Are you testing the clarity of the water with the Lux meter?
The mount of change of light received atth lux mteris directly proportionalto the tank clarity when taken frequently at the same tanklocation. No other tank parameters are changing as the water level, salinity and circulatiom patterns are unchanged, and that only leaves the water clarity and particulates to block the light.
What do your phosphates normally run at and what do you use to test them.
I use a hanna meter with reagents from the local college as they are never more than six months old. I also use the photo meter at the college.
I'm curious because I have not been getting as solid of colors, but the same growth since I have started running rowaphos more consistently. I use a Hanna meter for the phosphates and they are normally .01 -.02. I have heard that having phosphates closer to the .05 mark can improve color as phosphates that are very low, near .00 aren't as good.
Also, what do you feed your coral and how much for the water volume?
Phosphates
I usually am happy with maintaining phosphate at 0.4 +/- 0.1. I run refugiums with 6 inch deep sand beds and colony tanks with 6 inch deep sand beds. I use 1 pound per gallon system holding in live rock for the colony display tank and half that for the frag tanks. I run circulation in excess of 50 X. I feed real heavily nightly, and feed just live home cultured food. To my colony tank I feed 1 pint of phytoplankton, ½ gram brine shrimp naupli (hatched from decapsulated cysts), and 1/2 gram rotifers. I now feed the brine shrimp Selcon and a purchased prepared powdered food. I used to feed a ground up mash of different grocery store sea products, Cyclopeze, Selcon, but switched over in the last four/five months to live cultured foods. I feed two hours after the main display lights go out (in the dark). I shut down two pumps for thirty minutes and only run the one pump that feeds the sump/refugium. The skimmers are also turned off during that 30 minutes. I run two Turboflotor 100 skimmers in the skimmer of my mother colony tank. My frag systems run total water for each system around 300 to 350 gallons. The frag tanks are mostly 55 gallon tanks and each of the two frag systems has a 120 gallon refugium tank which holds 150 pounds of live rock and a deep sand bed and two skimmers. I have less phosphate fluctuation now with live foods. However I also do a 5 gallon water change twice a week on the colony tank and a 22.5 gallon change on each of the frag systems twice per week. This size is also dependant on the fact that I use a 55 gallon tank for mixing the water and I fill it up short of the rim. I tried dropping the phosphates down lower through heavy use of ferric oxide and found my water borne micro algae increased and my coral color was muddier in my colony tank (250 watt HQI 10000K halides with actinic PC’s). My frag tanks are 6500K bulbs 150 watt HQI with PC actinics and there colors are harder to judge in the orange light. I do not recommend supplemental feeding to persons with only a dozen or so small stoney corals as you have to feed a tank pretty heavily to get enough food to the corals whether you have a large or small number of corals. Heavy feeding requires heavy skimming with heavy circulation (which very few reefers have) to clean out the excess food. I also use ozone fed into my skimmers only, and I do not filter the skimmers water return with carbon because of the ozone. I do use ozone controllers and have them set down at 350 mV.
Are the frag tanks SPS?
Yes they are SPS with just a few LPS snuck in occasionally.
Sorry if I am asking a lot of questions, but you seem to have a wealth of knowledge and I would love to tap into it.
