Advice on improving color

[AnthemForLiving]

I want to make my SPS more colorful. My parameters are:
pH: 8.1-8.2
Ammonium: 0.00
Nitrite: 0.00
Nitrate: 0.00
SG: 1.024
Temp: 78-80
Calcium: 380-480
dKH: 8
Magnesium: 1500

Below are pictures of my SPS. On the last picture I circled them (as ridiculous as it looks) so you could tell what these crappy looking brown sticks are.

Below by color
Red: Red Planet
Green: RR Poison Ivy
Between cali tort and poison ivy is CC Kickass Horrida
Purple: Cali Tort
Orange: Bali Slimer
Blue: no idea, but it started out as a indigo/violet

What should I do to make these look good again?
Thanks for any help

 

[RedneckReefer68]

For starters, I would get your nitrate up to detectable levels. I didn't see a p04 test result. Have you tested this? What lights are you running?

 

[AnthemForLiving]

I have T5HO with 2 actinic and 2 10,000k daylight. I run them for 16 H/Day. I know that's longer than recommended. I just do it to help get a bit more growth out of them.

 

[AnthemForLiving]

Phosphates are also undetectable by the Hanna Instruments Phosphate Checker

 

[Sabellafella]

D

I have T5HO with 2 actinic and 2 10,000k daylight. I run them for 16 H/Day. I know that's longer than recommended. I just do it to help get a bit more growth out of them.

This right here is your issue. The more light the more zoox. They tend to look brown with mire then a 12 hour photoperiod

 

[Sabellafella]

Cut the lights to 10/12 hours and youll see a difference , growth wize u have 2 10,000 k bulbs is more then enuff

 

[jackson6745]

D

This right here is your issue. The more light the more zoox. They tend to look brown with mire then a 12 hour photoperiod

Hey Sabellafella,

I have to disagree with the "more light is more zoox" comment. IME there is a happy medium for growth, color, and health zoox populations. Seems that most guys, including myself, end up with 5-8 hours full intensity (several dawn/dusk hours before and after). In the past if I ran too long of a photoperiod my SPS would loose Zoox and bleach in color. I have seen SPS get a tan color like the ones above when a photoperiod is too long, but not a high nutrient brown color.

 

[maroun.c]

I'd try letting your phosphates and nitrates rise a bit and maybe use a higher K light and cut down a bit on the time.
Some of your corals are quite colorful and others look faded and Its hard to tell if it's excessive light or ULNS.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Here' my take. Its a little hard to believe that your tank is that stripped of nutrients. Looking at the pictures I see a few things that look a bit like algae (I could be mistaken). But if there is algae in your display than you have nutrients bound up there. What test kits are you using? Secondly, at 16 hours of peak intensity lighting Id say you are getting into the range of photoinhibition. Its counterintuitive but sometimes you can give your corals too much daytime light and they kinda just say "Thats it I'm done. I don't want to color up. I don't want to grow." Thirdly, just like any good things you can't have both excellent growth and excellent color (as far as I know). There are specific parameters and conditions that are better for each. Just take lighting, lower kelvin usually produces better growth but less color and the opposite is true for higher kelvin. You can split the difference at about 14k and get an even mixture of growth and color. That is the popular choice for tanks that aren't mature yet. I think you'd be better off with two ATI blue plus bulbs and 2 ATI coral plus bulbs. For a four bulb fixture that will get you plenty of PAR for growth and a great spectrum for color. I would also consider slowly decreasing your photoperiod to anywhere between 8-12 hours peak. If it were my tank Id say start with the lighting changes before you start messing with nutrients. Do it slow and document any changes. If you change too much at once you will never know what is affecting what. Of course these are just my opinions and they are not necessarily what is going to work in your particular tank. This is just what Id try.

 

[twilliard]

My very first words when I opened this thread...

Starving corals

Po4 is evident

 

[Sabellafella]

Hey Sabellafella,

I have to disagree with the "more light is more zoox" comment. IME there is a happy medium for growth, color, and health zoox populations. Seems that most guys, including myself, end up with 5-8 hours full intensity (several dawn/dusk hours before and after). In the past if I ran too long of a photoperiod my SPS would loose Zoox and bleach in color. I have seen SPS get a tan color like the ones above when a photoperiod is too long, but not a high nutrient brown color.

Lol thats kinda what i ment.my frag tank only runs 5 hours total. My 2 other tanks peak for 7 hours but have a 10 hour cycle. If i kept it anymore then that my corals would turn back to the origional brown(or pale) they were previous. By the look of those pics , he runs triple the time my frag tank does, the 2 only things ibcan think of is the phtoperiod or nutrients. I understand he wants growth but next year hes going to hate trimming them lol

 

[AnthemForLiving]

Yeah, there definitely is some algae growing in my tank. I'm using Salifert for nitrate and magnesium. I use Hanna Phosphate Checker for phosphate. For ammonium, nitrite, pH, calcium, and alk, I use API kits.

I'll try cutting back the photoperiod over the next week and look for a change. I'll try adding some live rotifers and amino acids after that.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Yeah, there definitely is some algae growing in my tank. I'm using Salifert for nitrate and magnesium. I use Hanna Phosphate Checker for phosphate. For ammonium, nitrite, pH, calcium, and alk, I use API kits.

I'll try cutting back the photoperiod over the next week and look for a change. I'll try adding some live rotifers and amino acids after that.

If there is algae growing in the tank then Im not sure you need amino acids, just my opinion though. And a week is not really a long time when you are looking for changes. It may take a couple of weeks to see results from a single change in your system. Also Id strongly advise at least looking into the bulb combination I mentioned before. ATI is pretty much the standard for T5 lighting in my opinion, although giessmann does make nice stuff as well (both german companies). Id say look into the new bulbs and lower the photoperiod and give that a month. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby and its never good to make a new change very week hoping for results.

 

[brownsalt92]

You should ain for a 2 to 5 ppm nitrate and a .02 to.04 po4 and my tank I run t5 for 8 hours 16 is a awful lot unless your using a dimmer for a long sunrise and sun set

 

[Diesel]

Will follow for the results after No3 and Po4 are raised to the correct levels and color will return in a few weeks.

 

[gus6464]

Corals need food too.

 

[timkenagy]

D

This right here is your issue. The more light the more zoox. They tend to look brown with mire then a 12 hour photoperiod

I have to see your tank. All the advice you give it has to be epic, but I can't find your tank thread.

 

[favites]

Agree with a lot that has been advised. Did not see what size tank you have and the current bioload, but it looked sparse :> Are you running any chemical media (?) Bottom line consider:

1) decrease your photo period to 8 hours

2) slowly increase bioload (increase feedings or perhaps slowly adding a few more fish) while monitoring parameters

agree changing lighting spectrum may be helpful in addition but would start making one change at time...

Mark

 

[AnthemForLiving]

Update pictures after 1 month of reduced photoperiod of 16h/day down to 12 h/day

After

Before

After

Before

 

[Diesel]

Nice.
You can tweak it to 10hrs if you like.
Also get rid of the astrea stars or at least thin it out a bit.