Purple SPS looking Green

[Greenstreet.1]

Trace elements availability in your systems differ.....It's not the LEDs.

That's my question will that not also have an affect


The Lord is good.

 

[Marquiseo]

That's my question will that not also have an affect


The Lord is good.

It has a big impact. Some people just use salt mixes, which sometimes lack in certain traces. Other than a good salt mix, it needs to be tested and dosed to maintain certain colors.

 

[atp0726]

Just a question don't kill me lol. Don't the conditions that the coral is coming from and then going to have a bigger affect on the color more than the light will ?

From the pictures I am not to concerned with the conditions they are coming from. I am sure the parameters are impeccable and could probably tell you exactly what they are. I have LEDs and I have found IME the transition from corals grown under LEDs to be much easier than corals grown under other lighting sources. This is purely speculation on my part and if anything its a theory I am still validating (in may head at least). It doesn't mean I don't by frags from tanks using T5s or Metal Halides I just like to know ahead of time the lighting they were grown under.

Oops, I thought I was replying to another thread I am subscribed to. I guess my above comments are applicable somewhat but you can disregard! I have had many of my acorpora change colors when adding them to my DT under a Radion. I have a Blue stag that I got from another hobbyist that kept it under T5s. He threw this piece in at frag swap for free because it was a fast grower and a bland color. when I got it it was mostly brown with light blue tips. Its been almost a year and this coral has bright green polyps and has turned purple on the surfaces getting hit with light. Maybe his parameters were different than mine I dont know. It does seem like if it going to change color at least under a Radion Gen 1 it want to go towards green. I have also noticed corals predominately red/orange and green seem to do the best and have the most vibrant colors.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Interesting thread/argument here and being a bit of a LED Guru I'll put my 0.06 in here. As stated above LED's can and do change the Corals colors depending on there overall spectral output as well as what light source they came from.
The different zooxanthellae (simbiotic algae) in corals utilize different light spectrums for photosynthesis and themselves are differently colored. As an example the primary green pigment Chlorophyll a absorbs spectral peaks of 430nm Blue and 670nm Red range, red Carotenoids absorb spectra in the 450-500nm Blue-Green range and the brown pigment Phycobillines absorbing in the 510-600 Green-Yellow-Orange range. So different intensities of certain spectrums will produce more or less of the primary pigment algae types and then will color or change the coral accordingly.

This being said the primary differences between LED's and most all other light sources for our Reeftanks are that light emission from most* LED's is very spectral specific compared to MH or T5's. This can be a good or bad thing depending on what we want from them. Most corals/plants will thrive with just a Blue and Red spectrum but wont necessarily be visually pleasing so we need to add more visible spectrum to fluoresce other pigments to a point we are satisfied with. As an example, for my DIY LED setup I emulated the 14K Phoenix lamp, my preferred look . By using a mix of different LED's matching the good spectral peaks of a new lamp and not intentionally adding any so-called garbage light always present in incandescent lamps. I have/used three different Whites, three different Blues, Green, Cyan, Red and Violet in a ratio I felt matched well.

Hope this helps with some of the confusion/questions

Cheers, Todd

* = White LED's are mainly Blue emitters with a phosphorous type coating blocking/changing certain output

 

[duke62]

Every board is the same way. You tell them they are wrong because you expierence something they have not and automatically a fight begins. I told him he was wrong and he attacks again. Oh well maybe thats why the older reefers dont write anything anymore. When I said check your no3 i meant that .25 is high for a SPS tank. He should have it between .05 or .10. I could be making a difference in his colors.. And maybe his salt does not have enough potassium supplement in its mixture Just because you put a coral in a tank with LEDs dont assume its the lights. It could be stress from the move to different water conditions,different light intensities to just light shock. The automatic jump on its the sol blues is just a easy answer without clear thought. Plus I have never heard of anyone having problems with purples or blues under LEDs. Pinks and reds I have heard but havent noticed this with my sol blues

 

[jservedio]

What are you using to measure your phosphates? If you aren't using a Hanna or better equipment, that could be an issue as well and your phosphate may be higher than you are measuring. If you are using a Salifert or Red Sea or any non-titration type hobbyist kit, your phosphates are probably higher than you are reading. For example, I got a bad batch of water from the LFS that was reading 0.03ppm on the Salifert kit but was actually way up at 0.24ppm (via HI-736) - so they can be way off. I am not saying you have high posphates or anything, just want to point out a possibility they are higher than you are reading. If you do use a Hanna, check the lot number of the reagents vs. the forums, lot #25 for example reads about 20-25% below where it should. It can't hurt to send a water sample to someone with some quality equipment to double check.

I notice if I neglect the tank for a bit and my phosphates hit around ~0.055 or so things start shifting colors and fairly quickly and take 3-5 weeks to fully color back up. I have noticed color changes with LEDs (I use Radion Pros), but not drastic changes when bringing in acros from under MH or T5 - certainly not shifting from purple to green. Normally it would be just changing the shade of the color slightly.

Another thing can be the relative light level from where you got it from to where it is now - not just because you are using LEDs. Efflos love their light, how far below the surface is it?

