why are all my sps getting lighter?

[trueblackpercula]

I have a BB 120 that can be found here http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...5&pagenumber=1
The problem is that the corals are getting lighter. I guess what I am trying to say they just do not have that metalic looking flesheeee color that I see in other tanks. I change water 5 gallons a week with ro/di water and add b_ionic every day 25ml. Is there something else that I should be adding to my BB tank? The bulb is 7 months old would this cuase My sps to lighten up? Its a 13k megachrome 250 SE on a icecap ballast with 150 watts of vho Actinics. Is this commen in BB tanks or am I missing something?
Thanks
Michael

[Leonardo's Reef]

I have the same problem. I lost several frags because they where lighten up, showed no PE anymore, and finally died.
I think it has to do with running the tank to sterile.

I'm going to add more fish, and install a remote DSB in the sump. Also I'm going to dose Salifert Amino-Acids, besides the A- and K+ from Tropic Marin, that I already use for a while.

I would also like to know who have these experiences with SPS

Leonardo

[Wiskey]

I no longer run BB because of this problem, except it didn't stop there for me, soon STN and death followed after about 3 months.

I am going to be doing a small scale experiment soon on a 15 gallon tank. It will involve what I feel is the best of both worlds. I will use a 15G BB tank, with a 10G BB sump, and 2 remote DSB filters.

The hope here is that I can use the DSB as a filter and to feed the corals, while getting as much flow in the tank as possible. The DSB's will be able to be taken off the system at any time without disrupting it, so to prevent them from filling up and causing problems I will simply replace one of the 2 DSB's every year.

I hope it works, I will be starting a thread on it once I begin setup.
Whiskey

[Wiskey]

BTW, I didn't think there would be very much interest in my experiment, so I was going to do this quietly, Leonardo's the one who talked me into posting a thread on it when it gets setup.

Whiskey

[Leonardo's Reef]

I talked to Whiskey about this problem we experienced, and he told me about his experiment with the Remote DSB.
I will also start with this real soon, because my big colonies already become lighter

I'm glad we have this forum

Leonardo

[Wiskey]

I told you that clam needs to leave the Q tank before I can start this experiment.

Put in your own DSB in your sump and do your own thread and experiment The more people we have doing this the more accurite results we can get

Whiskey

[Leonardo's Reef]

Ok, I will do that!

Leonardo

[gwaco]

for some reason i think you guys are missing something ! i just don't believe that they are getting lighter has anything to do with whether the tank is b.b. or not ! if you think its because its nutreint poor , you could simple add alittle more food . maybe we need input from spanky !

[Jimbo]

I was having a bleaching problem also. I just added a couple new sps frags about a week ago and put them under a ledge. They kept thier color and polyp extension. Some signs from a green slimer frag and a digitata was that the polyp's wouldn't extend and they slowly lost color. I think it's to late for them... I did put the older frags at the edges of the tank to start with.

I have moved the new corals out from under the ledge and reduced the MH period to 4 hours a day. Will see if this helps. I don't think it's the nutrient poor enviroment itself, but the clarity of the water that allows more UV to penetrate. Just guessing

I had a year old xm10kk above my tank same problem, changed bulb to a reefoptic 14kk half the par still bleaching after a couple of weeks of burn in. 4 hour photo period is ok with me if it works out, just less electricty used. Will supplement with actinic and 10kk flourescents.

[Spanky]

Thin tissue, less color (less color is just thin tissue), no little polyps sticking out, then bam

Guys, If there's one thing that people should have noticed when I went BB - and no one paid attention no matter how many times I said it

I was tired of not being able to keep a lot of fish in my tank with a DSB. It would overload the DSB every time and sput.

I know a lot of people thought they knew what they were talking about and dominated all the threads/conversations with all this sterile talk.

BUT

I went BB so I could keep a lot of fish in my coral tank!

You guys are not feeding enough! and you are overlighting!

pollution = fertilizer = more zoox = more brown corals = higher light to burn off those zoox

Now that you are running cleaner tanks with less fertilizer, you need less light. Or you need more fertilizer.

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Leonardo's Reef

Ok, I will do that!

Leonardo

Is it done yet?

Whiskey

[Spanky]

The trick, if there is one, with BB is to use common sense.

You want the food in there, but you want to take it out fast so it doesn't turn into pollution.

[gwaco]

so are we starving the zoo ? or the coral ? i seem to remember whisky trying these things and none of them worked . i won't dare tell you how much i feed the fish , but lets just say i don't know how they can swim !

[gwaco]

jimbo ! you're running a 400 watt m.h. on a 40 gal ! maybe you can save even more on electrical cost and just go with a 250 ! i would think the 400 is overkill !

[Spanky]

well

It's really hard to starve one without the other.

If there's a way to dump 5 tons of food in the tank, and take it right back out immediately, then do it.

A DSB relys on you letting the food sit there, rot, and then run a sewage treatment plant all the way back to pure clean water.

Again, you will have to be the judge of what you can get away with. Throw those stupid phosphate test kits out and look at your glass. Tweek your skimmer, get a bigger pump for your skimmer, get more, get less water to the skimmer.

I've seen BB tanks that could only support a few fish, and BB tanks that could keep a herd of cows in it.