My corals seem to go through stages of color. I have a few that seem to start to color then lessen in intensity. I do keep stable parameters and suspect water changes to help some, but I don’t seem to get the strong vivid color I suspect my corals can get. some corals color better in the dt some in the coral tanks. I have tried to raise and lower the corals for different lighting with results but not strong results.
Parameters are
p04 is .01-.05 depending on feedings
calc is 435 very stable
alk is 8.2 very stable
salinity is 1.026
nitrates are nothing ever
magnesium is 1350-1400
temp 77-80 mainly 77.5-79
ph is 8.0-8.3 varies about .15 during night day
dt lights are 4 vho actinics on 11am- 9pm
2 vho act and 2 act white 1230pm-700pm
royal blue led ramp from 10 am to 11am, 80% from 11-8, and 8-930 ramps down
the coral tanks are 4 act ho, and 2 75/25, with rb led, 420 led, and 5 whites, all about the same setup as dt.
I’m sure you know most of this but never hurts for a refresh
http://orphek.com/led/2012/06/ingredients-good-coral-growth-color/
maybe your water is too clean? corals need some phosphates and nitrates to grow.
Hey Dunk, I forgot to thank you online for the tour of your tank system a couple weeks ago and the nice frags. I have to say your tank already looks Fantasmagorical! Lots of great colors, Polyp Extension, and lots of Mature Acros Of Unusual Size(MAOUS?) Most everything looked right except perhaps the gigantic red table acro, whick still isnt quite red. Ive had problems with some red acros too.
Thats a good link Hudz, i book marked that. nice to see their LEDs are hitting most of the Chlorophyl peaks. except the red end. We could try adding a few of the Makersled? 660 nm red LEDs. that also feeds Chlorophyl A like the 420 UV does on the left end. and might make the red reflect a bit more.
Their addative tips sound similar to this older Reef Builder post, with a little more info.
http://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/03/guide-of-sps-coral-coloration-make-them-more-vivid-bright/
I believe Rosti has used a lot of these suplements from the Red Sea dosing kits, and test kits, and seems to have worked for him. His tank pics look great. What do you think?
And thanks again for the frags. so far, so good.
Thanks ken glad the corals are doing good. I may try a different t5 or something. And bz I do feed the corals a mix of food so hope that feeds them. Growth is great but I want more color
I was just going to say that if you have had good growth for a while and have had consistent stable maintenance for some time you may experiment with adding particular elements as Ken alluded to above. Iron, Potassium, and Boron are a few. I would suggest perhaps trying one at a time and giving it a month or two to note results this way you can really learn what additive has what effect and perhaps adjust your dosage based on that.
If you have macroalgae growing at any notable speed in your display tank I would suggest leaving iron as the last one to experiment with as it is great for macroalgae growth. Now if you have a refugium with macro and no macro in the display completing with corals then iron may be a good call.
There is lots of reading to do on the pros and cons of each element. If you do not have a lot of time or energy to really experiment you could try just adding some of Brightwell’s Koralcolor: Brightwell Aquatics - KoralColor
i have used the koral color and didn’t notice anything except the acans liked it. I add essential elements from kent or brightwells elements. Once a week and i do add kent tech m iodine every two weeks but i think i will stop dosing this. I have strontium from a while ago but gave it up it was too hard to test for, same as boron the test is very hard. i am trying the frequent water changes to see if this will help first. I didn’t do too many water changes due to the mess and expense of salt, but now i do it in the basement so no mess and if i figure out all the proper things to add it’ll be more expensive and complicated then salt so wc it’ll be for now. I barely did wc’s once a month now i will make it monthly. and may go to biweekly.
I agree with Jon, the elements he listed listed make a difference in colors. Red Sea makes a color test kit that does some of these but I have not used it. Some of the more exotic elements are not easily tested by the average home aquarist due to expense. I ran across a link to a thread where red sea gives advice on some of the elements.
Hope this helps. The lighting will also have a significant impact on the color of any coral. This will have to be trial tested over a long period of time.
Its hard to tell for sure but i believe the corals in the frag tank are coloring up now. When i first placed them they looked good but about half started to lighten in color. Some got better and a some just look dull. It seems they are coming back I suspect they are adjusting to the lighting. I didn’t expect them to have to adjust to the lighting i thought vho and t5 were pretty similar.
In my opinion, and I am not the only one, T5s are immensely superior.
they are going from vho to t5 so hope they adjust and color up
I was just thinking and remembered that when i added the basement setup I smelled a fishy smell in the water not strong but light so i added about 5-6 cups of rox8 carbon in the sump and haven’t removed it this is on top of my normal amount of lignite. maybe this stripped the trace elements from the water? what do you all think?
All activated carbon has a limited carrying capacity and most will begin to leach out what it has captured after 4 weeks.(carbon can do more harm then good if left in longer then 4 weeks)
The quality of activated carbon is often measured by it’s ability to absorb Iodine from the water. Iodine plays an important role in the health of many corals.
Could write a couple pages on the pros and cons of activated carbon. In short I personally use it on my own tanks and all of my clients aquariums and add iodine to my personal tank and small amounts to reef aquariums I work on.(very small amounts typically)
Jon can this cause the color loss? I usually change it out every month but i used so much of it I left it in longer. brs calculator calls for 1.88 cups of rox and i had 6 cups in a sock up against the intake of the return pump. they call for 2.8 cups of lignite carbon which i have in a reactor. I just can’t figure out what can be causing the color loss aside from adding more water volume and moving the fuge downstairs nothing else has changed. I do add kent tech m iodine, 20 ml every two weeks.
what do you use to test iodine and what are good levels to maintain?
[quote=“Gordonious, post:13, topic:5616”]
Could write a couple pages on the pros and cons of activated carbon. [/quote]
:
:
Bet you could make a thesis outta that.
but seriously… Jon’s onto something
cool thanks
Iron, Manganese, Cobalt, Copper, Aluminum, Zinc, Chrome and Nickel promote the green coloration in green corals. These are all considered light metals and should not be confused with heavy metals.
this is the color i lost in a few corals, some still have it but its faded, and some are bright. I wonder if certain shades are effected by these elements like dark green is zinc and nickel while light green is the rest. maybe i need more trace elements
but lots of those trace metals are impurities in the salt, food, and other things we add to the tank. our trace and vitamin supplements we add also have them. theres a reason they call the “Trace Elements”. they are only needed, if at all, in very small amounts.