What drives acro color outside of lighting?

[onetootreefor]

In my newest tank I have 2 xr30 pro gen 4 with 4x ati blue t5s as supplement. I run the t5's 5 hours a day during peak in my radion schedule. My acros have great health great polyp extension, and seem to be growing pretty rapidly. Most of my SPS is encrusted 4-5 inches around where I glued the frag.

My biggest concern is my colors are kind of washed out. Not bleached, not brown, just not as multi colored as when I bought them. My WD for example is primarily green base, with green polyp, and slight blue around the tips. When I bought it had yellow, and orange, and pink and all sorts of other colors, now it's just mostly green. Why would that be?

Also most of my Acropora seems to encrust great (at least every frag has 4-5 inches encrusted beyond the original frag), but very slow to start branching...Any ideas on that too?

Flow: 2x mp40 anti sync on opposite sides of tank, variations of reef crest and gyre throughout the day. Also have 2x gyre xf330 on opposite sides of the tank in anti sync as well.
Alk (Apex Trident): 7.5 pretty rock solid
Calc (Apex Trident): 460
Mag (Apex Trident): 1400
Nitrate (RedSea pro): ~5ppm
Phosphate (Hannah ULR) : .06-.1 (I know this on the high side, but when I try to reduce I often bottom it at 0 and my corals are not happy)
PH (Apex): 8.1-8.2 depending on light cycle

I'm currently dosing ~42ml of Cal and Alk a day over 6 doses each day. (BRS 2part Pharma packs)


Here is a pic of my Walt Disney for reference. (since this photo was taken I have seen 3 to 4 branches coming out of the base)

 

[WIReefer]

Everything looks great to me I would leave your PO4 right where it’s at. Maybe bumping that up a bit you will see more color but every system is deferent. In my opinion everything looks great and would just keep it stable! Your Walt looks great.

 

[Ike]

"Phosphate (Hannah ULR) : .06-.1 (I know this on the high side, but when I try to reduce I often bottom it at 0 and my corals are not happy)"

When you mess around with P and bottom it out it often leads to a loss of color and stunted growth... There could be other things at play, but this is what stands out to me.

 

[CCauthers]

Could be flow. Can you post a video of the flow stuff is getting? Color can be almost anything, but I feel that when they start to branch more, color will improve as well.

 

[onetootreefor]

Could be flow. Can you post a video of the flow stuff is getting? Color can be almost anything, but I feel that when they start to branch more, color will improve as well.

I don't have a video right now, ill try to take one later, but theres a good amount of flow in there with the 2x mp40s (100% max intensity reefcrest), and 2x xf330 gyres (80% max random)

 

[minus9]

I'm getting pretty good results dosing trace elements via the reef moonshiners program. My NO3 is 1ppm (i dose .5ppm every night)
PO4 is .24ppm and slowly coming down.
Flow, lighting/spectrum and chemistry are all part of it, so there's no "one" thing that drives color, but a series of right conditions. This also changes with individual systems, one may need a bump up NO3 or PO4, someone else maybe using a little carbon to clarify the water. This is where you can experiment a little and see what does it for your tank. I would suggest to try one thing and see if you get results, if not, try something else, but only one thing at a time, that way you know for sure "it" was the missing thing.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Following this discussion

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I would say more light, what’s your intensity on the Radions?

 

[Pistol Peet]

I would say lighting flow parameters Trace minor minerals amino acids pretty much everything in the water column

 

[SeaDweller]

IME when acros green out, when using LEDs, it's because there's too much blue spectrum and on top of that you're running 4 more ATI blue plus, that's alot of blue. I bet if you ran a whiter spectrum or swapped out at least a bulb for a 6500k or coral plus bulb, you'll see improvements in a few weeks-month.

