Purple Stylo Skin Color Slowly Fading

george9

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Hi All!
Added this purple stylo to my tank about exactly a month ago and have noticed its skin is very slowly losing the dark brown pigment it had when I purchased it. I placed it higher up on my rock-work because it was being BLASTED by LEDs in the shop at the tippy top of their tank, and I know their PAR runs higher than mine so I figured I'd be good with placement. I have the Steve's LEDs upgrade and am running them fairly low intensity (blues 40% and whites around 35% I believe). Meanwhile, polyp extension is fantastic and it looks like a fuzzy little tree waving in the flow, the only 'issue' im noticing is the slow degradation of the skin color.

I see no signs of distress or RTN/STN or any sort of skin peeling, it's just simply losing pigment below the polyps. I am thinking maybe a light issue, or some sort of light acclimation issue, or maybe it's just shifting colors under my lighting and is completely healthy. What do you guys think?

My parameters have been rock solid since the August now and I've been testing alk and phosphate daily since then to tune in my All for Reef dosing, and to gauge how my po4 levels vary day-to-day based on my feeding and water change regimen. Because I have had no swings, I am less inclined to say it is a parameter issue because the tank hasn't gone 24 hours without me monitoring the alkalinity or nutrients in months. I test Ca and Mg weekly.

Here's how my params look:
alk - 8.6
ca - 440
mg - 1400
pH - 7.9-8.1(ish)
phos- .05-.09

I attached a side-by-side comparison from Nov 19 (on the left) to today (on the right) along with a picture immediately after I put it in the tank (on November 19) so you can see how dark the skin used to be (polyps weren't out yet because it was just placed after acclimation)

EDF8A704-F3AF-4E8C-949A-3A7D87E1EDDF.JPG IMG_2435.jpg
 

saltyfins

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Hi All!
Added this purple stylo to my tank about exactly a month ago and have noticed its skin is very slowly losing the dark brown pigment it had when I purchased it. I placed it higher up on my rock-work because it was being BLASTED by LEDs in the shop at the tippy top of their tank, and I know their PAR runs higher than mine so I figured I'd be good with placement. I have the Steve's LEDs upgrade and am running them fairly low intensity (blues 40% and whites around 35% I believe). Meanwhile, polyp extension is fantastic and it looks like a fuzzy little tree waving in the flow, the only 'issue' im noticing is the slow degradation of the skin color.

I see no signs of distress or RTN/STN or any sort of skin peeling, it's just simply losing pigment below the polyps. I am thinking maybe a light issue, or some sort of light acclimation issue, or maybe it's just shifting colors under my lighting and is completely healthy. What do you guys think?

My parameters have been rock solid since the August now and I've been testing alk and phosphate daily since then to tune in my All for Reef dosing, and to gauge how my po4 levels vary day-to-day based on my feeding and water change regimen. Because I have had no swings, I am less inclined to say it is a parameter issue because the tank hasn't gone 24 hours without me monitoring the alkalinity or nutrients in months. I test Ca and Mg weekly.

Here's how my params look:
alk - 8.6
ca - 440
mg - 1400
pH - 7.9-8.1(ish)
phos- .05-.09

I attached a side-by-side comparison from Nov 19 (on the left) to today (on the right) along with a picture immediately after I put it in the tank (on November 19) so you can see how dark the skin used to be (polyps weren't out yet because it was just placed after acclimation)

EDF8A704-F3AF-4E8C-949A-3A7D87E1EDDF.JPG IMG_2435.jpg
get it up in the light. if they get shaded, even by them selves... higher light, HIGH flow they LOVE IT...I had this happen too, so I took a chance and moved it up. that thing has huge growth now, and all it's color. thickened branches etc... they love high light and flow. mine is in about 400 Par, and absolutely blasted for flow
 
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george9

george9

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get it up in the light. if they get shaded, even by them selves... higher light, HIGH flow they LOVE IT...I had this happen too, so I took a chance and moved it up. that thing has huge growth now, and all it's color. thickened branches etc... they love high light and flow. mine is in about 400 Par, and absolutely blasted for flow
interesting, so in your case a lightening of the skin meant it was wanting more light? That’s the opposite of everything I’ve ever known about corals lol

This guy is definitely feeling the flow, it’s relatively close to my nero 3 and its polyps are constantly moving
 
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george9

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Also I just realized it must have grown a bit looking at the side by side image, 1 or 2 of the branches have split off on the right side. Can’t be too upset then can it?

It’s interesting to me how it’s lost color completely uniformly. Not much of it is shaded but it does sit at a slight angle and there are no areas that have held more color than another. Anyways, just thinking out loud here now.
 

