Dull/brownish SPS colors

[Nami]

Hi R2R team,

I have a few SPS frags that have been growing the past year but they have lost their shine compared to when I purchased them from the store. The frags include cherry bomb, green slimer, digitatas, etc. I have also recently acquired an unknown staghorn (in attached photo).

Specifications:
Tank: Redsea Max Nano XL
Light: Reefled 115 at 90-100% for 10 hours.
KH: ~8.0dkh
Cal:~450ppm
Nitrate: ~0.0
Phosphate:~0.02

Anyone has any idea what is causing these dull colors?

Also if someone can identify the unknown stag in the photo, which I took without any lighting. It seems to be pale blue in color with a lot of polyps.

Cheers!

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Water might be too clean. Your rockwork doesn't really look like it's at least a year old in a cycled reef aquarium, not a whole lot of buildup or coralline algae.

What lighting spectrum are you running? I'm assuming the white lighting was for photo purposes and the tank doesn't run at that spectrum all the time.

 

[allof fish]

Hi R2R team,

I have a few SPS frags that have been growing the past year but they have lost their shine compared to when I purchased them from the store. The frags include cherry bomb, green slimer, digitatas, etc. I have also recently acquired an unknown staghorn (in attached photo).

Specifications:
Tank: Redsea Max Nano XL
Light: Reefled 115 at 90-100% for 10 hours.
KH: ~8.0dkh
Cal:~450ppm
Nitrate: ~0.0
Phosphate:~0.02

Anyone has any idea what is causing these dull colors?

Also if someone can identify the unknown stag in the photo, which I took without any lighting. It seems to be pale blue in color with a lot of polyps.

Cheers!

100% has something to do with nutrients. Nitrates need to be between 5-10 at least and phosphate.05. Water being too clean can dull their colors out as there’s no nutrients in water. I’m also curious about your spectrum of light as well

 

[Nami]

I had to replace the original live rock due to how difficult it is to clean off the bubble algae in the crevices. The light spectrum that I’ve been running is as below:

 

[Troylee]

What lights are they? The higher the lighting the better the color in my experience.

 

[Troylee]

Sorry I just saw reef led. I’m not familiar with those lights but I blast everything with 800 to 1000 par and get great results. My nitrates around 10 and phosphates around .4 “yes .4” it’s high lol!

 

[thamnasteroid]

I mean health-wise they look fine to me, polyps extended, encrusting okay. If you want more color I would put on bluer lighting.

PS. Your corals look very similar to their natural counterparts, how do you keep them like that?

 

[Nami]

I ran quite abit of white light compared to blue and I do get growth on all my frags, just lacking in vibrant colors. They all become dull after a few weeks in the tank

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

100% due to very low nutrients. Reminds me of how acros look in Zeovit systems. Kinda dull and pastel.

Bump up your nutrients to what was suggested above and also potentially look into supplementing with something that includes appropriate trace elements which also plays a big role in color. White lighting is not what is causing it as acros need that spectrum for a part of the photoperiod also. The actinic blue/violet light is what causes the colors to 'pop' as they fluoresce in that spectrum. Without that spectrum, you won't see a ton of vibrant color, but they shouldn't be brown or dull.

 

[CHSUB]

Corals look healthy. If you want better color, use blue light and take a picture with a filter. Here is an example, note the black background.


When you see pictures posted understand the “tricks”.

 

[imnotmike]

Your po3/4 are way to low you have to being them up and you will get that color back.

o
0 nitrate 0 phos

5-10 nitrate 0.8-0.10 phos.

 

[CHSUB]

If it’s a zero nutrient discussion here is 0 no3 and 0 po4 with Salifert….

 

[NeMoo]

Your po3/4 are way to low you have to being them up and you will get that color back.

o
0 nitrate 0 phos

5-10 nitrate 0.8-0.10 phos.

.08-.1? I battle low nutrients and have been dosing nitrates and phos but very sparingly and thinking I should do more but don’t want to feed the nuisance algae I’m fighting either, I’m blowing my frags off with pippete multiple times a day.

 

[NeMoo]

If it’s a zero nutrient discussion here is 0 no3 and 0 po4 with Salifert….

Gorgeous tank, and I’ve never used salifert test so not trying to start an accuracy debate but using Hanna ULR phosphorus and high range nitrate testers. Every time I’ve had a Dino, cyano, coral struggling for no apparent reason issue… I’m getting 0 reading on phosphate/ per my Hanna ulr phosphorus and typically stupid low nitrates like .7 or .9


As well as I get a noticeable increase in color since I’ve been HEAVY feeding considering my tank sizes and still dosing nitrate and phos when low

 

[CHSUB]

Gorgeous tank, and I’ve never used salifert test so not trying to start an accuracy debate but using Hanna ULR phosphorus and high range nitrate testers. Every time I’ve had a Dino, cyano, coral struggling for no apparent reason issue… I’m getting 0 reading on phosphate/ per my Hanna ulr phosphorus and typically stupid low nitrates like .7 or .9


As well as I get a noticeable increase in color since I’ve been HEAVY feeding considering my tank sizes and still dosing nitrate and phos when low

Thanks…I’m a believer in feeding corals, however not N and P levels; lower nutrients imo are always better. Corals are animals and not plants. It would not surprise me that heavy feeding improves color.

 

[fish_collector]

Yes agreed with nutrients too low. My acros aren’t the greatest color, they weren’t spectacular to begin with, but are way nicer now that I’ve let the nutrients climb. FWIW I was 30/0.7 the last I checked.

 

[fish_collector]

Sorry I just saw reef led. I’m not familiar with those lights but I blast everything with 800 to 1000 par and get great results. My nitrates around 10 and phosphates around .4 “yes .4” it’s high lol!

Care to share details of your lighting and schedule? I’ve found mine do best at 250-300, I’ve got an imperial stag that has grown to the surface and bleached out it was in so much par.

Is that 800-1000 from MH?

 

[Nami]

Thanks heaps for everyone's feedback - seems like the consensus that the low nutrients are the contributing factor. The photo comparison by @imnotmike also matches the observation that I have had between the frag color in the store vs the weeks after in my tank.

I just have the redsea nano skimmer and filter roller in my tank, nothing too crazy but they must have been very effective, combined with my sparing feeding.

I would have opt for the skimmer on timer but unfortunately it is tied to the redsea control centre on the max nano, which means, the timer will also turn off the return pump.

 

[NeMoo]

Thanks…I’m a believer in feeding corals, however not N and P levels; lower nutrients imo are always better. Corals are animals and not plants. It would not surprise me that heavy feeding improves color.

I don’t believe I’m high nutrient haven’t been above 5 ppm (normally lucky to have 2) even after dosing nitrates and phosphate, and normal and .03 on phos sometimes less, after a decent dose today I got above .05 but below .1 for first time in idk how long in this tank.

 

[CHSUB]

I don’t believe I’m high nutrient haven’t been above 5 ppm (normally lucky to have 2) even after dosing nitrates and phosphate, and normal and .03 on phos sometimes less, after a decent dose today I got above .05 but below .1 for first time in idk how long in this tank.

For information here are my nutrients numbers for the first year and a half per ICP. I never dose nutrients and would always advise against it. Now moving into year 3 coral growth has limited cleaning because I can’t reach areas to clean detritus so my nutrients are higher: no3 at ~ 1.0 ppm and po4 at ~ 0.1 ppm. This is the nature process of closed systems, they generally get filthier over time.