White & Thriving

[pnastys]

So my first 40b I started almost ten years ago sucked me deep into this hobby. Starting with a cheap (5$) euphyllia, I killed a few fish due to salinity, and after being up over a year things started looking up. I got a reef breeder with 99-3 watt leds, a tunze ato, and I started dosing 2 part. I finally bought my first acro sps (30$!); I had to hide that cost back then, lol gives you an idea on my hobby cash. The sps grew, and it grew quickly. I added more and they all grew. I literally never killed one.
BUT! They lost color shortly after getting in my tank, which I eventually found out was because I didn’t feed the tank...at all, ever! Not even the fish! Still, nothing died.
I am posting this because I have struggled with acros in all future tanks, & I never found out how those acros were stone white (like they were dead), yet polyps were extending and their growth was exponential. I do want to reiterate that once I started feeding the tank (rods food) the colors literally burst out of all my acros. But prior to feeding they appeared perfectly healthy, but zero color...how/why?

 

[stephj03]

BC of your lights. Light is a major acro food source. Light, Alk, Ca, trace elements from water changes is enough if balanced.

Your LEDs were low enough to be balanced to whatever nutrients were in the tank. And your fish were eating algae off the rocks.

And you were likely super stable on Alk and whatever nutrients you did have.