yellow tang
1 copperband
1 flame angle
hermits crabs
1 fire shrimp
1 cleaner shrimp

SPS

digitat
birdnest
acos
all small frags

At first I was not adding anything to my water till one month
ago I started to add zeovit.

5 drops of coral vitalizer per day
5 drops of amino acid per day
5 drops of zeofood two times per week
5 drops of zeobak two times per week
last three days been adding coral snow

Water parameters

nitrate 0 salifert test kit
phosphate 0 salifert test kit
ph 8.0 neptune controler
temp 80 neptune controler
calcium 450 salifert test kit
magnesium 1300 marine aquarium test kit
salinity 1.025 refractometer
alk 7.6kh
flow is 4800gph
Any help would be appreciated

[mark]

I've got some corals shades of brown/tan but then the original colonies weren't that colourful to start with (just wanted something cheap to first try SPS). What were the mother colonies like?

[JOEL]

Originally Posted by mark

I've got some corals shades of brown/tan but then the original colonies weren't that colourful to start with (just wanted something cheap to first try SPS). What were the mother colonies like?

I am not sure what the mother colonies like but I have 11 differant frags that
I got from two differant people

[Snappy]

There must be something you're not aware of. Sounds like high nitrates or something. How high are they in the tank? How is your flow?

[JOEL]

Originally Posted by Snappy

There must be something you're not aware of. Sounds like high nitrates or something. How high are they in the tank? How is your flow?

Hi snappy

My nitrate are at 0 salifert test kit
My flow is 4800 gph

Any other suggestions

[christyf5]

Hi Joel,

you and I have almost the same systems

Have you always had problems with SPS coloration or are you thinking that they should be coloring up with the use of zeovit?? I have been using zeovit for about 6 months now and my corals are nice but not like the photos of other zeovit tanks.

Anyways here is what I dose for zeovit for comparison sakes:

zeobak 4 drops 2x week
zeofood7 4 drops 2x week
coral vitalizer 4 drops 3x week
zeostart2 0.3ml 2x day
coral snow 2-3mls 3x week

If I were you I'd cut back a bit on your coral vitalizer, sometimes too much can darken tissue as well as the amino acids (as per zeovit.com). If you've just started with zeovit I'd stop the amino acids altogether and wait until you have run the system for awhile before adding that (thats what I was told on zeovit.com).

I'd also think about maybe increasing your halide photoperiod to 10 hours a day? The XM 20K aren't really providing a ton of light but thats just my opinion.

As for the iron supplements, you haven't indicated that you are using any?? I doubt the caulerpa will cause you any problems. I think the taxifolia is one of the safer caulerpas to use for nutrient export.

[JOEL]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Hi Joel,

you and I have almost the same systems

Have you always had problems with SPS coloration or are you thinking that they should be coloring up with the use of zeovit?? I have been using zeovit for about 6 months now and my corals are nice but not like the photos of other zeovit tanks.

Anyways here is what I dose for zeovit for comparison sakes:

zeobak 4 drops 2x week
zeofood7 4 drops 2x week
coral vitalizer 4 drops 3x week
zeostart2 0.3ml 2x day
coral snow 2-3mls 3x week

If I were you I'd cut back a bit on your coral vitalizer, sometimes too much can darken tissue as well as the amino acids (as per zeovit.com). If you've just started with zeovit I'd stop the amino acids altogether and wait until you have run the system for awhile before adding that (thats what I was told on zeovit.com).

I'd also think about maybe increasing your halide photoperiod to 10 hours a day? The XM 20K aren't really providing a ton of light but thats just my opinion.

As for the iron supplements, you haven't indicated that you are using any?? I doubt the caulerpa will cause you any problems. I think the taxifolia is one of the safer caulerpas to use for nutrient export.

Yes I have always had problems with SPS coloration since I got them
back in July and they don't seem to grow much.

[wickedfrags]

How are you maintaining your alkalinity and calcium? I did not see a calcium reactor mentioned below.

That choice of macro is not the best, but it should not present any immediate problems, get your hands on some chaeto. No need to dose iron.

[fencer]

What rate do you water change? and add carbon

[Rbacchiega]

I don't run carbon...and I have zoas in with my sps. But I do do a 10-15% water change every week...