why does my sps always lose it's color

rarecoral21

Reefing newb
I have tried every M/H out there and HQI nothing seems to work for me.My coral always looks dull no matter what I try. I have over 40 sps/ lps mostly rare pieces . I cant seem to ever keep there true color no matter where they are in my tank please help.My tank is a 70 gallon with 40 gallon sump / cal reator/phos reator/2 tunze powerheads 6025/6045 and a mag 9 for the return pump.For my lighting i have 2 250mh xtm 20 k bulbs and 4 t5 55w and 10 inc canopy. please helppppppppppppp:frustrat:



mag/ 1350
salt/.22
ph/8.2
cal/ 440
kh/ 10
nit/ 5 but for the most part 0
 
Humm... seems like all is good and with the 20K lighting the colors should pop! I'm sure others will have some advice. I'm not too good with SPS knowledge, yet. Sorry.
 
How high are you hanging your light above the water? From my recent test, there is a sharp drop of light after certain inches above the water. Obviously, the height various between different light fixtures and their reflectors. Nonetheless, it is a major factor regardless of the type of light you have.
 
My phos level is 0 and my lights are about 7in off the water maybe 8in from a10 in canopy that is close on all sides ecep back . And the tank is about 2 month old i just started it back up. My temp in the tanK is always around 77-79 thanks to my chiller 1/4HP
 
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What kind of light fixture you have? For those big pendulum type, 7"-8" off the water should be fine. But for my Outer Orbit HQI, I lost 30% of the light hanging it at 6.2" off the water compare to 5.5". 30% lost from just 0.7"!!!
 
It could be lack of flow - your Tunze's are about equal to 1 K-3 and 1 K-4 which isn't a whole lot for SPS, high phosphate or high DOC (dissolved organic compounds)...among other things. What kind of skimmer do you have?

How about a FTS of your system.
 
Your salinity is also a bit low for SPS corals.
I've found that they do better with a salinity of 1.026sg.
 
I had my salt at 1.026 and my coral did not do well at all.For my skimmer its a g3 I hope I dont sound rude
 
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Not rude sounding at all, rarecoral21. It's always good to hear differing opinions. What works for some doesn't always work for others.
 
I had my salt at 1.026 and my coral did not do well at all.For my skimmer its a g3 I hope I dont sound rude
I didn't sense any "rudeness" in any of your replies.

As I'm sure you are aware, natural seawater around most reefs is 35 ppt or 1.026 SG...with the salinity of the Red Sea being even higher (between 36-41 ppt). If you are having issues keeping corals at the natural salinity level, you have underlying problems elsewhere. A pic is worth 1000 words. If you can post a FTS and maybe your sump/filtration system, we can get some ideas.

The ASM G3 is a good skimmer. How often do you need to clean it and empty the collection cup? Can you post a pic of it in action too?
 
I cant seem to get this to work but if you go to my images its still the same set up.And for the g-3 i clean like once a week


Thanks for all the help guys
 
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Are you checking your salinity with a calibrated refractometer or a cheap plastic hydrometer? That can make a difference. I don't know if that would affect the coloration of your sps as much as phos/nitrate, though. I'm kinda thinking lighting isn't the issue. Browning tends to be a nutrient issue. Do you have any algae growing in your tank? That could indicate phosphates that aren't showing up on a hobbyist test kit.
+1 cccapt and yote, a FTS would help us help you!
 
how is your polyp extension? how old are your bulbs? if this is a 70g and you're using a G3 the immediate thing that comes to mind would be overskimming (it does exist, although i don't feel like going into an argument about it at this moment.) skimming pulls out dissolved organics, a decent portion of which would be proteins and amino acids. amino acids are an important part of coral coloration, especially in SPS.

if you've ever heard of guys adding fish to their SPS tank for coloration, or claiming they need a bit more fish poop in their tank, they're referring to amino acids. dosing amino acids is the quick and easy way... might be something to try. You're really sterilizing your water.... fish waste doesn't just break down into nitrates and phosphates... it's a necessary evil to have that poo :P

below link talks a little about amino acids and the need for them. Feeding The Reef Aquarium, A New Paradigm - by Ronald L. Shimek - Reefkeeping.com

just my .02....
 
The polyp extension is all really good on almost all sps and lps.But there is 2 pcs not doing so well.For the most part there fine my rainbow acro and monti look really dull u can only see there true color under the artic blue's. My bulbs are 2 years old but I only used them maybe 5 months of that time.And ya cheap plastic hydrometer is what I have. For the pic I dont know how to do it yet sorry.I also used to have a g-2 skimmer same problem.I almost fill like I will never fix this problem ive done everything under the sun I say that because I really have I have way over 20k invested in this hobby ive be doing this for about 8 years now .This has always been the same problem this is why I gave it up for 2years.i think maybe i just should buy a bigger tank but if I cant tank care of my 70 gal why spend 3k more .



Thank's guys for all the info
 
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