Getting irritated

[h8z2luze]

So I have a 2.5 month old 20L I have quite a few frags in it. Not my first tank btw. Idk if it's just cause my tank is new or what but seems like I've always had an issue keeping sps color. They grow well and always have good pe and look good but they all turn lighter in color and/or brown. I've been doing a lot of research on it. Most people say it's because of excess nutrients. Maybe I need to more often water changes. My main Params are all in good shape but maybe the trace elements aren't prevalent enough. I usually do a 5 gallon wc every 8-10 days. The whole system is about 30 gallons. Any ideas? It's starting to really get to me.

[slowngreen]

What are your nitrates at?

[GlassHouse]

Browning is usually due to higher phosphates while lack of color is usually due to low trace minerals. Running some additional GFO should take care of the browning issue by lowering your phosphates. Additional water changes will help with the color by replacing trace elements, or use an addititve like Kent Essential Elements or even the Seachem/AquaVitro Fuel which is an amino acid and trace element supplement.

[h8z2luze]

Well I dose b-ionic when my Alk or ca fall. My nitrates are zero. Getting the phosphates tested today.

[Arkayology]

With such a young system, you should not expect your corals on difficult to keep corals to look stellar. I would try to keep everything as stable as possible and give it some time. Nothing good happens fast in reef tanks.

[markalot]

Phosphate brown is a nice rich deep brown. You most likely have a pale brown, which is indicative of an acro pest, like AEFW, or too little food in the tank. Feed heavy, cloud the tank heavy, and keep up on water changes. See what happens.

[h8z2luze]

I spot feed all my corals oyster feast every other day. Some say don't feed because it causes phosphates...

[markalot]

I spot feed all my corals oyster feast every other day. Some say don't feed because it causes phosphates...

 

Life causes phosphates.

 

Feed heavy, keep up on water changes. I'm not sure what spot feeding an SPS looks like, but they do best with moderate to high flow and something in the water for them to catch. I'm a big fan of Reef Roids because AFAIK it's one of the few foods actually shown to increase growth in a scientific study done for coral farmers. You can google to fine the article.

 

Anyway, you'll get there, you just have to tolerate the new tank, a serious case of algae if you decide to feed heavier, and other new tanks issues until it eventually balances out. You too can have an algae free tank with pretty fish and dull corals!

 

The idea is to keep food in the water for corals to eat and remove the waste in a timely matter. It's work, but it's also worth it when you see the corals respond.

[h8z2luze]

So many different opinions. Your opinion makes more sense to me than most. Thank you for the input.