Acros changing color

Billyreef-ita · Jan 11, 2025

Hi everybody,
I recently bought two acros for my 75Gs tank. In the LFS they were violet and I bought them for this reason as I do not have such color in the tank. After two months in my tank they turning into green.
I mean they are still nice but I bought them for the violet….
What’s the reason for that? Lighting? I have one Radion G6 X30 blue and two X15 G6 blue.
Pls help
Vb

VintageReefer · Jan 11, 2025

Could be any of these

Not enough par
Too much par
Color changes due to different lighting spectrum being used
Nutrient levels
Color of new growth vs established growth
“wild caught” pieces that simply change in time as they adapt to captive ecosystems

Billyreef-ita · Jan 11, 2025

Thanks,
The part of the frag that is changing color is the one more exposed to light. I measured Par and it was something around 200.
NO3 at 20ppm and PO4 at 0.1

Could this help?

VintageReefer · Jan 11, 2025

Billyreef-ita said:
Thanks,
The part of the frag that is changing color is the one more exposed to light. I measured Par and it was something around 200.
NO3 at 20ppm and PO4 at 0.1

Could this help?

It sounds acceptable but on the very low range of par for acropora

Mr. Mojo Rising · Jan 11, 2025

Pictures will help, especially if they are turning green

Billyreef-ita · Jan 11, 2025

I attach a picture

UMALUM · Jan 11, 2025

I've always heard that lower par will bring out the green in acropora especially tortuosa. 200 seems low to me but I'm a light freak with a sand bed that exceeds 300. I was on wwc the other day and they state their acros only need 150 - 250. Personally I think this is a joke. While most might live at 200 I don't think they thrive in it.

Billyreef-ita · Jan 11, 2025

Taking the picture I just noticed some bleaching at the bottom (see bottom right), would this be poor lighting? Or maybe NO3 too high?

VintageReefer · Jan 11, 2025

It’s possibly light

Is it on your sandbed? You could put it on top of some rocks and in the upper half of the tank and see how it reacts. Or increase lighting

UMALUM · Jan 11, 2025

Billyreef-ita said:
I attach a picture

Oh wow you didn't say it was maricultured. That's a totally different beast. They usually take a very well established lower nutrient system at the beginning.

Billyreef-ita · Jan 11, 2025

Honestly I don’t know if it is maricultured, I didn’t ask. How do you recognize it?

How much lower nutrients?

Billyreef-ita · Jan 11, 2025

VintageReefer said:
It’s possibly light

Is it on your sandbed? You could put it on top of some rocks and in the upper half of the tank and see how it reacts. Or increase lighting

It is on a rock but I can easily increase the light, I’m at 40% right now.

bobnicaragua · Jan 11, 2025

Billyreef-ita said:
It is on a rock but I can easily increase the light, I’m at 40% right now.

I would bump it up slowly toward 300 par.

UMALUM · Jan 11, 2025

Billyreef-ita said:
Honestly I don’t know if it is maricultured, I didn’t ask. How do you recognize it?

How much lower nutrients?

When I was importing I kept them in natural water from the Atlantic and slowly babied them to except higher elements and nutrients. Without knowing your LFS chemistry I wouldnt know where to start. Honestly, I would call the store and tell them you didn't realize it was a wild piece and it's slowly expelling on you. Maybe they'll understand and give you a credit? If not you gonna have to eat it.

Billyreef-ita · Jan 11, 2025

Ok I’m calling them, I hope to save this acro…
In any case I’m increasing the light and reduce slowly the nutrients

UMALUM · Jan 11, 2025

While increasing the light would be the recommendation most of the time I think it's not in this case. Right now the coral is in survival mode and trying to force anything else on it will only accelerate in its demise. DONT CHANGE YOUR TANKS CHEMISTRY TO FIT THE NEEDS OF ONE CORAL. The last thing you want is to bottom out trying to save a coral that had very little chance of survival to begin with.