 

[CCauthers]

Remember, this takes time. I'd almost focus on the lessened branching growth than the color right now

 

[SamMule]

Photoshop and camera filters

 

[SamMule]

 

[Daddy-o]

I was reading this from Reef Builders a couple weeks ago:

Guide of SPS coral coloration (make them more vivid, bright) | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

This guide endeavors to assist you with the ever popular SPS coral. This was written by member Shadowramy and it explains specific ideas and strategies in which you can do to affect the color of your…

reefbuilders.com

 

[TNreeferBX]

Guy who’s taught me everything i know about corals keeps alk 8.6 phos 0.03-0.06 and nitrates 20-25 and he grows more than anybody i’ve ever known, crazy colors

My next acro tank will follow this model

 

[Coral4coral]

In my newest tank I have 2 xr30 pro gen 4 with 4x ati blue t5s as supplement. I run the t5's 5 hours a day during peak in my radion schedule. My acros have great health great polyp extension, and seem to be growing pretty rapidly. Most of my SPS is encrusted 4-5 inches around where I glued the frag.

My biggest concern is my colors are kind of washed out. Not bleached, not brown, just not as multi colored as when I bought them. My WD for example is primarily green base, with green polyp, and slight blue around the tips. When I bought it had yellow, and orange, and pink and all sorts of other colors, now it's just mostly green. Why would that be?

Also most of my Acropora seems to encrust great (at least every frag has 4-5 inches encrusted beyond the original frag), but very slow to start branching...Any ideas on that too?

Flow: 2x mp40 anti sync on opposite sides of tank, variations of reef crest and gyre throughout the day. Also have 2x gyre xf330 on opposite sides of the tank in anti sync as well.
Alk (Apex Trident): 7.5 pretty rock solid
Calc (Apex Trident): 460
Mag (Apex Trident): 1400
Nitrate (RedSea pro): ~5ppm
Phosphate (Hannah ULR) : .06-.1 (I know this on the high side, but when I try to reduce I often bottom it at 0 and my corals are not happy)
PH (Apex): 8.1-8.2 depending on light cycle

I'm currently dosing ~42ml of Cal and Alk a day over 6 doses each day. (BRS 2part Pharma packs)


Here is a pic of my Walt Disney for reference. (since this photo was taken I have seen 3 to 4 branches coming out of the base)

Wd only starts to get pink under high par levels like 500 600

 

[WillH]

IME when acros green out, when using LEDs, it's because there's too much blue spectrum and on top of that you're running 4 more ATI blue plus, that's alot of blue. I bet if you ran a whiter spectrum or swapped out at least a bulb for a 6500k or coral plus bulb, you'll see improvements in a few weeks-month.

I am no pro by any means, but if you watch jason fox videos he states the bluer - the better. He runs his lights VERY blue, based on diving he says that corals naturally are found in very blue light.

 

[SeaDweller]

I am no pro by any means, but if you watch jason fox videos he states the bluer - the better. He runs his lights VERY blue, based on diving he says that corals naturally are found in very blue light.

I challenge you or anyone to run a tank on nothing but blues for your photoperiod and then let us know what happens to the acros and their colors, long term. Even if they’re found in “bluer” light down there, does one think a coral like a WD will look how it does in our tanks, down there? I can tell you what Fox said when I asked him what he was looking for when he was “diving” for corals: “cant tell anything, they all look brown”.

 

[WillH]

I challenge you or anyone to run a tank on nothing but blues for your photoperiod and then let us know what happens to the acros and their colors, long term. Even if they’re found in “bluer” light down there, does one think a coral like a WD will look how it does in our tanks down there? I can tell you what Fox said when I asked him what he was looking for when he was “diving” for corals: “cant tell anything, they all look brown”.

Wow bud, sorry for the reply.

 

[SeaDweller]

Wow bud, sorry for the reply.

Please go copy his method and lighting, run nothing but blue LEDs or Blue plus bulbs and then report back here monthly so we can see your progress. I’d love to see how your tank turns out.

People tend to forget B+ bulbs have a green spike in it too, it’s not simply “just” blue.