I agree with others you should check your other levels too - potassium first.

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Let's have a healthy discussion people no one knows everything everyday is a learning process. That said.

I was thinking the same thing that it has to be more than just light the conditions of the system has a lot more affect than the lights would


The Lord is good.

 

[duke62]

Yes conditions in the tank is what is giving his colors that green look. It can be a combination of both but my guess is the high NO3 and lack of other trace elements

 

[EricTheRed]

Not all LEDs are equal, and almost every person running LEDs has their intensities a little different. However, it has been demonstrated time and time again that LEDs do change he colors of corals, specifically acropora and chalices that were grown under mh's. It comes down to a difference in the available wavelengths of light (spectrum). Certain wavelengths will excite certain pigments in corals, and certain wavelengths will irreversibly change the proteins color with the absence of other wavelengths. In particular, LEDs have been known to lose reds (fluorescing and non fluorescing) and purples and bring out more greens and blues. I stumbled on an older article that actually does very well at explaining how this happens, though that isn't the sole purpose of the article. I attempted to paste the link below. Basically, if you he what I did out of it, the proteins that cause us to see the colors in the coral are dependent on the light that hits them and two species that are purple may not have the same protien to look purple. If the light spectrum isn't present that one of the proteins needs but present for a green proteins, the coral will appear green. It may also permanently turn green. If you look at the light spectrum needed for most green fluorescing proteins it is right in the sweet spot for most led fixtures.

Aquarium Corals: Making Corals Colorful: New Information on Acropora species ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

Thank you!

 

[EricTheRed]

Every board is the same way. You tell them they are wrong because you expierence something they have not and automatically a fight begins. I told him he was wrong and he attacks again. Oh well maybe thats why the older reefers dont write anything anymore. When I said check your no3 i meant that .25 is high for a SPS tank. He should have it between .05 or .10. I could be making a difference in his colors.. And maybe his salt does not have enough potassium supplement in its mixture Just because you put a coral in a tank with LEDs dont assume its the lights. It could be stress from the move to different water conditions,different light intensities to just light shock. The automatic jump on its the sol blues is just a easy answer without clear thought. Plus I have never heard of anyone having problems with purples or blues under LEDs. Pinks and reds I have heard but havent noticed this with my sol blues

Thanks, I was looking to see if there could be something else other than the LED's as I didn't want to jump to conclusions and blame the LED's right off. IME, I have my NO3's right where I want them. I used to run biopellets and ran into ulns issues and ended up dosing amino's and worrying about slight alk increases (burnt tips)...never again. I've also ran my NO3's in the 5ppm range and have not seen ill effects. Heck, I've seen some incredible sps tanks that ran in the 10 - 20ppm range consistently without issue. I'm not looking to incite any arguments but IMO the NO3's have had minimal impact on my tank. (Of course, others my have different results.)

 

[EricTheRed]

What are you using to measure your phosphates? If you aren't using a Hanna or better equipment, that could be an issue as well and your phosphate may be higher than you are measuring. If you are using a Salifert or Red Sea or any non-titration type hobbyist kit, your phosphates are probably higher than you are reading. For example, I got a bad batch of water from the LFS that was reading 0.03ppm on the Salifert kit but was actually way up at 0.24ppm (via HI-736) - so they can be way off. I am not saying you have high posphates or anything, just want to point out a possibility they are higher than you are reading. If you do use a Hanna, check the lot number of the reagents vs. the forums, lot #25 for example reads about 20-25% below where it should. It can't hurt to send a water sample to someone with some quality equipment to double check.

I notice if I neglect the tank for a bit and my phosphates hit around ~0.055 or so things start shifting colors and fairly quickly and take 3-5 weeks to fully color back up. I have noticed color changes with LEDs (I use Radion Pros), but not drastic changes when bringing in acros from under MH or T5 - certainly not shifting from purple to green. Normally it would be just changing the shade of the color slightly.

Another thing can be the relative light level from where you got it from to where it is now - not just because you are using LEDs. Efflos love their light, how far below the surface is it?

I agree with others you should check your other levels too - potassium first.

As far as PO4's go, I do test with a Hanna and agree that you're wasting your time using the various store bought drip tests. I'm using Red Sea salt, but not the Pro version because I dose 2-part and don't need that weekly boost causing unwanted swings. I dose Fuel a couple times per week and just finished a jug of the Seachem Reef Fusion with trace included. That being said, I'm still going to check my potassium as advised. Soooo...I just checked the phosphate reagents from Hanna and the Lot # is ....H1713-25. So....knowing that the checker has a margin of error of 0.04 plus up to another 25% from the reagent...I could very well be out of compliance on my PO4's. Thank you for your insight.

 

[Eckolancer]

My tank that has leds makes corals shift to green hue. My other tank plumbed into the same system with T5s shifts corals back to normal. Also my leds are rapid diy with a big blend of all color spectrum. I do think I am missing or have too much of one color in the leds, but I kind of like having acros with the green hue to them. Makes them look different then others.

 

[Eckolancer]

Heres a pic of blue tort T5s

Heres a pic of blue tort frag leds

 

[YumaMan]

Group hug!!!