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george9

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Unfortunately it’s looking whiter today for some reason but polyps are still fully open and flowing in the current. Using the Photone app, It’s sitting anywhere between 130-160 PAR which I just cannot imagine is enough to bleach it given it came from a LFS tank 6” from LEDs. I am thinking it’s time to invest in or at least rent a real PAR meter because I will only continue to dump SPS corals into this tank and lose them if I’m not 100% certain the light intensities in different areas.

I did make a change to my light schedule about 12 days ago that *may* be a factor now that I think about it. I went from a 1 hour ramp up/ramp down to a 2 hour ramp up/ramp down which shortened the time my “peak” lights were on from 9 hours to 7 hours.

Going to keep it where it is and maybe increase my overall light intensity by 1-2% and target feed aminos and see what happens. I do not want to do anything drastic and put the other 35 corals in jeopardy who are doing very well.
 

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mrpontiac80

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Unfortunately it’s looking whiter today for some reason but polyps are still fully open and flowing in the current. Using the Photone app, It’s sitting anywhere between 130-160 PAR which I just cannot imagine is enough to bleach it given it came from a LFS tank 6” from LEDs. I am thinking it’s time to invest in or at least rent a real PAR meter because I will only continue to dump SPS corals into this tank and lose them if I’m not 100% certain the light intensities in different areas.

I did make a change to my light schedule about 12 days ago that *may* be a factor now that I think about it. I went from a 1 hour ramp up/ramp down to a 2 hour ramp up/ramp down which shortened the time my “peak” lights were on from 9 hours to 7 hours.

Going to keep it where it is and maybe increase my overall light intensity by 1-2% and target feed aminos and see what happens. I do not want to do anything drastic and put the other 35 corals in jeopardy who are doing very well.
Are the polyps getting white also? The last pic above looks like it. I am probably not the guy to ask or give advice but I can share what mine looks like.
I am attaching a short video I just took of mine. You can see it has lots of flow, sits at around 250 par if I remember correctly. And also notice the underside is completely white including the polyps that never get light.
my alk is 9 dkh
Calcium 430
Magnesium 1400
 
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george9

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Are the polyps getting white also? The last pic above looks like it. I am probably not the guy to ask or give advice but I can share what mine looks like.
I am attaching a short video I just took of mine. You can see it has lots of flow, sits at around 250 par if I remember correctly. And also notice the underside is completely white including the polyps that never get light.
my alk is 9 dkh
Calcium 430
Magnesium 1400

Yours looks beautiful! Yes it does look like the polyps are turning white as well. A big problem is that I am not sure if this is a too much light or not enough light issue since shaded/lower light areas of stylos tend to turn white with polyps like this. The whole coral is basically uniformly white now almost like the underside of some stylos I’ve seen. It’s interesting the very tips of the branches appear to be the brownest parts now. It’s been such a slow progression over the month. I remember about a week after having the coral I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me that its skin looked slightly lighter but now I know it definitely has been getting lighter the whole time I’ve had it!

Apparently the Photone app is somewhat accurate for a ballpark but I probably just need a real PAR meter to be completely sure.
 
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george9

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I bought a par meter last year and was blown away by the numbers. They were much lower than I thought.
Same here
Which models did you guys get? I am leaning towards the Apogee MQ420 Because i can easily plug it into my macbook next to my tank. I would love an MQ510 but just can’t get myself to shell out $600 for something I’ll use infrequently
 

mrpontiac80

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Which models did you guys get? I am leaning towards the Apogee MQ420 Because i can easily plug it into my macbook next to my tank. I would love an MQ510 but just can’t get myself to shell out $600 for something I’ll use infrequently
I bought the MQ510. My reasoning was that I was spending $100-200 dollars on corals at times and after a few losses, I was over it. I figured I could return it after using it, but once I saw how wrong my guesses were I kept it for future light changes, tank upgrades or whatever.
 
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george9

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I bought the MQ510. My reasoning was that I was spending $100-200 dollars on corals at times and after a few losses, I was over it. I figured I could return it after using it, but once I saw how wrong my guesses were I kept it for future light changes, tank upgrades or whatever.
Yup I agree with that justification, I think it would be insane to start dumping higher end frags onto my rock work without knowing exactly what PAR they’re under especially with LEDS. I bet I have some hot spots and dead spots that I’m unaware of.

I am just hoping the polyps don’t start disappearing now. I gave it a nice bath of aminos today and may move it higher tomorrow depending on how it looks. Problem is there is not much higher it can go, and it’s such a weird and top heavy shape.
 
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