Hey Shawn,
I agree with what you say, however my water has been pristine.
my water has been since Jan.
ammonia 0
nitrite, trate 0
phosphate 0
ph 8~8.1
calcium 460
alk 11 (slowed down with kalk mixing to bring this down a little bit)
I'm thinking that it's the lights that's not giving enough par for the hard corals. But it's just my guess.
You may want to consider raising your nitrate levels a little higher. Contrary to popular belief many Corals need levels of around 10-20 to properly convert their nutrient intakes(Dissolved Organic Nitrogen). Many people claim to do better at levels of 20-25. I notice my polyp extension seems to come out best around 15-20 range. Also, your Calcium might be a little on the high side, but that's just really more of a personal taste issue. Dont change on my account, we all have our own personal sweet spot we like. But you really should also consider testing your Magnesium levels as well to see how it balances against your Alk and Calcium levels.
I like to keep mine at:
420
1350
9dkh
But that's just me, I found the only problem with it like this is I end up having to scrape off Coraline every few weeks from the glass. The stuff just grows too damn fast. Also don't forget feeding your corals as well as dosing to keep your levels maintained. Its more than just clean water, flow and lighting. Im very fortunate that I don't have to do any Kalk drip in my system. I just dose once a week with a two part mix (one for each of the big three), and make sure to feed the buggers every few days a little something extra to make everyone happy.
I was thinking Id like to get into making my own phyto and roti still and having that sit in a window later this summer. It would be pretty sweet to make my own foods onsite like that ^_^
