My SPS are getting paler every week

[espenlg]

Originally posted by arts007
I wouldnt go adding fish, I would feed the corals, but thats me. The expulsion of the zooxanthellae is not necessarily a bad thing as long as there is a balance of the amount of energy that the coral is taking in. JMO, BTW its a great looking tank, and its not an emergency like you say at this point. I really like the aquascaping

Yes, I think I'll try feeding a little more before purchasing more fish. Right now my fish stocking is as follows:
1 pcs. Zebrasoma flavescens (Yellow Tang)
1 pcs. Acanthurus leucosternon (Powder Blue Tang)
1 pcs. Naso lituratus (Naso Tang)
2 pcs. Nemateleotris magnifica (Firefish)
2 pcs. Pseudanthias squamipinnis (Lyretail Anthias)
1 pcs. Centropyge bispinosus (Coral Beauty Angelfish)
5 pcs. Chromis viridis (XL Blue Chromis)
1 pcs. Pseudocheilinus hexataenia (Six Line Wrasse)
1 pcs. Pseudocheilinus evanidus (Scarlet Pin Stripe Wrasse)
1 pcs. Premnas biaculeatus (Yellowstriped Maroon Clownfish)
2 pcs. Amphiprion ocellaris (Occelaris Clownfish)
1 pcs. Synchiropus splendidus (Green Mandarin)

I will add a Regal Angel in a month or two though, but other than that I have no plans for more fish really.

About feeding corals: From today I'll try to feed the corals daily with something called Tropic Marine Zooton (contains Fish and fish by-products, shrimp and shrimp by-products, algae, brewer's yeast, Spirulina). That'll give them something to chew on :-)

[espenlg]

Originally posted by Serioussnaps
Yeah I think you should just keep cruising. The problem with calling T5's actinics(which of course they can be) is that we are used to the VHO and PC "actinics" that just throw some blue in there and in the way of actual light intensities are pretty much nothing. T5's you are adding a sizable amount of light intensity. Enough about that as you know that now. Actually, might I mention that T5's IME(i use all T5's on a growout tank currently) are more inclined to "lighten" up colors compared to the standard MH bulb...but this is a generalization that needs more explanation.

One way to mitigate light increase is increasing the distance of the light source from the tank...ie raising the lights. Another is to shade it somehow. Some use layers of window screen, mesh, eggcrate etc...etc... Also, one can fiddle with photoperiods as well. If you increas the light intensity decrease the photoperiod. There are tons of ways to mitigate, but these are the more common ways.

As for the whole feeding ideas....now is a good time to give the Amino Acids everyone has been trying a little run. It may just be a nitrogen source which you can get from food, but when your corals lighten its always fun to try something new on your tank. It can't hurt.

Thanks for your thoughts on light-acclamation! I'll keep it in mind next time I add corals or change light for that matter.
I am dosing Amino Acids once every week already, 20ml of Saliferts Amino Acids to be precise.. Maybe I could try dosing a little more often (in smaller doses though)..

Again, thanks for all your help, I have many things I want to try out now to keep my reef healthy, I just need to try one thing at a time, so I have the next two months covered now :-)

[MikD_reefer]

could be gaining color.

[espenlg]

Just wanted to post a follow-up on this. I have been feeding more often and heavier the last two weeks now, and the corals have been getting more color! I'm not 100% sure that it has to do with feeding, but I can't think of anything else I've changed.

I'll keep on feeding like this for another two weeks and I'll put up a picture.

[espenlg]

Oh, another thing that puzzles me. I have no PE at all on my acroporas during the day, except for the milles.. If you have any ideas on how to change this I'd be happy to hear them!

[hobogato]

watch your coral beauty very closely, he may be nipping a bit during the day.

Originally posted by espenlg
Oh, another thing that puzzles me. I have no PE at all on my acroporas during the day, except for the milles.. If you have any ideas on how to change this I'd be happy to hear them!

[HBtank]

Originally posted by espenlg
Yes, I think I'll try feeding a little more before purchasing more fish. Right now my fish stocking is as follows:
1 pcs. Zebrasoma flavescens (Yellow Tang)
1 pcs. Acanthurus leucosternon (Powder Blue Tang)
1 pcs. Naso lituratus (Naso Tang)
2 pcs. Nemateleotris magnifica (Firefish)
2 pcs. Pseudanthias squamipinnis (Lyretail Anthias)
1 pcs. Centropyge bispinosus (Coral Beauty Angelfish)
5 pcs. Chromis viridis (XL Blue Chromis)
1 pcs. Pseudocheilinus hexataenia (Six Line Wrasse)
1 pcs. Pseudocheilinus evanidus (Scarlet Pin Stripe Wrasse)
1 pcs. Premnas biaculeatus (Yellowstriped Maroon Clownfish)
2 pcs. Amphiprion ocellaris (Occelaris Clownfish)
1 pcs. Synchiropus splendidus (Green Mandarin)

I will add a Regal Angel in a month or two though, but other than that I have no plans for more fish really.

