Victoria SPS Dominated Reef Owners

Canadian · #1 02-16-2010, 12:36 AM

Dear Victoria area SPS dominated reef owners,

I'm in desperate need of some feedback. Ok that's a little dramatic but nevertheless, I am getting frustrated with my SPS coloration. I don't know if it's a carry-over of my husbandry skills of long ago where the focus was on attempting to keep a "super clean" tank but my colors have been pale for the last year. My tank is BB. My nitrates are 0. My phosphate is literally 0.00 on a Hanna meter. I've recently made several changes including adding more fish and feeding more, and dosing some Zeovit additives. Time will tell whether or not these changes improve the depth of color.

But at this point I feel like I need another set of eyes to take a look at the tank in person to get some feedback.

Anyone willing to come over to take a look? You let me know what your choice of beer is and I'll have it here.

JDigital · #2 02-16-2010, 01:49 AM

Why Victoria!? I've always wanted to see your tank in person!

Canadian · #3 02-17-2010, 12:46 AM

I guess you don't have to be from Victoria. So far you're the only one who has expressed any interest, so let me know what your favorite beer is and when you're heading over

Denis · #4 02-17-2010, 12:57 AM

Try cutting back you lights, half hour at the time over few months. Once the colors start to look little too brownish, go back up a bit.

tlo · #5 02-17-2010, 12:58 AM

i'll come have a look, if you need, I can even take some home with me and see how they look in my tank

JDigital · #6 02-17-2010, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Canadian

I guess you don't have to be from Victoria. So far you're the only one who has expressed any interest, so let me know what your favorite beer is and when you're heading over

Frags can sometimes be better than beer..

lol

lorenz0 · #7 02-17-2010, 02:37 AM

How long is your photo period and what fish do you have in the tank?

man i too love your tank and set up. Only thing i can think of is your bio load being to low, lights are on to long or your skimming to much.

Canadian · #8 02-17-2010, 03:58 AM

Thanks for the replies!

I've traded frags with others and they've generally been able to get better coloration (deeper) than I have.

I've made a lot of changes in the last 2 weeks so I really do need to give it time to see if they take effect before I completely lose my mind.

With that said, I'll outline some more info about my tank to help with some troubleshooting:

Equipment list - as seen in my signature below.

Lamps: (in order from front to back) ATI Blue+, Giesemann Pure Actinic, Giesemann Midday, ATI AB Spezial, ATI Blue+, ATI Blue+

Dawn/dusk lamps are the Giesemann Pure Actinic and ATI Blue+ (lamps 2 and 5) on at 2:00PM and off at 10:30PM - 8.5 hours

Daylight lamps are ATI Blue+, Giesemann Midday, ATI AB Spezial, ATI Blue+ (lamps 1,3,4,6) on at 4:00PM and off at 10:00PM - 6 hours

Livestock:
- Flame Angel (no it doesn't pick at anything and it was only added last week)
- 2 x Saddleback Clowns
- Sixline Wrasse
- Chalk Basslet
- Talbot's Damsel
- Cleaner Shrimp
- Serpent Star
- A few Blue Leg Hermits and Astrea Snails

I've basically never seen a pod of any sort in this tank since I changed it over last March. This suggests to me that there's an absence of anything for them to eat in this BB tank. Like I said, I'm at a loss. I know my nutrient levels are really low and I'm trying to up them with increased feedings and dosing Zeovit's Nano-Power (Coral Vitalizer, Phol's Xtra, Amino Acids LPS & Sponge Power).

lorenz0 · #9 02-17-2010, 06:00 AM

wanna shoot some pictures???

personally i think your tank is so low in nutrients (like using full zeo). Try feeding oyster and roti feast twice a week and see the long term effects of it. As i take it your only food source for your sps is fish crap.

Your lighting is good, basically the same schedual i am on

Canadian · #10 02-18-2010, 04:21 AM

Ok here are some pictures. I took these with my crappy Canon G10 camera. I hate this thing. I wish I had purchased a DSLR instead of letting my wife talk me out of it. But I digress . . . These pics were taken quickly with automatic mode and display the color as more saturated than it really is. Also, the crappy camera (more likely user error) isn't the best when it comes to exposure and I didn't want to take the time to try to edit these in Aperture to make them more accurate tonight. But I will tomorrow if need be.