SPS are pale, zero nitrates and still have algae.

[KatoJoe]

Firstly, i wouldnt shut down or change you refugium settings. I would think that those things growing in there will migrate to display tank if that environment changes too much. Better where they are.
You definitely need to get your nitrates/phosphates up.
Those shown in the attached are from a post by Shane SBB Corals.
Switch over to making your own additives.
As Randy Farley has mentioned, those Neonitro and Neophos are weak and expensive.
You can make gallons of similar/better products yourself. I posted pictures of the products that I have purchased from Amazon.
Don't be afraid to dose regularly a full dose until you get the readings up, but test daily until you get there.
Then continue to test and adjust until your readings level out.

Thanks for the reply. I’ve read about making additives and will look into that more.
As far as full dose, what exactly are you referring to? I don’t think NeoNitro gives a full dose recommendation. It just gives a .5 increase as an example. Dosing .5 per day over the past two weeks still has my tests reading zero.

 

[KatoJoe]

Your acros are not turning brown and RTN because you dosed nitrates. They are doing this because they have been starving since you introduced them into the tank. What you did yesterday doesnt cause this. Its what you havent been doing for the weeks/months before thats causing this.

Your corals are starving. Your dose of 0.5 ppm is a drop in an ocean.
You need to get to a point you can actually register the nitrates and quickly.
Newer tanks are not the same as older mature tanks. Older tanks can run with really low nutrients because there is usually a ton of flora/fauna, coral, bacteria etc etc consuming and creating nutrients. The import is very high and consistent, well the export is enough to keep the detectable levels low.

Newer tanks do not have this balance. You need to have those nutrients present cause there is very little available and the little that is available will be taken up by bacterias and algaes much better and faster then any coral will get it.

Dose you tank with enough nitrate to hit 3-5ppm nitrate and 0.03-0.05 phos daily and test regularly to see where you are at. I would try to get to the point where you are in the 10ppm nitrate and 0.10 phos range. If you still arent registering anything you need to dose more. when you hit these numbers or exceed them adjust dosage accordingly to maintain it. I would also take the refuguim offline entirely. Its only working against you right now.

There is more nuance to this then can be said in a simple forum post but hopefully this can help you.
The suggestions for more fish is also very valid.

Ill finish this with the statement, this is my opinion alone, and is exactly what I would be doing if I were in your situation. YMMV

Thanks for the great feedback! While .5ppm per day does seem like it will take forever to add up, my acros definitely do not like me dosing even that much. I’m afraid to see what would happen if I dosed at a higher rate. Honestly, even my hammers and octospawn close up after I’ve dosed.

I have a 20 gallon QT with some acros I recently received that I’m also dosing nitrates. Everything in that tank is doing fine with the dose. The difference is they recently came from a tank that likely had detectable levels of nitrates and maybe arent shocked by the dose? The corals in my display have been there for over a year and I’m ashamed to say, probably been dealing with zero nitrates for 6 months or longer as I’m not sure the last time I tested. Everything was doing ok I thought. It wasn’t until I started researching why the acros where pale and growing slowly that I realized my nitrates where zero and subsequently started all this.

 

[anoldreefer]

Thanks for the reply. I’ve read about making additives and will look into that more.
As far as full dose, what exactly are you referring to? I don’t think NeoNitro gives a full dose recommendation. It just gives a .5 increase as an example. Dosing .5 per day over the past two weeks still has my tests reading zero.

You had indicated that you were doing 1/2 of that amount, that is why I mentioned a full dose.
I would agree that making your own additives is most likely not critical now as once your levels are up the useage based on the number of corals you have should be low and fairly easily maintained.
It works for my system, I currently add about 1000ml of nitrate a week to my 250 gal system..
as someone had mentioned I don't think your corals are having adverse reaction from the additives more likely the lack of.
I do not believe that nitate/phosphates additions at such low levels are harmful, could be wrong I suppose.

 

[anoldreefer]

If you have time search and read through this post, it is a lot of pages but we'll worth the read.

 

[KatoJoe]

If you have time search and read through this post, it is a lot of pages but well worth the read.

Thanks! That was a long read with lots of info to think about. Makes me question my desire to keep sps, lol!

And to update how things are going - I finally have detectable n03 (3.5) and p04 (0.03). I’ve had three acros rtn almost completely during this time. They must have been on the brink of death anyway and couldn’t take the change in nutrients, I don’t know. The rest have browned. All of my euphyllia have retracted a lot and not showing any sign of adjusting well. All other corals or doing fine with about half of them changing color for the better pretty significantly. I will keep dosing and try to stabilize nutrients somewhere and see what happens. Still waiting on ICP results also.

 

[Saltees]

IMHO, SPS is easier than LPS. Try SPS from fellow reefers, not the wild mariculture ones.

 

[Backreefing]

I looked though this thread and noticed your doseing phosphate.
I have done that in the past . For me it was a miserable time for my aquarium. I suspect the same for you to . I was getting 0 readings, chased the numbers and misery. I keep phosphate low now days .

 

[Backreefing]

IMHO, SPS is easier than LPS. Try SPS from fellow reefers, not the wild mariculture ones.

I do think SPS are more forgiving in regards to temperature and sps can be out of the water for hours. Not so much LPS .

 

[FourPawz]

Thanks! That was a long read with lots of info to think about. Makes me question my desire to keep sps, lol!

And to update how things are going - I finally have detectable n03 (3.5) and p04 (0.03). I’ve had three acros rtn almost completely during this time. They must have been on the brink of death anyway and couldn’t take the change in nutrients, I don’t know. The rest have browned. All of my euphyllia have retracted a lot and not showing any sign of adjusting well. All other corals or doing fine with about half of them changing color for the better pretty significantly. I will keep dosing and try to stabilize nutrients somewhere and see what happens. Still waiting on ICP results also.

Just curious, how much did you wind up dosing daily to get n03 up to 3.5? I am just starting to fight this myself and could use some tips.