What drives acro color outside of lighting?

[WillH]

Sounds go

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.

Sounds good. I appreciate your effort to allow suggestions to research. I personally run ab+ with reduced channels for most of period. I however have found more fluctuation in coloration due to nutrient levels. But, like I said. I am no prodigy like some of the folks on here

 

[CCauthers]

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

I can tell you that this is not true, I have one sitting on a rack for 2 months in 250-300 par that has quite a bit of pink. For most of them, it really depends on the tank

 

[fuelman]

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 have to agree with this. when I first started keeping acro's I had a bunch that started turning Green, I searched for a cause & several guys with very successful sps tanks said the same thing. I run all led lights, I upped the white to 20% I was at 85% blue & 4% White & within about a month they all started returning to the proper color. I made no changes other than the lights.

 

[jda]

Oh geezus... another person who did not pay attention close enough and thinks that JF uses just blue lighting. First, the bulbs that he uses are almost identical to Blue Plus, which are pretty full spectrum . Second, he used MH for a good part of the day at that time too. Third, he is a vendor who which is totally different than a hobbyist.

For me, coloration is most about lighting assuming that all other things are competent. Top notch lighting and competent stability and parameters is WAY better than Ok lighting and top notch stability and parameters. Of course, all of these are not mutually exclusive.

You do need to get your other things up to at least a competent level. Then make sure that you have some fuller spectrum to render good color in the corals. You can add in blues to your desire when you want to view them.

 

[Coral4coral]

I can tell you that this is not true, I have one sitting on a rack for 2 months in 250-300 par that has quite a bit of pink. For most of them, it really depends on the tank

I would really like to see a picture Because you can find thread on top of thread with people agreeing higher par brings out pinks in wd and colors in other tenuis hence the term cooking/baking acros comes from

 

[CCauthers]

I would really like to see a picture Because you can find thread on top of thread with people agreeing higher par brings out pinks in wd and colors in other tenuis hence the term cooking/baking acros comes from

I think you missed the part where I said that it depends on the tank. I don't feel like starting an argument about this, just pointing out that nothing is ever absolute, no matter how convenient it may be.

 

[X-37B]

I ran 4b+ and 4c+ for 14 months with good growth and color.
Changed a month ago to 2 250 watt de 14k phoenix MH.
My colors are really looking good a month after firing them up.
Much more color, imo.
I run them 9 hrs and switched from 9hr T5 with no rampup just full on.
No suplemental lights just the MH.
No other changes to parameters.
Love these lights!

 

[SamMule]

I just saw a BRSTV video last week that referred to a dana riddle article. They said something along the lines of increasing lighting past the point of optimal chlorophyll saturation would cause the coral to put on more pigment as a "sunscreen"

 

[Coral4coral]

I think you missed the part where I said that it depends on the tank. I don't feel like starting an argument about this, just pointing out that nothing is ever absolute, no matter how convenient it may be.

No argument here it’s hard to tell someone’s tone over messages I’m just curious that’s all because I’ve done a lot of reading on this and if your getting that good of color in 250 par I would really like to see it and know what your parameters/dosing regimen is

 

[Perry]

Balance of nutrients, main minerals, sg, temp, and overall biology/ chemistry of system. I don't test par, but suppose my wd is fairly lit, 20" below lighting, 6xt5 3xb+, 1x actinic+, 2x c+, and sb reefbar blue led.
I agree that high par is not the only recipe for color, regardless of coral, they are adaptive.
My still coloring wd under full spectrum.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

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

I gotta ask, what about that article do you agree with? I see that article as an old school ultra low nutrient guide to colors, defiantly doesn’t transfer well to methods these days. Back then I thought it was a little misleading and still don’t agree with some of it, or how it’s worded I guess.

 

[xiaoxiy]

I would really like to see a picture Because you can find thread on top of thread with people agreeing higher par brings out pinks in wd and colors in other tenuis hence the term cooking/baking acros comes from

Mine is pink and it's only under 250-300 PAR.

The first picture was taken under blue lighting with no gel filter and the colors are visually accurate to what I see on person. The second picture is with an orange gel, similar to what is posted online by vendors.

 

[anthonygf]

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)

Have you done an ICP test yet? Curious about potassium, research states this elements if low would affect color. I try to maintain potassium at 400ppm and seems to have improved the color.

 

[Coral4coral]

Mine is pink and it's only under 250-300 PAR.

The first picture was taken under blue lighting with no gel filter and the colors are visually accurate to what I see on person. The second picture is with an orange gel, similar to what is posted online by vendors.
So what lighting do you use ,whats your parameters and dosing? How were you able to get that color?

 

[xiaoxiy]

So what lighting do you use ,whats your parameters and dosing? How were you able to get that color?

I run Reefi Extremes (LEDs). My tank runs at ~14k during the day and bluer light in the evening. I've run different lights before, including Halides, T5s, and hybrids. I haven't noticed much correlation/relation between my light choices and acropora coloration or growth in any noticeable way. In my experience, it's more important to keep lighting stable from day to day.

My parameters aren't anything special. Salinity is 1.024-1.025. My alk is 7.3-8.3dkH. pH ranges from 8.1-8.6 throughout the day. I don't test any other parameters.

My dosing is slightly more complex. I do ~3% automatic water change daily with Instant Ocean, dose Kalk for alkalinity and calcium, and run EasySPS and EasyBooster.

I have no idea how I get corals to color up in this tank. The corals just do what they want.

 

[Useful_Idiot]

I ran all blue plus on my frag tank for about 6 months and the reds and yellows faded on my sps. Granted it wasn't 500 par of blue light but went back to 50/50 C+B+ and all was well. I also think you need the higher par levels to bring out colors when the nutrient levels are higher.

 

[Coral4coral]

.

 

[onetootreefor]

Thanks for the tips and info from all of you guys! I do have a lot of blue, but my radions run on a modified AB+ schedule so they get their fair share of white balanced in there too. It was time to change my T5 bulbs so I ordered 2 Coral Plus bulbs to go along with my 2x Blue+ bulbs. I will keep you all updated with some pictures as things progress.

The Walt Disney has started branching like crazy since my last post, I guess it finally felt secure after all of it's encrusting. A lot of other acros seem to be branching more and more too, which is a great sign! The colors are still my primary concern. I started doing a tsp of oyster feast daily and increased my acro power to 10ml daily instead of 5ml.

Furthermore since my last post, one of my pink Monti's started fading and bleaching. My nutrient levels are bottoming out again :/ and I'm having to dose nitrate from ME Corals. I am currently feeding 2 xl cubes of PE Mysis per day along with 1 sheet of nori, and still doesn't seem to be enough. So far the Monti is the only one affected so hopefully I caught it quick, but my LPS and zoas do not seem to be happy.

 

[CCauthers]

Put some more fish in!

 

[jda]

All that dosing nitrate is doing is feeding the anoxic bacteria in your rocks/sand - they are just going to keep gobbling it up. Micro algae (think zoox) cannot use nitrate and get their nitrogen from ammonia/ammonium. I am sorry that so many people on the board wrongly parrot the inaccuracy that nitrate is a coral food or nutrient, but you would be better off dosing ammonium or ammonia... or just feeding the fish more. Nitrate can provide building blocks to lots of things, just does not help most coral the way that they think.