Coral coloration

[mr_X]

Too much light, not enough light, too much nutrients, and not enough nutrients are all reasons corals can fade. Which corals are you speaking of exactly?

 

[gleach]

Montipora, chalice, acro

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[mr_X]

How long have you had the hydras?

 

[gleach]

Since I set the tank up.

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[gleach]

1 lfs said that I should lower the whites. Personally I don't see haw that can help aside from just making the coral appear brighter. He said it would actually help with the color.

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[mr_X]

Whites or blues, it doesn't matter to anything but the naked eye, as long as you have enough PAR to carry out photosynthesis. People are under the misconception that white light is much stronger than blue, which to the naked eye, is, but not to our corals in many cases. If these corals have been in the tank under this fixture since day one and it's been quite some time, growing, and they just started to fade- it's not the light.
I would skip any additives for a while and see what happens. Do a few water changes to remove them. Feeding the fish should be plenty for everything in the tank.
Spot feeding is not necessary for photosynthetic corals, as they do absorb nutrients through their flesh as well as with their mouths.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Blue penetrates the water much much better than white does, thats why we perceive the ocean as blue.
You can run all blues and no whites in the tank, and the corals will be quite fine.

 

[gleach]

Do greens reds or purples do anything?

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[Sand dollar]

Alk 7
CA 380/400
Mag 1350
Nitrates 0
P04 might be up a little haven't tested but I do have a small amount of cyano nothing out of the norm though

I have good growth on the corals just not coloring up.

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I'm am definitely not a seasoned reef keeper, but will chime in with my first hand experience. I have had some chalice recession and lobo bleaching. I realized my cal and alk were low so I bought the red sea kit and 2 part dosing to keep a close eye on them as I started dosing. I have noticed some color returning to my lobo and a stop to the recession on the chalice with some possible regrowth, I need to take pictures so I can better measure regrowth. I feel like I have also seen more/deeper color appearing/returning to other corals like my favia and hammer.

So, long post made shorter...it looks like your cal and alk are on the lower ends so maybe that could be causing it. I also spot feed a couple times a week with cyclopeeze, mysis or roe and sometimes chopped table shrimp for the larger LPS. I think it keeps mine happy and as long as I do large water changes I haven't noticed many problems with algae recently.


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[Sniperhank]

Do greens reds or purples do anything?

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Sure they do. Algae loves red. Purple is a different spectrum of blue. Green is used to give some 'warmth' to the tank and I don't know of any use other than how it looks to us. I've actually dropped the reds and greens out of my Radions.
I'm not sure if this was linked in this thread or not, but here is a brief breakdown of spectrum from DFS site that I used at one point.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/media/PDF/ColorGuideSW.pdf

 

[Reefing Madness]

Aquarium Lighting Information Guide | Reef & Planted | PAR PUR

Saltwater parameters.
Marinedepot.com | Reef Tank Parameters

 

[gleach]

So I have noticed a big difference after lowering my white and adding more green red and blue. I also started dosing iron. It's hard to say what was making the difference but my corals look a lot happier. Some had a bit of a brown tint that is now dissapaiting zoas look more extended. Like I said could be a few factors but it's on its way. Tank is really coming into its own considering I started with small frags just over a year ago.

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[Krely]

Cyano can discolor corals as it can grow on them and irritate them, but they will continue to grow. My advice would be through a protein skimmer on there, if you don't have one already. Turn off all lights on tank for 3 days. Thats how I got rid of it, and my corals colored up more than ever.

 

[gleach]

Did the cyano come back?

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[gleach]

I have always had a little cyano on the sand bed. But my dsb has been maturing and I notice a lot more life coming to play lately. I feel slowly my tank is maturing and starting to become a bit more self sustaining.

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[Krely]

knock on wood, I have not seen it come back, and that was 6 months ago.

 

[gleach]

I'm going to try that.

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