How to get more color from torches

[viceversabrd]

Hey guys, have my tank up and running for about 18 months. Really got into torches have about 7-8 different frags. Most of them seem really happy, getting good extension and growing. However, they do seem to lose a bit of color in my tank. Like, they were electric colored from the guys I bought them from but in my tank the color just seems to lose the intensity. Any strategies or thoughts on how to color up torches?







This last pic is from 3 months ago so you can see the growth since then, but also provide a whole tank shot

 

[gkprevite]

Your lighting looks very white. Which doesn’t bring out the fluorescence like lights on the bluer side of things. They do look very healthy and happy though

 

[viceversabrd]

Your lighting looks very white. Which doesn’t bring out the fluorescence like lights on the bluer side of things. They do look very healthy and happy though

Yeah I think part of that is having the no black background + windows near the tank. This my lighting schedule at peak, running an Orphek Atlantik Icon

 

[allof fish]

Your lighting looks very white. Which doesn’t bring out the fluorescence like lights on the bluer side of things. They do look very healthy and happy though

I was also gonna say the same. Blues are pretty weak so the fluorescent won’t come out as much. You can slowly turn them up and try to get more color out of them

 

[viceversabrd]

I was also gonna say the same. Blues are pretty weak so the fluorescent won’t come out as much. You can slowly turn them up and try to get more color out of them

Running blues at 50% whites at 16% anything more than 50% on my light seems to be too much for the corals to handle as they start shriveling up much earlier in the day

 

[13rodo]

What are your nutrients like? When my nitrates are on the low side I feel like my hammers and torches look paler (they still extend just fine). I don't run super high nitrates or anything (10-15ppm), but when they dip it seems to correlate with the paler appearance. Also, do you ever target feed them?

 

[viceversabrd]

What are your nutrients like? When my nitrates are on the low side I feel like my hammers and torches look paler (they still extend just fine). I don't run super high nitrates or anything (10-15ppm), but when they dip it seems to correlate with the paler appearance. Also, do you ever target feed them?

Nitrates usually sit around 30 ppm, phosphates like to bottom out more and usually sit between 0.05 - 0.07. I dose ammonia and nitrate on my kamoer doser and will hand dose phosphate when I feel like it needs a kick up. I usually spot feed the corals mysis when I give the clowns mysis about 2-3x a week. Will on occasion (1-2x month) spot feed benereef/reef roids. The main thing I do is broadcast feed PNS probio and PNS reef sno regularly. The corals seem to love it and I feel like it accounts for the success Ive had with growth and overall coral health but the colors still just aren't there.

 

[13rodo]

Nitrates usually sit around 30 ppm, phosphates like to bottom out more and usually sit between 0.05 - 0.07. I dose ammonia and nitrate on my kamoer doser and will hand dose phosphate when I feel like it needs a kick up. I usually spot feed the corals mysis when I give the clowns mysis about 2-3x a week. Will on occasion (1-2x month) spot feed benereef/reef roids. The main thing I do is broadcast feed PNS probio and PNS reef sno regularly. The corals seem to love it and I feel like it accounts for the success Ive had with growth and overall coral health but the colors still just aren't there.

Hmmmm then I can’t think of anything other than lightning.

 

[gkprevite]

It’s definitely light related. The tank is getting a lot of natural light which may be why your having a bit of an algae issue. I’m guessing if you blocked out the natural sunlight the light produced by the orphek light would pop more.

 

[Uncle99]

The natural light washes out the blues which creates the “pop”.

How do they look after dark with blue only?

 

[viceversabrd]

It’s definitely light related. The tank is getting a lot of natural light which may be why your having a bit of an algae issue. I’m guessing if you blocked out the natural sunlight the light produced by the orphek light would pop more.

Yeah maybe Ill finally put some blinds up haha, I kind of had the same thought, as seeing pictures of coral or even other peoples tanks or the LFS, usually everything in the background is jet black and very little natural light. Pro though, there's some days where the corals look pretty epic getting direct sunlight at certain times of day

 

[viceversabrd]

The natural light washes out the blues which creates the “pop”.

How do they look after dark with blue only?

