What drives acro color outside of lighting?

[Tuffloud1]

What is a WD supposed to look like? Mine is turning out super yellow.

 

[reefluvrr]

What is a WD supposed to look like? Mine is turning out super yellow

I like your super yellow look. How much PAR are you using to make it yellow or do you think it is something else making it yellow?

 

[Tuffloud1]

I like your super yellow look. How much PAR are you using to make it yellow or do you think it is something else making it yellow?

I don’t test for PAR. Running Orphek Atlantik V4 Gen 2’s with 2 T5 ATI Blue Plus. 30 inch tall tank. WD is about 8 inches off the bottom.

 

[Rocketfish]

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

This is a really good explanation that compares to what I have read on the Red Sea site about coloration just in more detail.

I have a small reef tank, a 30 gallon IM AIO cube with an old "Sky Light" that I can't even find a reference for. It has a 6700K strip of LEDS and a strip of 460nm UV LED's. and 4 very dim 420nm "moon lights". Not an ideal set up but it has worked. My coloration is what I would call decent, but not spectacular yet. I figure I will have to upgrade the lights to get that.

I decided to go with the Red Sea philosophy for coloration which in a nutshell is low nutrients by regular dosing of NoPoX, and dose AB+ daily to provide nutrients and coloration pigment in the coral.

Following are my parameters:
Calcium 440
Alkalinity 8.0
Magnesium 1500+ (Elevated to reduce a GHA bloom because I dosed AB+ before I dosed NoPoX. The algae is slowly going away!)
Nitrate and phosphate are extremely low to the point that when I have someone else measure it, they are telling me it is essentially zero. If I do not dose AB+ regularly I will start to see dinos (Low nutrients). If I do not dose NoPoX, I start to see GHA growth instead of regression. it is a very delicate balance, but it is working right now. My eyes aren't good enough to tell if there is any there or not in the color, so I will be buying a couple of Hannah checkers soon.

Here is my coral list:
A Green Birdsnest type coral that has gone from a 2" frag to about 5" across in 6 months.
Rainbow Monti had gone from a frag plug to spreading about 4" on a Tonga Branch base.
Armor of God colony from 2 polyps in a year
Pink setosa about 4X in 5 months,
Green Slimer, encrusted well but not significant tip growth. Very green when I got it, had a bit of brown undertones until I started dosing Red Sea Trace Elements, now it is more green again.
Bird of Paradise. Not a lot of growth, but my lights don't do purple as well with that as others I have seen.
WWC Yellow tips from 3/4" frag to 2.5" and branching well in 6 months with great color.
Green branching hammer that started as a single head the size of my pinkie that is now 3 heads and growing well.
Small Trachy that LOVES the AB+
Recent additions, ASD Rainbow Millie, PC Rainbow, and a bubblegum digi.

Cyphastria doesn't do all that well in this tank and mushrooms don't thrive either. They both seem to want more free nutrients other than the AB+. I put those in a different tank. Before I went low nutrient, I had a bunch of Dragon's breath algae that looked cool and kept nutrients down. When I started dosing NoPoX they stopped growing. I moved what was left to a different tank.

I still have a lot to learn, but there are so many opinions out there that it can be really confusing for someone with less experience. That said, many different methods work. Find one you like and try it out. If you don't like the results you can change it up.

According to Red Sea though, high nutrients in the water column tend to feed the symbiotic algae in the coral which will take the color more brown. To enhance the color, reduce the nitrates and phosphates using NoPoX, and feed AB+ regularly so that the coral is getting its nutrients more from the feeding rather than the symbiotic algae. This will also trigger the chromatophores in the coral to brighten to protect against intense light. Here is a link to a video where they explain this:

I was going to share photos but I don't have any that will post here at the moment. I will work on it.

 

[Rocketfish]

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

This is a really good explanation that compares to what I have read on the Red Sea site about coloration just in more detail.

I have a small reef tank, a 30 gallon IM AIO cube with an old "Sky Light" that I can't even find a reference for. It has a 6700K strip of LEDS and a strip of 460nm UV LED's. and 4 very dim 420nm "moon lights". Not an ideal set up but it has worked. My coloration is what I would call decent, but not spectacular yet. I figure I will have to upgrade the lights to get that.

I decided to go with the Red Sea philosophy for coloration which in a nutshell is low nutrients by regular dosing of NoPoX, and dose AB+ daily to provide nutrients and coloration pigment in the coral.

