The key to great colors

[Mole]

Beautiful!

I absolutely agree. Outstanding information and thank you for sharing.

 

[JBNY]

I have heard Potassium enhances color. Any merit to that?

I have had very high levels > 500 and lower than 300, I would not say that I noticed anything out of the ordinary. Now maybe if I was dosing potassium for the specific reason of coloring up one particular coral I might have noticed that it was slightly different. But as a general panacea for great coloration I have not noticed it do much.

 

[JBNY]

I guess I need to try that kz zeospur2 then because the zooax on my acro is extremely thick

Dark pigmentation on acros is mostly a matter of one of two things, low light or high nitrates. Lowering nitrates is a matter of exporting those nutrients via the skimmer, or carbon dosing, or any of the other methods out there.

 

[Pete polyp]

I dose nitrate and have a 6 bulb t5 on a 40.

 

[JBNY]

Why are you dosing nitrates if your acros are darker than you want?

 

[Pete polyp]

I dosed to 1ppm because they were dying

 

[TUSI]

Stability is definetly the key for grouth and health of corals. Light is another factor. I find that dosing certain additives will enhance colors dramatically. Pottasium is not the same thing as pottasium iodide, bromine and fluorine. I dose all zeo vit additives and it helps with color for sure.

 

[Pete polyp]

I was under the impression zeovit additives were supposed to be used along with zeolite in a reactor. The way I understood it was the zeolite stripped those elements out along with the nutrients so it had to be replenished.

 

[gpwdr]

 

[TUSI]

I use all their products except the zeolite reactor.

 

[Pete polyp]

So you are using zeolite in another reactor?

 

[JBNY]

Stability is definetly the key for grouth and health of corals. Light is another factor. I find that dosing certain additives will enhance colors dramatically. Pottasium is not the same thing as pottasium iodide, bromine and fluorine. I dose all zeo vit additives and it helps with color for sure.

How does the additives change the color? Do they make them lighter or a different color altogether?

 

[scoobysnack77]

I dose nitrate and have a 6 bulb t5 on a 40.

how do you dose nitrate safely?

 

[JBNY]

Dosing Nitrates is pretty easy. I have been doing it for the last three months. My last tank (the second set of pictures) I had undetectable nitrates using carbon dosing, this time I want to have a little bit of nitrates ~5ppm in the tank. I think the corals will probably be a bit healthier in the long run.

To dose nitrates just figure out how much you want to raise them by using one of the online calculators like planted tanks use.

http://www.theaquatools.com/fertilization-calculator

For my tank I dosed to raise the Nitrates by 1ppm until I got to 5ppm. You can buy KNO3 or another kind of powdered nitrate online and mix it up based on the formula they provide. So for my tank I mixed up 40g of KNO3 in 500ml, when I dose 30ml daily, that was supposed to raised the NO3 in tank by about 1ppm. So my tank consumed more N than I though and it took about a month to get there. Now I dose about 20ml and it keeps my N just about 5ppm. And yes test N a lot when you are first dosing.

 

[mrjlopez731]

I'm going to follow these advice and see how things go. Thanks for sharing this info.

 

[TUSI]

I dont use the zeo spur cause I dont like the pastel colors. But I do use the B balance for the reds. Potassium iodide is used as well. Iron is used for the green colors but you have to be carefull cause to much can cause an algae bloom. I find keeping potassium at 380 it helps coral maintain blue and purple colors. As we all know tanks behave different from each other so if you try this go slowly and check for improvement before you put full doses.

 

[TUSI]

So you are using zeolite in another reactor?

I dont use zeo lite at all. I dont carbon dose. Use rowa to keep my po4 down and a good skimmer for nitrates with water changes.

 

[d_adler]

if possible id like to see more pictures of tanks as proof of there methods for coloring sps

 

[Jayellul]

Large nutrient input, larger nutrient output. Strong lights. Absolute stability of Alk. IMO

 

[revhtree]

Water Changes!