bychineva Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 Hi can anyone tell me why my blue tip has slowly changed from a light brown to brown while my nitrate,nitrite phosphate are low....ur advice is much appreciated....would using zeovit products improve it ?> any thoughts pls.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeBlog Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 What does low mean? If p04 is not 0.0 on the test, then there is a good starting point for your problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 how old is your tank? could be that your tank has too much nutrients? what skimmer/lights are you using.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bychineva Posted September 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 the tank is about 4 months old...phospate abt 0.01ppm....2x250w halide 14k...abt to change to 2x400w... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bychineva Posted September 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 i does it each week with idoine,stotium and bio trace as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bychineva Posted September 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 at the moment im trying out the red sea prizm,...do u think i should stop dosing the supplements Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bychineva Posted September 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 how old is your tank? could be that your tank has too much nutrients? what skimmer/lights are you using.? to much nutrient =??? supplements or nitrate,,,nitrite..phos.? i just had 1 20%water change...using sea water....do u think this is a result of this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 phospate abt 0.01ppm Which test kit? abt to change to 2x400w... Whats the point of going to 400w. seems to be the current fad in NZ, many hobbyist dont even use 400w . not required save your money for a better skimmer. idoine,stotium and bio trace as well stop adding it as you might be over doing it, tank is too new. the tank is about 4 months old... why add acros so soon. tank will be loaded with nutrients. i just had 1 20%water change...using sea water....do u think this is a result of this? sure is, nsw is loaded with nutrients. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 stop the others but keep using strontium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeBlog Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 Are you also testing your tank for levels of strontium and iodine as you dose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 are the tips staying blue?? lots of things can change the colour if its just the brown part going a different shade I wouldnt worry about it. It is unlikely to be the same shade as the tank it came from, flow, light, water parms, etc all change the colours from tank to tank. If its just adjusting to your tank it does happen slowly, its only when things change really fast you need to worry. Are you testing the levels for the stuff you are dosing? You shouldnt need to dose idoine or stotium, and shouldnt dose something unless you are testing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeBlog Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 Whats the point of going to 400w. seems to be the current fad in NZ... Why pick this "fad" out from all the rest? Everything seems to be a fad on this forum. :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 Why pick this "fad" out from all the rest? Everything seems to be a fad on this forum? Because i really cant see the point of going to 400w. Especialy when money could be spent else where. I might go 1000w and see if all the sheep will follow. Sheep have a strong instinct to follow the leader. When one sheep decides to go somewhere, the rest of the flock usually follows, even if it is not a good decision. For example, if the lead sheep jumps over a cliff, the others are likely to follow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeBlog Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 Not good with photoshop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KP Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 This may start the unholy war again :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 Hi Bychineva, not sure if this has been properly explained, the brown colour is caused by the symbiotic zooxanthellae, tiny little photosynthetic organisms that live within the coral. In nature the coral has these living within its tissue, because they perform photosynthesis and the coral benefits from the sugars released. In the wild, coral reefs occur where the water is very pure, it is very hard in our tanks to keep the water as clean as it is in a wild reef. So often in a tank, there will be more crud in the water than corals are adapted to, and this supplies nutrients to the zooxanthellae within the coral, causing a population explosion of them. This makes the coral brown, as the zooxanthellae are brown. In turn, extremely high levels of zooxanthellae can be harmful to the coral. The coral being brown is not nessecarily a cause for concern as many corals are brown as their natural colour. However, a coral being more brown than it should be is generally a sign the water is less pure than desireable, although there can be other causes also. As we cannot test for all the forms of nutrients that can overload our tank, we test for one in particular, phosphate, which gives us a rough idea how the others are going also. IE, if phosphate is high, it's odds on that other nutrients will be too high also. Because even tiny amounts of phosphate can be too much, it is likely that if your test kit can detect any at all, there will in fact be too much. Another way to tell is by algae growth. If you find you have to clean the front glass quite often, this will indicate nutrients are too high. Hobby test kits are at the limit of their range trying to accurately detect the low levels of phosphate we are interested in, the glass cleaning test can in fact be more useful to us, and we can gauge if things are getting better or worse, by wether we are having to clean the glass more or less often, than we used to. As to your dosing, the iodine and strontium are not ones that are normally associated with nutrient overload causing browning so are probably not the problem. However, there is often little/no need to dose these. Bio trace, I don't know what it is but many of these type of multi trace element type formulas end up putting too much of something in the tank. Very often, when people in exactly the situation you are in, stop dosing these type of products, they notice an improvement in livestock health. But the main source of excess nutrients will be the fish food. Nearly all newbies feed to much, it is so tempting to keep those little fishies fat. Try cutting back the fishfood and as long as the fish don't get skinny, hold it at the lower level. The biggest thing of all, is that export of crud from your tank, has to equal import. You need to look at your skimming, sand vacuuming, & whatever else you do, to ensure you have processes in place that will take out as much as you are putting in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 Oh dear! Actually I just read this site for the laughs!! So who is this person? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 no idea, just got it from the net for a laugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slappers Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 looks good to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 let me guess reef, its a fad if its bought of any other importer but you. bit of a broken record, and yes TM, you can come in and blah blah blah if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fay Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 wasp Great post!! I mean the info one well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 sez the guy who changes his lights more often than any of us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 if we're the sheep, does that make reef little bo peep? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bychineva Posted September 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 thanks Wasp...at the moment im feeding a product from Aquafarm,,,,Micro-Nutrients for Zooxanthellae....daily...i will stop this for a couple of days and see what happens.... http://www.aquapharmlabs.com/reefessentials.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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