Coral color - LPS

[reef22]

Hey all...need some help with coral color. So I have mainly LPS. I have a holy grail torch and a dragon soul torch. They are growing awesome, new heads and all. Everything in my tank is growing well. However, the yellow in the HG torch is disappearing and same with the dragon soul. The green lost it brightness and is a darker green on the HG. Any help on this would be awesome, like I said, healthy tank, color is just off, mainly yellow, brighter colors. I feed 2-3 times a week. Using Brightwell neomarine. I dose BRS two part, have a Prime HD running AB+.

Alk- 9
cal - 440
mag - 1400
n03 - 25
n04 - .04
salinity - 1.026

 

[Dr Jen]

Hey all...need some help with coral color. So I have mainly LPS. I have a holy grail torch and a dragon soul torch. They are growing awesome, new heads and all. Everything in my tank is growing well. However, the yellow in the HG torch is disappearing and same with the dragon soul. The green lost it brightness and is a darker green on the HG. Any help on this would be awesome, like I said, healthy tank, color is just off, mainly yellow, brighter colors. I feed 2-3 times a week. Using Brightwell neomarine. I dose BRS two part, have a Prime HD running AB+.

Alk- 9
cal - 440
mag - 1400
n03 - 25
n04 - .04
salinity - 1.026

I would try to get the nitrates down below 10, thats probably your culprit. Red sea No3po4 dosing will help as well as its supposed to brighten colors

 

[reef22]

ok thanks. I have nopox and will start using it. I have heard mixed things about nitrates.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

While in theory excess nutrients can cause corals to turn more brown/green than when cultured in lower nutrient water, there's complexity to that observation. In my experience, coral darkening and/or loss of brighter colors is a symptom of too low of a light level combined with high nutrients. It could also be a symptom of a lack of certain trace elements such as potassium. However, most seawater mixes contain adequate trace elements, and feeding fish in the tank supplements these elements as well, so it's not usually necessary to add a specific trace element supplement.

You don't say what size tank you have, but a single Prime HD would really only be suitable for a fairly small tank, such as a 20-25g, and/or really low-light corals, such as corallimorpharians (such as mushrooms). Euphyllia species, of which euphyllia glabrescens (torch corals) are one species, typically require a good bit higher light levels than corallimorphs and other, lower-light LPS species.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree that lighting is a big factor in coral color, but in actually how the coral is, and in how it appears. More so than typical chemistry issues aside from excessive zoox due to high nutrients.

 

[reef22]

While in theory excess nutrients can cause corals to turn more brown/green than when cultured in lower nutrient water, there's complexity to that observation. In my experience, coral darkening and/or loss of brighter colors is a symptom of too low of a light level combined with high nutrients. It could also be a symptom of a lack of certain trace elements such as potassium. However, most seawater mixes contain adequate trace elements, and feeding fish in the tank supplements these elements as well, so it's not usually necessary to add a specific trace element supplement.

You don't say what size tank you have, but a single Prime HD would really only be suitable for a fairly small tank, such as a 20-25g, and/or really low-light corals, such as corallimorpharians (such as mushrooms). Euphyllia species, of which euphyllia glabrescens (torch corals) are one species, typically require a good bit higher light levels than corallimorphs and other, lower-light LPS species.

it is a 29 biocube