Colors changes of Corals

[Goldberg]

Hello reefers
May i ask about your experience with colors of corals.

The colors of some corals changing between source tank and in my tank, for example acros that are pink, or purple.. bright colors. It seems the colors turn to shades of green or some colony turned completely green.

Also noticed for Acan turning blue and red for most who used to be rainbows.
i tried tweaking gradually in past 6 month nutrients, lights and flow (using Radion g6 AB+ at 60% intensity), also amino and feeding more often almost every other day with reef chili and reef roids but dont seem to crack what is missing.

The Parameters are stable around:
7.5 kh
1350 Mg
450 Ca
No3 it is 5 (used to drop to 2 then started dosing to keep it at 5)
Po4 is 0.018 (dosing as well to make 0.03)

Based on ICP test triton suggested dosing these but actuals seems within the range:
396.00 mg/l potassium
0.97 mg/l fluoride
0 Manganese
0.00 µg/l Iron

im sending a sample for another ICP this month, meanwhile hoping to hear your experiences with colors of corals..

Thanks,

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The biggest clear effects in corals relate to lighting intensity.

A secondary effect relates to how much zooxanthellae is in them, which can be impacted by nutrients and organics.

Effects of trace elements are much less clear, and I personally think it relates to having enough for a healthy coral, or not having enough and corals are less healthy and may thus look different.

 

[Goldberg]

Thanks alot Randy,

So the light intensity encourage growth overall and organics - nutrients will then play its role in keeping coral health to keep up with the growth, so the The zooxanthellae are not overpopulating nor thinning in the coral issue during its growth.

guess ill keep working around lighting and nutrients to find the balance between them.