Pale? Grey? Tan? Or okay?

[Brandon McHenry]

Hi all! Just wanted to get some opinions on a few acros that I would like to make happier in my tank. I’m trying to figure out what it is they are missing but I cant really even decide on if they are pale, tan, grey or correctly colored. All I can say is growth has been a little slow on these (while others have grown significantly more) and they have all been in the system for over 6 months but some well over a year. Polyp extension has always been great. If anyone has any thoughts or opinions I’d love to hear them! :)

I tried to make the photos as true to life as I could. If you need any other pictures or info just let me know!

 

[SeaDweller]

Those look pale/tan to me bud. How are you N and P levels? Are you running LEDs on this tank?

 

[Graffiti Spot]

They look ok to me considering they are fairly hard ones to color up.

#1 looks kinda like a subulata and I don’t have much experience with them except for one time and the brownish base might be the actual color and might be hard to get vibrant looking except for the tips and branches.

#2 purple mille might just need more time or brighter light, I know the purples were hard for me to make look very vibrant colored too. But maybe after a few more branches it will color better?

3# these orange and green mille are tough as well especially to get the orange to stand out. Considering it looks like it’s lit well I would leave it and hope color comes while it grows because moving these kills the color and nutrients makes them sooo green unless your really good, but I have never got the orange with high nutrients.

#4 these secale variants are not really colorful unless in good light and low nutrients for me otherwise the purple doesn’t show well and the brown takes over. Nice light and the purple will show nice with nice greens in it too.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Those look pale/tan to me bud. How are you N and P levels? Are you running LEDs on this tank?

Nitrate is 0.2ppm and Phosphate is 0.03ppm. I run T5’s. I have an ATI Sunpower 6x24w that I run 2 ATI blue plus, 2 6500k and 2 ATI true actinic.

They look ok to me considering they are fairly hard ones to color up.

#1 looks kinda like a subulata and I don’t have much experience with them except for one time and the brownish base might be the actual color and might be hard to get vibrant looking except for the tips and branches.

#2 purple mille might just need more time or brighter light, I know the purples were hard for me to make look very vibrant colored too. But maybe after a few more branches it will color better?

3# these orange and green mille are tough as well especially to get the orange to stand out. Considering it looks like it’s lit well I would leave it and hope color comes while it grows because moving these kills the color and nutrients makes them sooo green unless your really good, but I have never got the orange with high nutrients.

#4 these secale variants are not really colorful unless in good light and low nutrients for me otherwise the purple doesn’t show well and the brown takes over. Nice light and the purple will show nice with nice greens in it too.

Yeah I figured they were okay just not what they could/should be. I was hoping that as they grew they would settle in and color up but these have also been my slowest growers.

#1 has been through a lot. I’ve had it two years and it’s had a rough go.

#2 I’ve had 7 months and has put on some branches but still slow.

#3 I’ve had for a year and it attaches itself to the rock and stopped. It started out a dark green and has transitioned to this color and hasn’t grown since.

#4 I’ve had for over a year and it started as a $5 brownout nub so it’s made some progress.

I guess when I bought them I didn’t think they’d be the more challenging species. Im hoping that with a few eyes on this we can come up with something that may kick them in to gear! ;Hilarious

 

[SeaDweller]

Nitrate is 0.2ppm and Phosphate is 0.03ppm. I run T5’s. I have an ATI Sunpower 6x24w that I run 2 ATI blue plus, 2 6500k and 2 ATI true actinic.



Yeah I figured they were okay just not what they could/should be. I was hoping that as they grew they would settle in and color up but these have also been my slowest growers.

#1 has been through a lot. I’ve had it two years and it’s had a rough go.

#2 I’ve had 7 months and has put on some branches but still slow.

#3 I’ve had for a year and it attaches itself to the rock and stopped. It started out a dark green and has transitioned to this color and hasn’t grown since.

#4 I’ve had for over a year and it started as a $5 brownout nub so it’s made some progress.

I guess when I bought them I didn’t think they’d be the more challenging species. Im hoping that with a few eyes on this we can come up with something that may kick them in to gear! ;Hilarious

Well, seeing the colors of the other colonies in the back, I’d be reluctant to change anything and maybe that’s just how they will be? especially that last pic, that valida or whatever is behind it looks like it has rich colors with your low levels, so changing that may darken/brown your other ones up too much?

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Well, seeing the colors of the other colonies in the back, I’d be reluctant to change anything and maybe that’s just how they will be? especially that last pic, that valida or whatever is behind it looks like it has rich colors with your low levels, so changing that may darken/brown your other ones up too much?

