Increasing the colours on my corals

vetteguy53081

Well known Member and monster tank lover
View Badges
Joined
Aug 11, 2013
Messages
91,961
Reaction score
203,103
Location
Wisconsin -
Rating - 100%
13   0   0

windemerejack

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 14, 2020
Messages
1,685
Reaction score
7,497
Location
Windemere, Lake District
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Okay. Was simply curious. I run 1ppm, but like the idea of running higher
Every tank is different as you know so if the tank is looking healthy then I wouldn't change anything, you might end up regretting 'chasing' that ultimate look as it might turn into a disaster.
Personally i think your tank looks very nice as it is, but that's just my opinion, so think hard about changing things as it might not turn out how you want it too.
I upped my nitrates because the tank looked dull and boring, yours is far from dull and boring and i'm sure quite a few people would be happy to have a tank like that.
 

Stigigemla

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 20, 2015
Messages
904
Reaction score
828
Location
sweden
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
As You are using nopox to hold the nitrate down i believe You have enough organic matters in the water to feed the corals.
In order to get the phosphate down I suggest to use an iron based phosphate remover until the value is under 0,1.
In that time You cant dose nopox because it will clog the phosphate remover into a rock.
When the phosphate is down under 0,1 it is time to see if the nitrate has increased. Any value between 1 and 10 is good.
The next subject is the light. Cree white Leds is having a lot of yellow in it so I am not certain if the light is optimal.
It depends of which mixture of led colours Your light has. Many corals need a lot of light (especially blue) to form the chromoproteins that give them the best colour.
 
OP
OP
mucky1957

mucky1957

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 18, 2013
Messages
353
Reaction score
266
Location
Manchester. England
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
As You are using nopox to hold the nitrate down i believe You have enough organic matters in the water to feed the corals.
In order to get the phosphate down I suggest to use an iron based phosphate remover until the value is under 0,1.
In that time You cant dose nopox because it will clog the phosphate remover into a rock.
When the phosphate is down under 0,1 it is time to see if the nitrate has increased. Any value between 1 and 10 is good.
The next subject is the light. Cree white Leds is having a lot of yellow in it so I am not certain if the light is optimal.
It depends of which mixture of led colours Your light has. Many corals need a lot of light (especially blue) to form the chromoproteins that give them the best colour.
1. I'm happy to stop the Nopox for a while to see if the nitrates rise slightly and help to lower the phos.
2. As stated I am only running the whites at a max of 25% at any time and are only on for about 8hr a day..the blues are on at various percentages for 16hr a day.
3. If you look at my posted video the tank is doing really well ( I think so anyway ). I'm just looking to try and get more colour without changing the lighting.
 
OP
OP
mucky1957

mucky1957

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 18, 2013
Messages
353
Reaction score
266
Location
Manchester. England
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Every tank is different as you know so if the tank is looking healthy then I wouldn't change anything, you might end up regretting 'chasing' that ultimate look as it might turn into a disaster.
Personally i think your tank looks very nice as it is, but that's just my opinion, so think hard about changing things as it might not turn out how you want it too.
I upped my nitrates because the tank looked dull and boring, yours is far from dull and boring and i'm sure quite a few people would be happy to have a tank like that.
thats the worry. The phrase that comes to mind is ...'don't change something if it works' ......A few have suggested trying amino acids..so will look into this.
 
OP
OP
mucky1957

mucky1957

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 18, 2013
Messages
353
Reaction score
266
Location
Manchester. England
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I think your tank looks amazing! What's the taller, branching corals in the back . . . finger leather?
yes..grows like topsy. I am forever having to cut it hard back as it leans forward over the rest of the corals and blocks the light.
 

IT reef keeper

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 3, 2020
Messages
4
Reaction score
3
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
With high nitrates, would that equate to more algae? I'm at that phase where I want better colors, but have always run low NO3 NO4 for fear of GHA, which always seems to pop up when I let the numbers creep.
Not really in straight relation, if u keep those within the right ratio algae will not develop. My personal experience nitrates on 5 to 10 is not an issue at all. PO4 up to 0.1 again no issues. What has been slowing down with those values was coralline algae growth rate.
 

Looking for the spotlight: Do your fish notice the lighting in your reef tank?

  • My fish seem to regularly respond to the lighting in my reef tank.

    Votes: 58 75.3%
  • My fish seem to occasionally respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 8 10.4%
  • My fish seem to rarely respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 6 7.8%
  • My fish seem to never respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I don’t pay enough attention to my fish to notice if they respond to the lighting.

    Votes: 2 2.6%
  • I don’t have any fish in my tank.

    Votes: 2 2.6%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 1.3%
Back
Top