I tried to upload a pic but it's not working. Will try again. It's a 160g tank with 2 MP40 on opposite ends from eachother. One is at about 6" below the surface running at mostly 100% nutrient mode & the other is about 3-4" below the surface running mostly at 75% nutrient mode. Late night until early morning they are reduced another 20% & switched to constant mode.

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Yes, Frank's PO4 is 0.2 not 2.0
And his NO3 is @ 25

Yesterday I asked him to use a turkey baster on his corals and he told me a bunch of dusty crap blew off. Now I don't know if it was all over his corals, or just in spots where the tissue is gone, but either way he has high nutrients.

He reduced his lighting at my suggestion as I feel with the extra nutrients running his light @ 100% is most likely contributing to the crap on his corals. Plus, once basted they are exposed to all that high light and might bleach.

Frank, I think you've turned your light down a tad too much. We don't want to shock your corals. Try running your light around 75-80% to start with

Thank you

Putting the lights up to 80%

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I have been watching the effects of nutrient levels in my system for a while now and have found that colors seem to be best when no3 is maintained between 5-10 ppm, I know many would argue this is on the high side but it is working very well for me. The other variable that seems to have a large effect is not only light intensity but the photo period, how long are your lights running at 100% per day?

I have attached my hydra schedule
I also have two attinic led 4' strips which run 2hours longer than my hydra.


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...da7134ca05.jpg

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Is that close to 12 hours full lighting?

Wrong pic

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...974fecc98d.jpg

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I am sorry but trying to guess what is wrong with your tank without knowing the history of the tank, the corals, which corals are affected , which corals are not affected, how long you have had the corals, how long the tank has been set up, how long the browning has been happening, were the corals healthy at one time, have you made any changes to the tank or your husbrandry is not possible.

It is kind of like you saying you have a tummy ache and need a diagnosis. And a us saying, its a tumor, it indigestion, its your gall bladder, its the food you ate last night, its the full moon. One of us might be right but I wouldn't make drastic changes to my lifestyle without knowing what is truly going on.

All we really know about your tank is some/all of your corals are browning (only a symptom) and your tank parameters are within an acceptable range and you have adequate flow and adequate lighting.

There is a big difference between corals browning and dying. Browning is often caused by an excess growth of zooxanthellae algae. Bleaching/ dying is often caused by the coral expelling the zooxanthellae algae.

Also it is rarely just one thing it is likely a combination of things that are showing up in your corals as browning.

I completely understand.

I admit I'm kinda shoot from the hip when it comes to this hobby. I'm deffinetly going to pay attention to levels much closer this time around.

Ok so what happened? About a year ago everything was fine in my 160gal reef tank with a med/high bio load with LSP & SPS corals. Sorry can't name them since I'm not that technical. Had it running brand new introducing frags & everything was growing. I was running GFO, algae scrubber which was doing great. Since I was thinking of getting more fish I thought let's put a BIO pellet reactor online which I believe was the down fall of everything.

So hear I am. I had a huge crash and lost all the coral except for two heads of my hammer. So about a min of 6months have passed with just water changes & now I have started to get back in.

I have started to introduce new frags. I bought from a fellow reefer a frogspawn which seems to be doing great & SPS from another member which are shitting the bed.

Everything I'm experiencing is in the above thread & I'm truly nervous to continue investing in this hobby.

I'm going to try and modify my sump this week so I can add a refugium with hopes that it could keep my nitrates & phos in check.





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It's ok to own a biopellet reactor and this and that but you have to make slow subtle changes with any new piece of equipment that could or will change water chemistry. I would only add a piece of gear if I know I have a problem I need to correct. But again, you have to use a slow approach.
Furthermore if you have a good setup in the past there was likely no need to add a reactor or much anything else. If it ain't broke don't fix it attitude.
We wouldn't wanna see you get discouraged and throw in the towel just yet. My recommendation is to double check parameters and start with a couple inexpensive frags. Monitor there color growth over the next little while then slowly start adding again.