Coral Coloration LFS vs home

[Flytekk]

Hey i have recently purchased large lps corals one green and pink elegance and one purple and pink long tentacle plate coral.

In the store the lighting was kessil 360we with 2x dual t5ho retrofits on either side of the kessils. So 4 bulbs total. They looked like blue plus and purple plus by ATI.

In my house i have a 180g with 2 kessil ap700 over it. My levels are all where they should be. Ph, salinity, nitrates, cal, mag, alk etc etc.

In the LFS corals look stunning, green body with pink tips and pink body with purple tips. In my house while the tips are stil purple and pink the bodys arent very colorful at all. Instead of luminecent green the elegence is more like a brown. And the plate instead of pink so more like a dark purple.

I wonder if its my lack of t5ho? Ive heard people say t5 give best coral colors? I keep my kessils at about 44%.

Id appreciate any input on the matter.

 

[anthonys51]

Do you have the kessil more blue or more white.

I have radion and it has 20 different presets. It makes my corals look totally different. I will assume you have too much of the white spectrum. Witch Doesn't show off the fluorescent in the coral. I would adjust your lights to the spectrum that works for your eyes and corals. The power precent doesn't have anything to do with it. Plus your water doesn't either. I mean water down the line but water wouldn't make your corals change colors over night or in 2 days. It would take weeks or more depending on how off your water is

 

[Flytekk]

Perfect example, Anthony... your purple nem looked brown in my tank. Thats why i sold it. Ive tried all of the different colors and i cant seem to make the corals look they way they do at the lfs. I do see that when i go more blue they pop more. But the body color is not showing. Only the glow/pop at the tips.

 

[anthonys51]

Yes corals looking different in different tanks is a problem we will face forever. I don't have kessils but most of the people I speak to who have them run mostly blue The white red and green spectrum of light do absolutely nothing for the corals

 

[mcarroll]

In the store the lighting was kessil 360we with 2x dual t5ho retrofits on either side of the kessils. So 4 bulbs total. They looked like blue plus and purple plus by ATI.

Take a closer look at their settings or call and ask what their Kessil settings are. You should be able to at least replicate that part of their lighting more-or-less identically.

You would also like to know the intensity of their setup.....a PAR map of their tank, or even just some lux readings off the top of the tank would be all it takes. You should match their intensity as much as you can.

Do you have a PAR or lux meter?

In my house [...]My levels are all where they should be. Ph, salinity, nitrates, cal, mag, alk etc etc.

Please list.

How do your numbers compare to the LFS?

 

[K100286]

It wouldn't hurt to slowly increase the red setting, and as it increases see if the coral color changes. You could also do this with the various colors on the wheel.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Was the color change apparent immediately upon placing the coral in your tank or did the color disappear over a period of time? If the former, it's probably the spectral quality of your lamp not exciting the fluorescent proteins. If the latter, although it could still be lighting related, it's might be due to a water quality issue. I used to check the water quality of 'bag water' to see how well the LFS was maintaining their tanks, so there may have been a shock of going from poor quality store water to good water quality.

 

[Flytekk]

The color change was apparent immediately. Funny thing happened yesterday. I developed ich in my tank from a rock i got from a fellow reefer. I should have knowwn when i asked if he had ich he answered "everyone has ich"

So i moved all my corals and clams from 180g to a 75. Going fallow in 75 and hypo in 180. I had 2 kessil ap700 on my 180 as mentioned above. Now i have 1 on 180 and 1 on 75. I am running a small power filter with carbon in it for the corals and clams in the 75 fallow tank. That power filter creates very low flow.

The results are stunning. The polyps are barely moving due to water flow. The small movements i can barely detect are from the corals themselves. The polyps are plump. And the colors are not as good as lfs but are closer.

I like this look so much that in 6 weeks when i reunite the live stock i will look into adding more vortechs but running each at a low rate!

What do you guys think? Should i be worried of too low flow? Or too little oxygen?

 

[Dana Riddle]

The color change was apparent immediately. Funny thing happened yesterday. I developed ich in my tank from a rock i got from a fellow reefer. I should have knowwn when i asked if he had ich he answered "everyone has ich"

So i moved all my corals and clams from 180g to a 75. Going fallow in 75 and hypo in 180. I had 2 kessil ap700 on my 180 as mentioned above. Now i have 1 on 180 and 1 on 75. I am running a small power filter with carbon in it for the corals and clams in the 75 fallow tank. That power filter creates very low flow.

The results are stunning. The polyps are barely moving due to water flow. The small movements i can barely detect are from the corals themselves. The polyps are plump. And the colors are not as good as lfs but are closer.

I like this look so much that in 6 weeks when i reunite the live stock i will look into adding more vortechs but running each at a low rate!

It is relatively easy to visually determine flow requirements of coral. Very fleshy corals (Catalaphyllia, Scolymia, Fungia) have excellent detritus-shedding capabilities, indicating they are adapted to flow conditions so low that detritus continuously settles upon them. On the other hand, most, if not all, SPS corals can't shed detritus through 'pumping' (filling/expelling tissues with water.) With that said, I'll share my observation of water flow at Kahalu'u Beach Park in Hawaii (also known as 'Children's Beach' because a rock formation protects it from surf.) I was making light readings with a submersible PAR sensor and it was weighted down with a 5-pound dive weight. Even at this place - recommended for children - I found the light sensor and its weight had been tossed around by the surf. BTW, there are no soft corals there, save a small patch of Sarcothelia here and there. In another test, I repeated the procedure. The surf came up and I found the metal fence post (that had been straight) bent like a pretzel by the violent water motion. So, we probably don't want to replicate natural water motion in an aquarium, but be careful in maintaining low flow when trying to maintain corals that aren't adapted to it.

What do you guys think? Should i be worried of too low flow? Or too little oxygen?

 

[anthonys51]

My fish don't have ich. But unless your qt every coral for 72 days and rock all tank will have ich. It's silly to say it's from the rock. The corals you buy technically can have ich too on them. Like I said before all takes have ich unless you tank transfer all
Fish and qt all
New corals and rocks for 72 days. Sorry you got ich but to blame my rock when you added corals from other people's tank too in the last 2 weeks isn't a little unfair. Plus you added corals from my tank there really isn't a different between adding corals on a rock or a rock itself

 

[K100286]

I have never had Ich. What am I doing wrong?

 

[anthonys51]

Mostly tangs will show it but if you didn't ttm e dry new fish or qt everything ( coral, rock , etc). Your tank has ich.

 

[anthonys51]

Don't really think those are sick ich infested looking fish

I have over 40 fish in my tank. I am able to keep pbt, cleaner wrasses , 4 different kinds of anthias

Ich is one of the most common parasites in this hobby. It doesn't kill a fish fast. It basically keeps infections going a fish until it succumbs to something else. If you fish has a few spots and dies in a day or 2 it most likely wasn't ich that killed it
All fish at the lfs have ich. They get way to many fish to keep it out of there system. It's why the keep there water at 1.017 and have Cooper in there water. It's doesn't always cure ich 100 percent but will keep it in low amounts that the fishes natural immunity ( slime coat) can stop the infestation. Tangs has one very thick slime coat. Are easily stressed and like a lot of room to swim and hiding spots. It's why they usually get it fish. Mandarin fish have a really thick slime coat making it harder for them to get ich. It's why people mistakenly think mandarins can't get ich. Also just because your fish don't show out signs of lch doesn't mean they are ich free. Ich will live in there gills first. Personal I never worry about it. My water is clean. I feed a wide array of health food I feed 4 times a day and let nature takes its cost