[I]@acat1976 wrote:[/I][quote="My ca is 380 and alk is 6 dkh is that right??? said:
seems low, both of them.
doesnt cal need to be around 450 and dkh 9 or 10?"]
Cal can be anywhere from 420-480 based on the persons preference. The higher is typically better for growth. Dkh should definitely be higher than 6, natural sea water is 7 dkh, but we tend to keep it higher in order to keep pH up and encourage growth. dKH between 8-11 seems to be the range most keep it, my opinion is no higher than 10 dKH to avoid tip burning and problems with LPS/Softies that a higher dKH can have.
You'll also want to get a handle on your Mg, that should be in the 1350-1450 range and is important for coral health as many corals utilize it to build tissue and hard skeleton.
As far as fading.. that could be a number of things from high nitrates, PO4 to too little nutrition or lighting adjustment to your setup.
Also your salinity.. make sure its 1.025 or 1.026.
Get those things checked first before you start looking for more exotic reasons.