About feeding corals: From today I'll try to feed the corals daily with something called Tropic Marine Zooton (contains Fish and fish by-products, shrimp and shrimp by-products, algae, brewer's yeast, Spirulina). That'll give them something to chew on :-)

That's a good sized amount of stock for a 100g, I can't see that as being the issue.

I like seeing lists like this, it makes me stop freaking about adding fish to my tank. It is hard for me. I am at ten in my 80g, but want 3 more small fish to complete it.

I have similar lightning problems.... I was at 5 fish and feed less than I should. I finally have two fish I would consider heavy waste producers now and hope the make an impact, along with the 8 other small/medium sized fish. I have never had recordable nitrates and my last phosphate reading was .01, and I consider my system to be "dirty" with multiple sandbeds and a couple rubble sections that many would consider nutrient sources.

[espenlg]

Originally posted by hobogato
watch your coral beauty very closely, he may be nipping a bit during the day.

Yes, i know for a fact that it's nipping one of my corals, I've spent hours watching him :-) But he sticks with one of them, lucky for me Also, that coral is having nice PE at night, so I'm not sure if it does any damage..

[stony_corals]

Espen, regarding PE. Many corals do not exhibit daytime PE due to predation in the wild as well. PE should never be used as a proxy for health, there is no correlation. The other reasons a coral may exhibit PE, heterotrophic feeding, gas exchange (more/less O2/CO2), more/less exposure to light, aggression. You may never know why a particular coral is exhibiting PE. Though in your case, predation is likely a cause, but it could be the additional lighting (you gotta love this puzzle!!!!).

Like serioussnaps said, T5 actinics put out a heck of a lot of light energy. This difference has pretty huge implications for T5 users. If you have an T5 actinic, the PAR numbers will look low, and it will appear low, this is due to the limited nature of PAR meters, I think a lot of the output of actinic bulbs are outside the range. So this actinic, puts out a lot of light energy at 420nm or thereabouts, and the zoox/coral definitely feel this, but we can not see this. Again with VHO or PC, this energy was much less intense, but T5 it is very intense .

[espenlg]

Thanks for clearing that up stony_corals. I have thought about this myself, and last week I ordered 2 pcs. T5 Pro Coral Fiji Pink, and I'm gonna try changing two of my actinics with those. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I've also tried raising the lamp 2 inches just to see what happens.

This is what makes the hobby so interesting and frustrating at the same time :-) I'll try to relax a little bit on the lack of PE then

[stony_corals]

You're going to like the Fiji Purple and the ATI Pro Coral. There have been rumours that they are the same bulb... after seeing them, it's clear they are not.... Good luck!

[espenlg]

Sorry, it's Fiji Purple ofcourse :-) I think I missed the other one too.. It's called T5 Coral Light, and it's from the same company that makes the Fiji Purple T5's (again - I think ).

They're here:
http://www.korallen-zucht.de/en/shop...ight-54-w.html

I ordered two Coral Light and two Fiji Purple. So I'm not really sure what to do with them yet, right now I have 4 x D+D Actinic, and I was thinking about starting off with 2 x D+D Actinic, 1 x Coral Light and 1 x Fiji Purple. What do you think about that?

[Pitcom]

Originally posted by espenlg
Sorry, it's Fiji Purple ofcourse :-) I think I missed the other one too.. It's called T5 Coral Light, and it's from the same company that makes the Fiji Purple T5's (again - I think ).

They're here:
http://www.korallen-zucht.de/en/shop...ight-54-w.html

I ordered two Coral Light and two Fiji Purple. So I'm not really sure what to do with them yet, right now I have 4 x D+D Actinic, and I was thinking about starting off with 2 x D+D Actinic, 1 x Coral Light and 1 x Fiji Purple. What do you think about that?

I run the Korallen coral light and fiji purples in my fixture. AWESOME bulbs. I mixed them in with Geisemann Actinics.

[espenlg]

Ok cool!, so do you think 50% Actinic, 25% Coral Light and 25% Fiji Purple sounds ok in combination with 2x250W 14.5K Giesemann?

[TD13]

hey some more pics ur tank is great