3gal pico - dosing?

[ponda]

Im thinking of dosing doe my 3gal pico but nore sure where 2 start.

I use reef crystal salt and do 50% water changes twice a week. And still my sps I have are browning out.

I feel like im missing out by not dosing kalk or 2 part?

 

an I simply work my way up to 4tsp per 5gal

 

My plan is this.

Add kalk to my empty bucket. Add rodi. Let it all mix for several hours. Then add my salt?

Do 1.5 gal water 2x a week?

[Angel<3Nanos]

What kind of lights do you have?

[ponda]

A full spectrum led light

[markalot]

Im thinking of dosing doe my 3gal pico but nore sure where 2 start.

I use reef crystal salt and do 50% water changes twice a week. And still my sps I have are browning out.

I feel like im missing out by not dosing kalk or 2 part?

 

an I simply work my way up to 4tsp per 5gal

 

My plan is this.

Add kalk to my empty bucket. Add rodi. Let it all mix for several hours. Then add my salt?

Do 1.5 gal water 2x a week?

 

Don't feel, test! Kalk will raise the PH a ton and probably wipe out the tank, don't go there. Test the water at the same time every day, just before any maintenance. Get an idea where your KH and Calcium are and how fast they drop. Don't worry about Mag because the numerous water changes with Reef Crystals should be maintaining it at a high enough level.

 

You want to maintain consistent levels for your SPS. If you make your new saltwater high in Alk and Calcium you'll be swinging params like crazy.

[andrewkw]

Are you sure the problem is not alkalinity?

Test your alk 24hrs apart. My sps is softies / lps but alk drains like crazy. Calcium not so much. You should be dosing the days you are not doing water changes, keeping the water closer to the water change parameters.

[HOTWATER]

Maybe keep Sps in a larger aquarium? No disrespect.

[brandon429]

You need to isolate your light as a problem

 

the water change interval is perfect, its beyond what el fab was doing and he had no sps problems until the sandbed maintenance caught up with the tank.

 

we need to see threads where your specific light was used on a pico reef and grew sps without browning, without that kind of thread link there's no way to remove your light from the equation. your other coral growth is great, perhaps as a mid ground for this type of lighting you have to settle for darker sps colors. either way, switching to the lighting el fab used in his example thread is certain to work for the colors he got as well, but it comes with downsides as LEDs run cooler, last longer etc. your spectrum quality may not compare however, so lets see examples where your light did produce light colored sps.

 

if no links can be found, then we can't move fwd with the analysis

 

you def dont have a problem tank though...there are corals that wont grow well in my vase and I just exclude them and keep what does. perhaps trying different species of sps can make a difference as well, considering the alternate corals you have show growth.

 

dosing should not occur in the above case until its indicated as a need for calcium and alk on non api test kits, your wc is exceptional and well enough. you dont have an ion issue with browning sps, for rtn maybe, but not browning. we need to also see if your sps has added mass when compared to pics from when the frag is new.

 

if its base plating, adding clear mass we can see, but its brownish growth indicating high density zooxanthellae, that further indicates no ion problems. no kalk here.

[tibbsy07]

In such a small tank I wouldn't dose anything heavily... Get something like Instant Ocean Marine Stabilizer (it's like 12 bucks or so for a bottle and lasts forever in such small tanks). It's essentially dosing but in a pre-measured way that won't shock your tank. 1ml/gallon is all you need. Easy.

 

To be honest, though, with twice weekly 50% water changes, your water is probably not the issue. Test every day for a few days, then make your decision on dosing.

 

I think it's your light and flow. What kind of flow do you have? Filtration? Your light is a full spec LED, but what light is it? Not all full spec LEDs are created equal...