Garf Bansia loosing color

midtnmike41 · Mar 21, 2017

Looking for some general advice with my coral color. I feel like I'm doing everything right but I am loosing color on my corals. Mainly the Garf Bansia. I am wondering if this could be from not enough light. I am currently running radion G4 pro AB+ about 50% overall intensity. Just looking for some ideas. My tank is 24in deep with lights 9in above water. I have 2 over standard 90 gallon. (48x18x24)

Salinity 1.026
Temp 78
Alk 8
Ca 430
Mg 1350
No3 3ppm
Po4 .02

When I got it 6 months ago

Now. Growth seems ok but color is almost gone. still pruple at the tips.

Hammer is also loosing color. Ignore the foxface photo bomb.

SteelerMike · Mar 21, 2017

looks like too much light to me. They both look like they are bleaching

tvu · Mar 21, 2017

Or paling due to lack of nutrients

midtnmike41 · Mar 21, 2017

I thought the same and tried less light. No response at all. I finally put a PAR meter (Apogee SQ-520) in the tank and the Hammer was only like 50 PAR and the Garf was only little over 150 PAR. That is why I am leaning towards not enough light. I have been slowly turning up the radions intensity over the last month and have noticed no difference.

midtnmike41 · Mar 21, 2017

tvu said:
Or paling due to lack of nutrients

Also crossed my mind. I have been dosing BW aminos the last week. I am only using 1/4 dose though. Paranoid about fueling an outbreak.

KingJason · Mar 21, 2017

My garf is pretty low in my tank. Probably 20" deep in the tank and not centered under the light. I don't have a par meter so I can't tell you what it is, but I suspect it's pretty low. I'd point to lack of nutrients maybe? Do you feed at all?

midtnmike41 · Mar 21, 2017

That's what I wished my Garf looked like! I started feeding the fish WAY more about 2 months ago. I currently feeding 2 cubes of frozen + pellets. Even with more feeding i struggle to keep no3 and po4 in the tank. I quit running GFO completely a few months ago. All i have for filtration is socks, gac, and skimmer. currently using kalk for alk and ca. both are very stable.

KingJason · Mar 21, 2017

Hmmm...it looks like you're getting nice growth and PE. How long has the tank been up?

Whatever you change, I'd change really slow...since you're getting growth and PE I feel like it's not a major issue so you don't want to cause more damage than good by making a lot of changes to your system.

midtnmike41 · Mar 21, 2017

Yeah, I feel like I am close. All my coral is growing ok but also looks lighter than I'd like. The garf and hammer are just the worse. They both looked that way for several months and became that way very slowly. The tank has been up for almost 2 years. I do bi weekly 10-20% water changes.

KingJason · Mar 21, 2017

One thing you might try is raising your po3 and po4 very slowly. Maybe over the course of a month or two and see if that helps. If not, you can easily get them back down. I don't check mine often, but I'm sure I'm way higher than where you are. I feed Oyster Feast and Roti Feast at least once a week, but to be honest I'm not sure how much impact it has.

I guess one thing we haven't addressed is flow. Mine is getting pretty strong indirect flow from 2x MP40's running 80ish% about 25" from the coral.

Daniel@R2R · Mar 21, 2017

I'd check your NO3 levels. My Garf is under Radion G3 (not pro) at about 6-8" below the surface and getting about 350 PAR. Color is holding. I'm betting nutrients.

DaveRaz · Mar 21, 2017

here's mine in 370 par. no3-10, po4 - .05

Unless you changed photoperiod or intensity too quickly, as said above, I would look at nutrients.

midtnmike41 · Mar 21, 2017

Flow should not be an issue, i also have 2 MP40's running about 60% most of the time. If this is due to light change will it come back in time? I did add the radions about 2 months ago but it looked the same then as it does now. I was careful about starting low and ramping up slowly. I didn't notice any change better or worse with any of the corals during the light change. It very well could be lack of nutrients. Not sure how to get them up. I stopped GFO and started feeding more. No3 and PO4 are still very low after a few months. Guess I need some more fish

I feel like i am stocked pretty well though.

TRPlacek · Mar 21, 2017

I have had the same issue as you in my 2 year old system. What I found is that it just takes some coral a longer to bounce back once they have lost their color. It also took several months for my po4 and no3 to creep up to desired levels. My suggestion is to add some more fish if you'd like and feed a little more but most of all just give it more time under stable conditions. We don't all have that magic potion to grow amazing coral within the first year but give it enough time under stable conditions and your coral WILL acclimate and thrive.

Rick.45cal · Mar 21, 2017

More light!

Even some more nutrients wouldn't hurt. But mine never looked that pale even in undetectable nutrients. I'd slowly increase my lighting every week, 150 PAR is really low. It only takes a week for corals to adjust to a light change, then you can adjust it up a little more each week until you get it to a more suitable level. I would keep an eye on your nutrients while you do it, you mostly don't want them to drop to zero. It won't take it very long to return to it's deep purple, and I bet it will really start growing then!

midtnmike41 · Jan 15, 2018

It's hard to tell under the blue lights but here is the same bansia. Color is back! I just cut back a little on maintenance and let the water get some nutrients in it. Think I was keeping it too clean and starving my coral. Took about 2 months but everything colored up once I quit carbon dosing and running gfo all the time. Now my nitrates stay around 5ish and I only run gfo when my phosphates get high and I notice too much algae growth. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.