Dosing Iron?

[TD13]

I have yellow corals in my tank that are not yellow. The exhibit good growth and PE, just not the color I expect. I did some digging and found that Iron is a large contributor to yellow. Got myself a test kit and have undetectable amounts in my tank. Ran a test with the reference included and got the result expected. How much, and how should I go about supplementing this into my tank?

 

[jsker]

Red Sea sell and Iron element that you can dose

 

[TD13]

I'm using Coral colors per the instructions. I currently use RedSea Pro Salt, and their Colors, and Foundations. Wondering if someone else has a different experience with another brand. This is my first attempt at SPS corals and so far, so good, save for the color of the yellow corals.

Here's the culprit....

Here are its' neighbors...

Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Monti, Jedi Mind Trick, Tri-Color Valida, Pearl Berry, Pink Milli, Blue Milli, Pink Birdsnest, Hollywood Stunner Monti.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not sure what you mean that iron is a large contributor to yellow.

There no evidence to strongly link specific coral colors to specific inorganic trace metals, IMO.

That said, dosing a small amount of iron is a fine plan, and it clearly does help macroalgae at the least, and may help other organisms thrive. There is an easy DIY using Fergon tablets that I recommend.

I dose iron (for macroalgae) and discuss it here:

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iron In A Reef Tank ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/chem.htm

Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iron: A Look At Organisms Other Than Macroalgae ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2002/chem.htm

 

[TD13]

Ok, so how to I turn these beautiful corals yellow?! I have an XR15, all my params are within good ranges. I dose for alk and calc, my dead band for temp is within a degree, I'm lost...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Were they more yellow when you got them?

 

[TD13]

I want to say yes, but I can't find any pictures of them. Maybe I'll just hang on and see what happens.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I want to say yes, but I can't find any pictures of them. Maybe I'll just hang on and see what happens.

Lighting plays a big role, both instantly and over time.

 

[biom]

If you are dosing RS Colors C you are adding plenty of iron already, so the iron deficiency is not your problem for the moment. Your tank and corals are quite young from what I see, they need time and strong light as Randy mentioned. Once they grow bigger then you can start experimenting with micro-elements dosage. I would say from my experience with Acropora corals that there is noticeable connection between iron dosing and green coral color. But IMO the color iron influencing most is green, not yellow. If I want more pastel yellowish color of my green Acros I'm cutting iron dosage and in a week or two they loosing their deep green color and turn to yellowish-green color Zeo freaks liked very much. But not all of the green Acros could be influenced by iron from my experience. (IMO the iron has nothing to do with coral pigments, but rather accelerating growth of zooxantellae and their color in conjunction with yellow coral pigments give that deep metallic green appearance of some Acros.

 

[Diesel]

As Randy says, no evidence but playing with your light will be more of a help.
Figure out your par.
What light schedule do you run on your XR15?
I see your were dosing some stuff but do you know where your level of elements are?
A Triton test is a way to find out as more elements due to dosing isn't the answer either.

Remember if you play to get some of the colors to show there are a lot of factors to consider, flow, balance of water parameters are a few.

 

[TD13]

If you are dosing RS Colors C you are adding plenty of iron already, so the iron deficiency is not your problem for the moment. Your tank and corals are quite young from what I see, they need time and strong light as Randy mentioned. Once they grow bigger then you can start experimenting with micro-elements dosage. I would say from my experience with Acropora corals that there is noticeable connection between iron dosing and green coral color. But IMO the color iron influencing most is green, not yellow. If I want more pastel yellowish color of my green Acros I'm cutting iron dosage and in a week or two they loosing their deep green color and turn to yellowish-green color Zeo freaks liked very much. But not all of the green Acros could be influenced by iron from my experience. (IMO the iron has nothing to do with coral pigments, but rather accelerating growth of zooxantellae and their color in conjunction with yellow coral pigments give that deep metallic green appearance of some Acros.

At what point do corals start to display their true colors? I see pictures of people's frag tanks and all the stuff the vendors sell on here and their colors are AMAZING...

 

[TD13]

As Randy says, no evidence but playing with your light will be more of a help.
Figure out your par.
What light schedule do you run on your XR15?
I see your were dosing some stuff but do you know where your level of elements are?
A Triton test is a way to find out as more elements due to dosing isn't the answer either.

Remember if you play to get some of the colors to show there are a lot of factors to consider, flow, balance of water parameters are a few.

I did take a par meter to my tank, so I do know what that particular coral is getting. I spoke to the owner of an LFS near me and he suggested to add some 10K to my regimen and lower it in the tank. I have, we'll see.

 

[Diesel]

I did take a par meter to my tank, so I do know what that particular coral is getting. I spoke to the owner of an LFS near me and he suggested to add some 10K to my regimen and lower it in the tank. I have, we'll see.

You mean lower you light?
But not into the tank I hope

What were you PAR # at the bottom, middle region and 1" under the water surface?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

At what point do corals start to display their true colors? I see pictures of people's frag tanks and all the stuff the vendors sell on here and their colors are AMAZING...

Often because they have them under super blue/actinic lighting.

I've bought many things that the instant they went into my tank, the didn't look like the photos at all, and that's not because they changed, just the nature of the lighting. IMO, much of the lighting used by vendors for photos is misleading since most people do not keep tanks like that.

 

[TD13]

@Diesel - I'm currently using the 120 lens and the coral is on the top shelf on the right side near the power head. Approximately 6" under water, and 15" under light. Since i took these reading I have started running carbon, so the added clarity has increased the par readings, probably not a ton though.

 

[Diesel]

With the 120 degree lens you're lacking the PAR you need to be successful for SPS.
I'll stick with the 80 degree and position your SPS that they get the most of it.
How long do you have these SPS in your tank?
Note, that some SPS will change in color and will get the color back when they mature.

 

[TD13]

@Diesel I am in no way doubting your advise... However...

I have a Blue Milli, Red Planet, Pink Birds Nest, Tri Color Valida, Strawberry Short Cake, and an unknown Green Milli at that same level in my tank. I have a Rainbow Monti and Jedi Mind Trick, Montipora Undata, and Pearlberry a little lower and Hollywood Stunner Chalice, another Pearlberry and 2 more Strawberry Shortcakes (from different colony) on the sand, none of them are having any issues and are all colored up nicely. I did, at one point install the 80 lens and it roasted my Birds Nest. Are you suggesting that I would get better colors out of the existing coral as well?

 

[biom]

At what point do corals start to display their true colors? I see pictures of people's frag tanks and all the stuff the vendors sell on here and their colors are AMAZING...

If I frag one of my corals and put the frags next to their mother colony they will stay with the same color, but if I place them in another tank let say yours, they will loose their color very fast because corals are sensitive animals and adapt very slowly to new environment. For example if we place frag from my tank lit by t5 bulbs under PAR 500 to yours lit by LED under PAR 150-250 the coral will be stressed for very long time and will not show green/yellow color no matter how much iron you will add in the water.

 

[TD13]

@biom Please don't call me a noob... Is there a difference between PAR when compared to different light technology, or is 500 PAR the same regardless of the type of bulb its coming from? Also, from the look of your tank, your SPS are doing well. What kind of PAR values do you keep them under?

 

[reefwiser]

This video gives you a good overview of using a Par meter.