Following are my parameters:
Calcium 440
Alkalinity 8.0
Magnesium 1500+ (Elevated to reduce a GHA bloom because I dosed AB+ before I dosed NoPoX. The algae is slowly going away!)
Nitrate and phosphate are extremely low to the point that when I have someone else measure it, they are telling me it is essentially zero. If I do not dose AB+ regularly I will start to see dinos (Low nutrients). If I do not dose NoPoX, I start to see GHA growth instead of regression. it is a very delicate balance, but it is working right now. My eyes aren't good enough to tell if there is any there or not in the color, so I will be buying a couple of Hannah checkers soon.

Here is my coral list:
A Green Birdsnest type coral that has gone from a 2" frag to about 5" across in 6 months.
Rainbow Monti had gone from a frag plug to spreading about 4" on a Tonga Branch base.
Armor of God colony from 2 polyps in a year
Pink setosa about 4X in 5 months,
Green Slimer, encrusted well but not significant tip growth. Very green when I got it, had a bit of brown undertones until I started dosing Red Sea Trace Elements, now it is more green again.
Bird of Paradise. Not a lot of growth, but my lights don't do purple as well with that as others I have seen.
WWC Yellow tips from 3/4" frag to 2.5" and branching well in 6 months with great color.
Green branching hammer that started as a single head the size of my pinkie that is now 3 heads and growing well.
Small Trachy that LOVES the AB+
Recent additions, ASD Rainbow Millie, PC Rainbow, and a bubblegum digi.

Cyphastria doesn't do all that well in this tank and mushrooms don't thrive either. They both seem to want more free nutrients other than the AB+. I put those in a different tank. Before I went low nutrient, I had a bunch of Dragon's breath algae that looked cool and kept nutrients down. When I started dosing NoPoX they stopped growing. I moved what was left to a different tank.

I still have a lot to learn, but there are so many opinions out there that it can be really confusing for someone with less experience. That said, many different methods work. Find one you like and try it out. If you don't like the results you can change it up.

According to Red Sea though, high nutrients in the water column tend to feed the symbiotic algae in the coral which will take the color more brown. To enhance the color, reduce the nitrates and phosphates using NoPoX, and feed AB+ regularly so that the coral is getting its nutrients more from the feeding rather than the symbiotic algae. This will also trigger the chromatophores in the coral to brighten to protect against intense light. Here is a link to a video where they explain this:

Some of these photos are a couple of months old and I have some with the white lights on and the white lights off. I don't have photos of the new stuff yet, but they are tiny. Nothing spectacular, just a work in progress!

 

[onetootreefor]

I think many in the hobby forget to realize that the no3 and po4 that we measure is what your export system is not exporting.
I feed heavy, monitor both, and have 14 fish in my 120.
My ideal range for both my systems is:
No3 <5
Po4 < .06
My range is:
No3 5-10
Po4 .02-.1
Within these ranges I have no algae at all, good growth, and color.
If I feed to much pellet food both levels go up.
When levels go up I stop feeding pellets and it comes down.
This works for my systems.

That being said, my phosphates and nitrares are much higher than what’s “acceptable” but im awc 32 gallon per week on 130 gal system, plus skimmer, and small refugium, so I am exporting more than most everyday.

 

[Scdell]

When one reads through a thread like this one wonders if they know anything at all seeing all the contradicting posts. Makes ones head spin.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

WWC Yellow Tips
Main system
Alk 6.5-8.5
No3 10-30
Po4 0.10-0.30
AI Prime 16
275 Par

Scrap System
Alk ?
No3 50 (last time I checked)
Po4 0.55 ( last time I checked)
AI Hydra 26 HD’s
300 Par

 

[X-37B]

WWC Yellow Tips
Main system
Alk 6.5-8.5
No3 10-30
Po4 0.10-0.30
AI Prime 16
275 Par

Scrap System
Alk ?
No3 50 (last time I checked)
Po4 0.55 ( last time I checked)
AI Hydra 26 HD’s
300 Par

Very nice looking corals.
Can you elaborate on your system parameters a little more?
I am very interested in reefers that run higher than what one would consider normal no3 and po4.
Also your alk seems to have a much wider range than most.

I do not do social media so I dont have instagram.

You can pm me if like.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Very nice looking corals.
Can you elaborate on your system parameters a little more?
I am very interested in reefers that run higher than what one would consider normal no3 and po4.
Also your alk seems to have a much wider range than most.

I do not do social media so I dont have instagram.

You can pm me if like.

Main
50g cube with 2 hydra 52 HD’s
2-MP 40s
Skimmer and chaeto in the sump
I dose kalk via my ato and tropic marin all for reef via an ecotech versa
15 or so fish that I feed frozen PE mysis
I also have a bunch of hermits and snails
Apex and trident

Scrap
Old 29g bio cube with 2-hydra 26 HD’s
Small tunze skimmer
I dose tropic marin all for reef as well
7 fish fed frozen PE mysis as well
I rarely test on this one

 

[Tuffloud1]

WWC Yellow Tips
Main system
Alk 6.5-8.5
No3 10-30
Po4 0.10-0.30
AI Prime 16
275 Par

Scrap System
Alk ?
No3 50 (last time I checked)
Po4 0.55 ( last time I checked)
AI Hydra 26 HD’s
300 Par

Where does your ph like to be?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Where does your ph like to be?

