I am going to break down what I think about the reef builders article now. This is just my thoughts on what the article states, there are many ways to color up corals, though I feel like this article was written when ultra low nutrient systems were everywhere and a lot of people ran their tanks like that 10 years ago. A lot has changed since 2008 and a bit of the posters advice seems to be from the mind set of a zeolite uln system user. Since people are now running higher nutrient systems and advising against using ultra low nutrient I figured it's time I did this.
reef builders article said:
Yellows
Highly dependent on Nitrate and PO4 levels. Of course all SPS colors are highly dependent on lack of N and P so I wanted to start with probably the easiest color to get, yellow. Yellows are sort of your baseline; yellows will tell you a lot about what is going on in your tank, what is needed and what is overdosed. Nitrate and/or PO4 reduction is most important, either through technical means such as nitrate/phosphate reducers or biologically through DSB, Carbon dosing and/or water changes and fuges. Basically, if you want to do SPS, I would suggest starting with an acropora that is yellow. If you can get it to say yellow for several months, you should be ready for something else.
First off, there are yellow acros and greenish yellow acros. True yellow acros are harder to get but even when you do it's not the easiest color to keep by far. When keeping acros that have a greenish yellow hue to them low nitrate and phosphate is a good way to bring out more yellow. High light is also most always a big help in keeping yellow acros. A yellow acro should stay pretty yellow even in a tank with some readable nutrients too. A yellow coral going green could tell you something is off. It could be so many things, but past that I am not sure what else a yellow coral can tell you... There are many corals that are Canary's for looking to see if something is off.
I would not start with trying to keep a yellow coral unless you know it's a true yellow, even then it can lead you to chase things that aren't needed if you can't keep it yellow, sometimes time is all that's needed. I would definitely say it's not the simplest color to keep. A change in flow can make a yellow acro turn a little green, very sensitive color in my experience.
Also that picture that's representing yellow sps is a horribly doctored. Hard to tell what it even is, a green Digi maybe? I don't know...
reef builders article said:
Greens
Greens would be the next easiest color to tweak. Most green coloration can be achieved through the addition of an Iron Concentrate (Kents is what I use, however Iron is Iron). You must be very careful with Iron because it is also an Algae accelerator; this is why it is so important for you to get your yellows colors first (your N and P will be lowered).
Additionally, I use my yellows as indicators for my greens and blues. You’ll notice a deficiency if your greens are brown color or they are paling in color. I start off by dosing Iron at about 1 drop per 50 US/Gallons twice a week and take note of what happens, color changes, Algae growth, until my yellow acroporas display a green shimmer (it wont be a solid green but a shimmer of a green/yellow).
Please note, a sign of overdosing is a darkening of tissue, when this happens you have added too much iron or too much iron is being added. Another sign of overdosing is Algae growth, stop immediately and possibly do a water change if necessary. Like everything else reef, go slowly.
In my experience green is the only color you do not have to try to keep. I have never had iron do anything for greens and I don't think it's needed in the average reef at all. In a ulns using zeolites maybe a little iron could be used to darken pale greens though I don't have much experience with pale colors and would suggest feeding more to fix that problem or add some nitrate.
reef builders article said:
Blues and some purples
This is mainly for blues but I have found is can also have an effect on purples. The supplement for this is Potassium Iodide Concentrate or Lugol’s solution, ESV Potassium Iodide Concentrate will also work; don’t just get something that says Potassium because that is a little different. Dosing should be done when blue colors become less intense. Again, using yellow corals as indicators, stop dosing when yellow corals display a green shimmer.
I do think adding Lugol's to a tank is a good thing but it's not a fix for dull or less intense blues. I don't know how adding Lugol's only when blues become dull would help because it's used up extremely fast when added in the reef. It's hard to get a reading even with daily dosing.
I find bright blue colors come when a coral is happy and in the perfect lighting for it's species and type. The right spectrums and intensity of light are a big help when trying to get nice blues, as well as time. Sometimes an acro will need to grow out into a small colony to develop nice intense blues and some corals are just, blue.
reef builders article said:
Reds/Pinks and some Purples
Primarily for coloring reds and pinks in Montiporas, Pocilloporas, Birdsnest, other Stys and Seriatoporas. The supplement is Potassium (not potassium iodide). If you are using a high potassium salt mix such as Oceanic, Tropical Marine Pro and you are doing regular water changes, you are more than likely not going to need to supplement this much.
For dosing you can use your monitporas, especially caps as indicators. Supplementing is required when Montiporas display slower growth and appear washed out to grey appearance. Indicators on Stys and Pocs are when they look like they have been exposed to air. Polyps are completely withdrawn and colors are light. Other indicators of potassium deficiency is when the pinks turn into a light brown and when acroporas loose their color and get lighter and pale. A major potassium deficiency is seen when tissue is lost, mostly starting from the base opposed to spotting (patchy look). And overdose can lead to tip burning so don’t mistake tip burn for new growth. Tips burns will be white with no polyps.
Always make sure potassium is at a good level. If it gets very low I have seen montipora become dull and the flesh gets thin. Dosing it is not going to magically make reds and pinks become any different.
For nice intense reds higher light is needed for some species. Some red smooth skinned acros don't need as much light to stay red though. Most likley putting them in high light will turn them pink.
reef builders article said:
Purples
Probably one of the hardest coloration of all acroporas from my experience since it is a combination of several variables.
First and foremost is water clarity, which means Carbon and/or filter socks. I have also had good result from biological filters such as using cryptic zones, which produce seasquirts, sponges and other filter feeding animals. Zeo Sponge Power, which can be used in any system, feeds sponges. Sponges are great because they can filter a mass amount of water for better water clarity.
From what I have noted, increased water clarify will first effect SPS tips but not the complete base. I have seen nana and valida with really nice purple tips but brown/tan/white bases. I have seen the same nana and valida in anothers tanks, which met all other parameters with a full purple from base to tip.
Second being lighting. From my observations of my own tank and others, purples seem to love 420-440nm range light spectrum, those found in actinics and 20K halides. Some of the best purples I have seen are in tanks that have 440nm blue actinics (ATI Blue+, Giessman Actinic) or 20K Halides (Radium, XM 20K).
Third, supplements such as Iodide and Potassium (see blues and Reds/Pinks). Again, make sure your greens are green and yellows are yellow. Your blue should be bright with depth. Iodide will also help if you have tip burn.
These are just my observations through testing and I am sure in the future other factors will be seen and added. Please feel free to comment with your own observations, data is very important to moving forward.
I have never had trouble with purple's. Fairly easy color to keep and I don't see a real trick to doing it besides finding a coral that is purple...
Biological filtration has nothing to do with keeping purple sps. Water clarity has nothing to do with keeping purple sps. Better water clarity will help light travel farther into your tank but won't make your sps more purple unless they were not getting enough light to begin with.
More light will make the purple tips on acropora Nana and validia travel farther down the branch. I have never seen a completley purple Nana or validia. The tanish green base on either coral is just how they are colored. Intense light can help lighten up the base color to make them look more like they do in nature. I would love to see one that's all purple, but haven't yet.
I have had beautiful purple sps using 10k halides, blue lighting is not needed to keep purple colors nice. I found some purple acros displayed other pigments with the purple under 10k lighting which I really liked. A blue bulb will give a deeper purple color than anything else.
Again the article pushes Lugol's for purple's. Never noticed a difference or heard of it helping. Potassium has nothing to do with purple as long as it's in a good range.
Iodide helps with tip burn? Never seen that suggested but would like to read about how that works if so..
That's all I got right now, I hope this helps someone. If anyone thinks I am off with any statements please chime in.