Yeah that’s kind of where I’m stuck lol. I do have some that have grown quite a bit and look good as they are. But them everything in the front of the tank still looks like not so nice frags. And of course that is what my eyes are drawn to first o_O

It also sucks because these are the ones that probably have the most potential too. It’s also a small tank so I don’t have really any room to move them around, nor would I want to break them off the rock at this point if I don’t have to.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

They look ok to me considering they are fairly hard ones to color up.

#1 looks kinda like a subulata and I don’t have much experience with them except for one time and the brownish base might be the actual color and might be hard to get vibrant looking except for the tips and branches.

#2 purple mille might just need more time or brighter light, I know the purples were hard for me to make look very vibrant colored too. But maybe after a few more branches it will color better?

3# these orange and green mille are tough as well especially to get the orange to stand out. Considering it looks like it’s lit well I would leave it and hope color comes while it grows because moving these kills the color and nutrients makes them sooo green unless your really good, but I have never got the orange with high nutrients.

#4 these secale variants are not really colorful unless in good light and low nutrients for me otherwise the purple doesn’t show well and the brown takes over. Nice light and the purple will show nice with nice greens in it too.

I forgot to mention #1 was bought as the WWC Twig and Berries during one of their live sales.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Just for reference. These pictures were taken 7 months ago. Definitely the ones that have given me the most trouble/been the slowest growers.

#1

#2

#3

#4

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Number one looks like the underside has been having issues since it was small? There is maybe something going on with that piece, but I would not know besides pests what would cause that?

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Number one looks like the underside has been having issues since it was small? There is maybe something going on with that piece, but I would not know besides pests what would cause that?

I have a suspicion it was my bicolor blenny who has since been removed. Didn’t really catch him actively going after it but i had a hunch.

 

[ReefBeta]

Maybe try dose some amino acid to see if it improves? Start slow and watch closely.

 

[MabuyaQ]

Have you ever tested for Iron and done a depletion test. Looks like you are having a problem with greencolors bleeching/fading. This could be the result of iron depletion in my experience.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Maybe try dose some amino acid to see if it improves? Start slow and watch closely.

I am currently dosing KZ Amino Acid High Concentrate at a rate of 1 drop/day in my 40 gallon about 30 min after lights are off. I have been dosing for several months with not a ton of change in these particular acros.

Have you ever tested for Iron and done a depletion test. Looks like you are having a problem with greencolors bleeching/fading. This could be the result of iron depletion in my experience.

I have not but would be interested to know. I know iron is very rapidly depleted in most reef tanks. For reference though here is one of my green acros from the exact same time frame as above.

 

[lemonade]

How high do you have your fixture hung?

 

[Brandon McHenry]

How high do you have your fixture hung?

About 6 inches off the surface which is dictated by the height of my hood.

 

[ReefBeta]

I am currently dosing KZ Amino Acid High Concentrate at a rate of 1 drop/day in my 40 gallon about 30 min after lights are off. I have been dosing for several months with not a ton of change in these particular acros.

Try increase the dosage? It's usually fine to dose several times more than recommend dosing especially for low nutrient tank and it's slowly worked up the dosage.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Try increase the dosage? It's usually fine to dose several times more than recommend dosing especially for low nutrient tank and it's slowly worked up the dosage.

I could look at moving up to 2 drops per day and see if I notice any changes. I’m usually careful about increasing dosages so I don’t run in to issues with cyano or anything like that.

 

[schuby]

Yellow is a difficult color of SPS to achieve/keep (my understanding is that yellow requires low residual nutrient levels). For your last pics, I'd say it looks better now than originally.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Yellow is a difficult color of SPS to achieve/keep (my understanding is that yellow requires low residual nutrient levels). For your last pics, I'd say it looks better now than originally.

The one in post #13? If so that one has been good for me. Growth has been fairly steady and color has always been nice. And yes it has definitely picked up more yellow now than it had in the past.

 

[MabuyaQ]

I am currently dosing KZ Amino Acid High Concentrate at a rate of 1 drop/day in my 40 gallon about 30 min after lights are off. I have been dosing for several months with not a ton of change in these particular acros.


I have not but would be interested to know. I know iron is very rapidly depleted in most reef tanks. For reference though here is one of my green acros from the exact same time frame as above.

The fact that this coral became paler/faded as well even though it shows good growth indicates to me that iron is a likely candidate. I saw the same when I stopped using GFO because my PO4 would got to 0 and stay stable without it, I saw my toxic green Acropora humilis get paler as well. This quickly reversed once I started dosing iron.