Colors

[That one guy]

I have a mix reef and I've notice every time I bring a new coral home it carries it's bright color but after a few weeks it tends to loose it's brightness. I.e I have a birdsnest that was bright pink now it's like a purplish color. Or a yellow cup coral that was once bright yellow turn out to be a greenish/turquoise color. So what I need help with is what should I do so that I can bring the colors to my corals back? For the most part they turn darkish in a way no bleaching or anything just dark, if it's red it turns to a violet color if it's blue it runs into a dark blue. Coral growth is good I can't argue about that it's just the colors that bug me . I currently have 2 hydras with blues 100 and whites 50, and two t5 fixtures with two 10k and two actinic.

 

[JOKER]

I would back off on the light a little and see if that helped, also what are parameters? A little phosphate and nitrate seem to color up coral.

 

[That one guy]

When I had my lights to about half of what I have them now seemed no different according to corals and my no3 is at 60 and with zero po4

 

[JOKER]

NO3 is a little high that may be hurting. When mine got over 20 it causes ill effects. Hopefully someone else can help out some.

 

[Waters]

How long have these coral been in the tank? Coral will often go through an adjustment period depending on what type of lighting (and water conditions) they are coming from. I know SPS will sometimes take months to color up after being moved from one tank to another.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Lighting and nutrition (nutrients) both play a role in color, and light has instantaneous effects (e.g., the look, but no change in the coral) and slower effects (different levels of light and UV impact what the coral tissue is actually composed of).

Browning can be a sign of elevated nutrients and so elevated zoox. Pale colors can be a sign of lack of nutrition (like N and P).

It is hard to know if yours is elevated zoox, light, or something else.

 

[That one guy]

Green is the only color that stays bright and doesn't darken or lightens but the rest of the colors seem to get dark over time and I've had these corals about a year and a half but like I said growth is awesome just complaining on how to get there colors to pop

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Pre-Red Sea system stuff (because the combo of nopox and reef energy really made a difference for coloration in my tank since I drip it 24x7) I found led's to definitely affect coloration by itself. I would probably guess the excess nitrate is the reason for the darkening in your case.
Otherwise the biggest change I've seen (again pre RS stuff) was a pale green and a hint of blue/purple polyp coral. The store has t5's. He said it was a laker's monti. I brought it home, and after a few months, it turned to a vibrant green base with blue-blue polyps.
LFS uses a dsb and gfo iirc and my tank at the time was using biopellets. So I know both tanks were fairly close to zero trates/po4.. Could have been a food difference too I guess, but the lights came to mind as the biggest difference.