BC Rainbows in Spain not coloring up

[AdamNC]

When I first got this it was a nice greenish and purple color. That quickly faded and is now a brownish blah color. Tested yesterday my No3 was a slight tint on Red Sea Kit so I’d say 0 - 0.25ppm and my Po4 is at 0.08ppm per a Hanna checker. I know Po4 needs to come down a bit but the other 2 I got from that shipment is coloring up now. A Bali Slimer and an Ora Pearlberry. Is the Po4 too high for the Rainbows in Spain?

It looks like this now, I know bad pic but you get the idea. This is almost 4 months later.

And it was sold and came in looking just like this from POTO.

 

[Bpb]

Honestly. Without even diving too deep into your numbers. Just look at the pictures. His are taken under a natural white light. You look like you’re running solid magenta. I’m sure it’s just a bad camera catch from the disco ball, but we can’t tell much from that image

 

[TheHarold]

Give it tons of lighting and somewhat low nutrients. It'll get that color back

 

[AdamNC]

As of now it’s getting around 250par from 12:00pm - 7:00pm but even under a white light or more blue as the lights are going down it’s still blah. The past few months since I got my PMK I’ve been raising the light percent at 2% a week. Any faster and it seems to PO everything.

 

[hatfielj]

Be patient. It can take some frags many months to start growing and showing their colors...sometimes even over a year or more. Make sure you keep your parameters rock solid stable including nutrients and just wait it out. Your nitrates are kind of on the low side. Your phosphate is fine at that level. Do you try feeding your corals at all?

 

[AdamNC]

Yes I feed Red Sea Reef Energy AB daily, Live Phyto daily and once a week Reef Roids. I started straining my frozen as I’m trying to get the Po4 down as well as dosing BW NeoNitro to 0.25 when I test at 0 No3.

 

[x2uranium]

Indeed this species seems to take a little longer to color in my tanks as well

 

[AdamNC]

@Battlecorals is there anything you can recommend? 250ish par currently and rising week by week, 2 MP40s about 18” away on either side running max at 50% alternating modes every few hours.

 

[ycnibrc]

@Battlecorals is there anything you can recommend? 250ish par currently and rising week by week, 2 MP40s about 18” away on either side running max at 50% alternating modes every few hours.

This is a difficult Coral to color, my colony didn't color up to the rainbow color even though it's growing. Only about 6 months ago after 1 year then it's starting to give me the different shade of color. My colony is low light n med flow.

 

[AdamNC]

My colony is low light n med flow.

What par level do you consider your low light to be? I feel I’m still low on par for Acros but high light for lps.

 

[RandyC]

Mine sits at the top of my tank in 300ish par with high flow. I usually try to run ~2.5ppm nitrates, but lately I’ve been around 0.5-1ppm and my phosphates are 0.8-.1 ppm.

 

[ycnibrc]

What par level do you consider your low light to be? I feel I’m still low on par for Acros but high light for lps.

175 to 200 where I have the colony. I notice with the rainbow color if you put it high with lots of light the dominant color will take over and you don't see the other color

 

[jda]

Your building block levels are fine - don't mess with those just for this.

This is probably a lighting issue. This coral always looked better, IME, under more daylight. 14k would be better than a modern LED-blue-out.

 

[SOCOM]

From the base of your recent pic, it seams like its starving. 4 months and no growth should have been an indicator. as someone has said what spectrum are you running? .08 po4 is fine as long as your balanced.

change spectrum, increase feeding

 

[AdamNC]

what spectrum are you running?

No idea, don’t own a spectrum meter only a PMK par meter. I added more white balance to it but lowered the blues/violet some to keep the par inline as I increase overall par levels. Currently where it’s placed it should be receiving about 300 par. I really need to break out the par stick and reevaluate my par levels around the tank. I did try one of the preset modes of 14k but it was even more violet/purple rather than a more natural color. I did notice though as I got an overload of coralline the purple really reflects around the tank. It was never that purple before the coralline kicked in.

Here it was before the hurricane crash last year. 98% of the corals here are now gone.

 

[dank reefer]

Here is my BC rainbow in Spain gotten at that same auction.

First pic is when I got it, and second pic is about a month old. It's getting about 200 par where it's at, and getting a good amount of flow. I try and keep my alk between 8.5-9, cal between 420-450, and mag between 1350-1400. T5 hybrid 4 bulb with 3 hydra26hd ab+. Its been in that section in the tank for about 2 months, and it has colored up nicely from when I first got it.

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

When I first got this it was a nice greenish and purple color. That quickly faded and is now a brownish blah color. Tested yesterday my No3 was a slight tint on Red Sea Kit so I’d say 0 - 0.25ppm and my Po4 is at 0.08ppm per a Hanna checker. I know Po4 needs to come down a bit but the other 2 I got from that shipment is coloring up now. A Bali Slimer and an Ora Pearlberry. Is the Po4 too high for the Rainbows in Spain?

It looks like this now, I know bad pic but you get the idea. This is almost 4 months later.

And it was sold and came in looking just like this from POTO.

The spainbow is extremely resilient, and has endured many punches from all directions with me over the years. with any luck you frag will rebound. It looks a bit nutrient deprived and/or over lit. I may consider relocating it to lower area in the tank. In my experience the Spain has never really needed a ton of light to stay pretty. It may ultimately just be struggling to fully acclimate as well, but I definitely would count that guy out.

 

[AdamNC]

Guess I’ll try to move it off to the sides where it’s getting about 150 - 200 par.

 

[dank reefer]

Here is a pic that I took yesterday after I got back from my trip. Hopefully yours will color back up Adam.

 

[AdamNC]

Little update:
So far it appears to be spreading out on the plug but colors still aren’t there. The purple tips are coming in but the green base is not there yet. I did some par measurements with my PMK and it’s sitting at about 270par.