Main system is about 8-8.4 depending on when I add kalk or change the co2 scrubbing media.
No idea on the scrap system.

 

[onetootreefor]

Here is an update on color/growth!

 

[Stain]

https://www.facetsjournal.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/facets-2016-0064

I thought this was cool

 

[Daddy-o]

What is a WD supposed to look like? Mine is turning out super yellow.

Did you get that from Tim?

 

[Rocketfish]

This is a really good explanation that compares to what I have read on the Red Sea site about coloration just in more detail.

I have a small reef tank, a 30 gallon IM AIO cube with an old "Sky Light" that I can't even find a reference for. It has a 6700K strip of LEDS and a strip of 460nm UV LED's. and 4 very dim 420nm "moon lights". Not an ideal set up but it has worked. My coloration is what I would call decent, but not spectacular yet. I figure I will have to upgrade the lights to get that.

I decided to go with the Red Sea philosophy for coloration which in a nutshell is low nutrients by regular dosing of NoPoX, and dose AB+ daily to provide nutrients and coloration pigment in the coral.

Following are my parameters:
Calcium 440
Alkalinity 8.0
Magnesium 1500+ (Elevated to reduce a GHA bloom because I dosed AB+ before I dosed NoPoX. The algae is slowly going away!)
Nitrate and phosphate are extremely low to the point that when I have someone else measure it, they are telling me it is essentially zero. If I do not dose AB+ regularly I will start to see dinos (Low nutrients). If I do not dose NoPoX, I start to see GHA growth instead of regression. it is a very delicate balance, but it is working right now. My eyes aren't good enough to tell if there is any there or not in the color, so I will be buying a couple of Hannah checkers soon.

Here is my coral list:
A Green Birdsnest type coral that has gone from a 2" frag to about 5" across in 6 months.
Rainbow Monti had gone from a frag plug to spreading about 4" on a Tonga Branch base.
Armor of God colony from 2 polyps in a year
Pink setosa about 4X in 5 months,
Green Slimer, encrusted well but not significant tip growth. Very green when I got it, had a bit of brown undertones until I started dosing Red Sea Trace Elements, now it is more green again.
Bird of Paradise. Not a lot of growth, but my lights don't do purple as well with that as others I have seen.
WWC Yellow tips from 3/4" frag to 2.5" and branching well in 6 months with great color.
Green branching hammer that started as a single head the size of my pinkie that is now 3 heads and growing well.
Small Trachy that LOVES the AB+
Recent additions, ASD Rainbow Millie, PC Rainbow, and a bubblegum digi.

Cyphastria doesn't do all that well in this tank and mushrooms don't thrive either. They both seem to want more free nutrients other than the AB+. I put those in a different tank. Before I went low nutrient, I had a bunch of Dragon's breath algae that looked cool and kept nutrients down. When I started dosing NoPoX they stopped growing. I moved what was left to a different tank.

I still have a lot to learn, but there are so many opinions out there that it can be really confusing for someone with less experience. That said, many different methods work. Find one you like and try it out. If you don't like the results you can change it up.

According to Red Sea though, high nutrients in the water column tend to feed the symbiotic algae in the coral which will take the color more brown. To enhance the color, reduce the nitrates and phosphates using NoPoX, and feed AB+ regularly so that the coral is getting its nutrients more from the feeding rather than the symbiotic algae. This will also trigger the chromatophores in the coral to brighten to protect against intense light. Here is a link to a video where they explain this:

Some of these photos are a couple of months old and I have some with the white lights on and the white lights off. I don't have photos of the new stuff yet, but they are tiny. Nothing spectacular, just a work in progress!

This should be an interesting update some 18 months later... I purchased a Radion XR15 Blue, adjusted the spectrum to be a touch more blue and set it at 65% of full density.

I started to notice right away that the demand for Alkalinity and Calcium increased dramatically to the point I could not keep up with in manually! Below are a few photos of what the same corals in the same tank looked like just a few weeks ago. I fed frozen my sis and brine shrimp daily soaked in AB+ along with added pellets for the fish and sometimes Benereef.

I attribute the bulk of the growth to the new light and the doser getting the numbers to somewhat stabilize. The growth rate far exceeded my expectations, and I do attribute the start of the dramatic growth to the light with everything else as a result of the light stimulating the growth.