Corals Turing white

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

NO3 and PO4 are low, imo. Lighting may be too high, or flow too low. I’d try increasing nitrate to 5-10 ppm and decrease lighting by at least 10% until you can par map the tank.

 

[Solo McReefer]

What would you suggest??? 2 16 primes??

No

I am suggesting two 64s

Not for PAR. For coverage

But I am assuming you are planning on growing acros in that tank

 

[Jgill70]

No

I am suggesting two 64s

Not for PAR. For coverage

But I am assuming you are planning on growing acros in that tank

my tank is only 24" wide

 

[Spare time]

They appear to be starving. Raise the nitrate and phosphate (feed the fish more and dose more of the red sea reef energy). The corals being pale but still showing polyp extension as well as the numbers you listed sound like a starving situation. I also do recommend quality bituminous or rox carbon in any tank.

 

[Solo McReefer]

The coral farmers grew that acro is a long tank

Probably with 6+ Radions mounted high. And some strips along the side

Check out POTOs videos, they show how they light their tanks. Tidal Gardens has over $100,000 in Radions in their farm

Mounted high, which gives a more diffuse and regular light to the corals. This is due to the Inverse Square Law of light

Jason Fox uses cheap Chinese no name LEDs for his farm. But he still has them mounted high, and virtually touching each other. Forming one huge panel of light over each of his grow tanks

 

[Solo McReefer]

my tank is only 24" wide

I'm putting together a 50 cube, 24×24. As an acro frag growout.

2 Radions are going over the top of it

I need to move all my acros from my RS 170 over to it. My Vertex Illumina is not enough, and mounted too low for them to be really happy

 

[Jgill70]

The coral farmers grew that acro is a long tank

Probably with 6+ Radions mounted high. And some strips along the side

Check out POTOs videos, they show how they light their tanks. Tidal Gardens has over $100,000 in Radions in their farm

Mounted high, which gives a more diffuse and regular light to the corals. This is due to the Inverse Square Law of light

Jason Fox uses cheap Chinese no name LEDs for his farm. But he still has them mounted high, and virtually touching each other. Forming one huge panel of light over each of his grow tanks

So are you saying i should increase the intensity and raise the light height??

 

[javajaws]

my tank is only 24" wide

If you have a single LED light that can still cause shading problems. Short tanks like that are hard because you wouldn't be able to spread out 2 LED lights far apart enough to eliminate the shading. I'd suggest T5 supplementation. Shading gets worse the larger the coral.

 

[Jgill70]

If you have a single LED light that can still cause shading problems. Short tanks like that are hard because you wouldn't be able to spread out 2 LED lights far apart enough to eliminate the shading. I'd suggest T5 supplementation. Shading gets worse the larger the coral.

What about replacing the Hydra 32 with 21" AI Blade lights

 

[Solo McReefer]

So are you saying i should increase the intensity and raise the light height??

No

You need 400ish PAR at your acro level of your tank

Do not just willy nilly increase intensity. You'll kill your animals that way

What I am saying is that your acros are not getting any light on their sides, and are self shadowing themselves

You need more LEDs, spread out like a panel of light, and higher, and 400ish PAR at the acro level

Look at how the ATI Stratons are made. These are made by a T5 company, to mimic T5 lighting. It's a huge panel of light. One of those would be perfect over 24" tank

This is a diagram for photographers, but it is equally pertinent to coral growers

 

[twentyleagues]

The colors on the corals never seem to get like they should. When the lights go out all the corals look either white like the pictures or brown. The coral in the second picture should look like this:

With the lights out? is that a type o? If it is not then they would look brown or white. With the lights on you will see colors.
Looks to me your nutrients are very low. That could be the cause. Too much light could also cause them to be lighter. Agree that pic is probably in perfect health and perfect parameters.

 

[Jgill70]

No

You need 400ish PAR at your acro level of your tank

Do not just willy nilly increase intensity. You'll kill your animals that way

What I am saying is that your acros are not getting any light on their sides, and are self shadowing themselves

You need more LEDs, spread out like a panel of light, and higher, and 400ish PAR at the acro level

Look at how the ATI Stratons are made. These are made by a T5 company, to mimic T5 lighting. It's a huge panel of light. One of those would be perfect over 24" tank

This is a diagram for photographers, but it is equally pertinent to coral growers

Would adding a T5 Hybrid fixture help??

 

[Spare time]

I still don't think lighting is the issue if they have been doing well previously. This really just seems like a nitrate/phosphate issue. Don't attempt anything else until you raise those and see what happens.

 

[Jgill70]

I still don't think lighting is the issue if they have been doing well previously. This really just seems like a nitrate/phosphate issue. Don't attempt anything else until you raise those and see what happens.

I have neophos and neonitro, what levels should I raise them to?

 

[Solo McReefer]

Would adding a T5 Hybrid fixture help??

If you can get German T5 tubes

Sure

Premiumaquatics.com still has PAR sensors/meters on sale, last I checked. The Clearance25 sale is over though

That is to say, If you had a PAR meter, you could raise your light, and get the 400 PAR at your acro level

I think it depends on how much you want to grow acros in your tank, though

How many acros do you have in your tank right now? How many do you want?

You don't need the whole meter. You can get the sensor, plug it into your laptop. And check your PAR that way

This is why I need another tank just for acros

 

[Spare time]

I have neophos and neonitro, what levels should I raise them to?

Well for the nitrate, I like a minimum of 5ppm. Upping the reef energy should help keep it there. For phosphate, start at 0.05ppm and try to maintain it between 0.03-0.1ppm with the lower side being better.

 

[Uncle99]

They have been in my tank since October 2021

That’s along time they must have some size now.
Have you increased intensity over the years to compensate for growth shading?

 

[Solo McReefer]

If you have a single LED light that can still cause shading problems. Short tanks like that are hard because you wouldn't be able to spread out 2 LED lights far apart enough to eliminate the shading. I'd suggest T5 supplementation. Shading gets worse the larger the coral.

Exactly true

 

[jeffmr4]

I agree with twentyleagues about them looking brown with the lights off. I'm getting a VBR-Aqua par meter from amazon that runs $160. If that is within your budget, it might be worth it. As far as nutrients, your nitrate and phosphate sound right but I'm not an expert when it comes to sps. Good luck!

 

[Solo McReefer]

I still don't think lighting is the issue if they have been doing well previously

I was addressing the comment regarding that the acro never re-colored up from the farmer

It's not the immediate issue the OP posted about

I don't have an answer for the immediate issue