They look okay but blues only starts at 8p and goes to 9p they look pretty shriveled by then albeit more intense color and also its been summer so not much after dark action the past 3 months since I've really had things rocking and rolling. I guess ill see this winter when it starts getting dark at 5p ugh

 

[slingfox]

Looking at the photos of the setup I assume you would get better coloration with more and/or better lighting.

What do you dose to the tank? Ie, do you dose AFR or some sort of 2-part of 3-part?

 

[Uncle99]

They look okay but blues only starts at 8p and goes to 9p they look pretty shriveled by then albeit more intense color and also its been summer so not much after dark action the past 3 months since I've really had things rocking and rolling. I guess ill see this winter when it starts getting dark at 5p ugh

1 hour blue? Why not 7-11 hours. Blue makes some corals look fab.

Those blueish colours in the 420nm to 460nm are important contributors to the photosynthetic processes in your tank along with a tiny amount of 660nm (reds)

Many run 7-11hours with a ton of blue and 1-10% of the whites.

That being said, your tank thrives obviously and will continue to thrive under a more “natural” light blend, but, corals may look a bit drab.

So it depends on what you like. Some love the whiter natural look, some like the windex look.

I know nothing that creates significantly better coral colour that bouncing blue off them.

Most manufacturers make claims of better colour by their additives (like Red Sea Colours and Fauna Marin (green,blue,red).

I tried both a for a year. Can’t say they looked any better from their deployment, but, there use did not hurt anything…..except my wallet…..in my tank costing $50 a month.

 

[viceversabrd]

Looking at the photos of the setup I assume you would get better coloration with more and/or better lighting.

What do you dose to the tank? Ie, do you dose AFR or some sort of 2-part of 3-part?

Better? I thought from my research the orphek Atlantik was the bees knees. As far as more light when I crank up the light it seems like too much for the corals so I don't go over 50% on blues. Yeah I dose AFR, ammonia, nitrate. I manually dose phosphates and Mg usually keep Mg 1400+.

 

[viceversabrd]

1 hour blue? Why not 7-11 hours. Blue makes some corals look fab.

Those blueish colours in the 420nm to 460nm are important contributors to the photosynthetic processes in your tank along with a tiny amount of 660nm (reds)

Many run 7-11hours with a ton of blue and 1-10% of the whites.

That being said, your tank thrives obviously and will continue to thrive under a more “natural” light blend, but, corals may look a bit drab.

So it depends on what you like. Some love the whiter natural look, some like the windex look.

I know nothing that creates significantly better coral colour that bouncing blue off them.

Most manufacturers make claims of better colour by their additives (like Red Sea Colours and Fauna Marin (green,blue,red).

I tried both a for a year. Can’t say they looked any better from their deployment, but, there use did not hurt anything…..except my wallet…..in my tank costing $50 a month.

I misspoke here's my lighting schedule, ONLY blues from 8p-9p. I appreciate the information I suppose I could turn my white and red channel down to 10, currently at 16. I agree on the additives although I really think PNS probio and Reef Sno are awesome even though they also hurt my wallet lol. I suppose I'm asking because in my research on this topic I've seen some comments say turn the UV spectrum down while keeping blues high to get more color from torches and/or other corals.

 

[allof fish]

Definitely can crank up the blues. How high up are the lights and corals in the tank? Do you have a par meter? My tank is going acro dominant and I’m slowly ramping my lights up from where they are now. But still blues at 91% and whites 22 with violets at 75. Want to get to 100 blues next month or 2. I would start by going up 2% in blues a week watch how they react and then go from there. Remember corals use blue lights

 

[allof fish]

Also looking at your pics looks like the one is a dragon soul maybe? I have one too and yours looks good but the brownish purplish parts aren’t as deep. I would conclude that’s bc of weak blues. That pic is with no filter on but you can see the difference with deeper richer colors

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

What specific colors do you note a drop-off in intensity for? I bought a 24k torch that is very washed out, hardly any yellow showing. Nice coral and doing great, but I'm thinking I need to up my yellow spectrum relative to others to bring it out.

 

[allof fish]

What specific colors do you note a drop-off in intensity for? I bought a 24k torch that is very washed out, hardly any yellow showing. Nice coral and doing great, but I'm thinking I need to up my yellow spectrum relative to others to bring it out.

Just focus on the blues. That will bring out the color the most. Slowly ramp them up and keep whites around 20-25%. The higher blues will give out more of the fluorescent