yeah this browning is definitely a thing, and relatively new too. The lights are on the AB+ schedule, which I think is something like blues/violets 100% and then whites 24% all relative to max intensity which was at 35 now I dropped it to 28%
The rocks were super sun bleached and dry as dry can be, and the corals that went in there were quite literally frags only with no base rock from the prior tank, so it's not surprising that algae didn't spontaneously pop up, like coraline.
I'm still deciding how accurate the high alk rating is. Mike measured it at 5.4, but I don't know if that's because it was sitting outside in a cup outside his house for too long (pH?) but seems more in line to what I got with the Red Sea test kit. Really irritating if that Hanna check is off by that much though, I mean I recently changed the battery out, and the reagent wasn't super old or anything. Unfortunately I'm in a bit of a grey area as far as fish stores, at least a 30 minute drive to any places to get even an API KH test kit to at least figure out where it should be. Would too low alk do this by chance?
That said, adding nitrates... easiest way to do it is why buy a damsel at the store and feed it? I really would like to not have to feed fish if possible.
