Strawberry shortcake help

[childress5tyler]

Hello everybody, I've had a strawberry shortcake frag that has grown quite significantly over the past three months, and still continues to grow moderately fast. My issue is coloration :( This is really my only acropora in my tank that doesn't have great color and I'm not sure what else I can do. Here are my parameters:

Calcium- 420
Alk- 9.5
Mag- 1300
(I use a GEO612 so all levels are pretty stable)
Nitrate- 0
PO4- .02
Temp- 79

My tank is lightly stocked, only having 3 fish in my 80 rimless. I feed my corals ReefRoids once a week but I may stop that for an entire month just to see how it goes. The acro is about 18" under my 2x 250 watt radium with VHO actinic. I plan to lower my lights 6'' whenever I build my new hanging canopy. I know there isn't much, if anything, y'all can do. I'm just looking for some advice on getting more color on my SS. Thanks

 

[Diesel]

SSC are not a easy Acro to keep.
I have three in my tank and find the best place for it.
Now after 1 year and good encrusting finally the two closed to the lights are having awesome color and growth.
Give it some time and good flow.
GL

 

[childress5tyler]

Here are the only current pics I have of it. It's just above the red planet.

 

[spspirate]

Seems really healthy.

 

[bct15]

Is it brown, faded, or no pink in it with extra green? More specifics on what isn't colored right in your opinion can help.

 

[childress5tyler]

The pink is faded and I'm not seeing as much green as I'd like

 

[spspirate]

Maybe bump your nutrients up a little, but not too much.

 

[childress5tyler]

I'm guessing my nutrients are pretty low since I only have 3 fish. I plan to buy 5 anthias here shortly, though. I have no algae other than the typical glass algae that every tank seems to get.

 

[spspirate]

Sounds like a plan, keep us posted! This would be my guess. Also how fresh are your bulbs?

 

[childress5tyler]

Radium- 2 months
(This is the bulb it's user)
Phoenix- 7 months

**i started a little experiment to compare the two bulbs 2 months ago. I'm switching to all radiums here shortly instead of having just 1 of each

 

[childress5tyler]

*the bulb is under the radium.

I'm also leaning towards the fact that it's 18" below the light.

 

[bct15]

If your getting film algae your Nutrients are not too low. I recommend you lower your alk to 8. When my phosphates are below .03 alk above 8.5 causes issues like faded color, alk above 9 causes burning tips. Bring down your alk. Do you know your potassium level? Is the green faded or is it brown? This coral likes light and flow.

 

[adevice]

Is that tang new, from the pic it looks like it could really use some fattening up. I know this post is about your coral, but I couldn't help notice.

 

[spspirate]

I did this with a setup of mine with a 250 mogul Radium and a 250 Phoenix mogul. I could hardly tell the difference but ended up all Radiums. Radiums for life!..LOL. I think 18" from your 250 is fine. Here is a pic of my shortcake. I would say about 15" from bulb. 4" under the surface. I fed a lot but kept the water very clean. 250 Radium 6x 24" actinic T-5's on a Lumatek ballast. Water is low in this pic because of water change.

 

[childress5tyler]

It's about 7 months, but I'm getting great growth out of everything so far. I'm gonna lower my ALK to where it was before and keep it there.

 

[childress5tyler]

Sure it needs to be fattened up. I've got about 20-25 frags that will grow into colonies on top of the 4 colonies I have now

 

[childress5tyler]

I did this with a setup of mine with a 250 mogul Radium and a 250 Phoenix mogul. I could hardly tell the difference but ended up all Radiums. Radiums for life!..LOL. I think 18" from your 250 is fine. Here is a pic of my shortcake. I would say about 15" from bulb. 4" under the surface. I fed a lot but kept the water very clean. 250 Radium 6x 24" actinic T-5's on a Lumatek ballast. Water is low in this pic because of water change.

Beautiful colony.

 

[spspirate]

It's about 7 months, but I'm getting great growth out of everything so far. I'm gonna lower my ALK to where it was before and keep it there.

My dKH sets about where yours is at now. 9-10

 

[childress5tyler]

If your getting film algae your Nutrients are not too low. I recommend you lower your alk to 8. When my phosphates are below .03 alk above 8.5 causes issues like faded color, alk above 9 causes burning tips. Bring down your alk. Do you know your potassium level? Is the green faded or is it brown? This coral likes light and flow.

The green is there, just not a ton. The pink is faded

 

[spspirate]

Looking at your photos your reef looks pretty clean. I have never heard of burnt tips on acros from having a dKH of 9-10. I have had burnt tips from a rapid increase in dKH but never at a sitting point at 9-10.