Increasing coloration on GSP

[Parkerbenz]

I recently pickup some Green Star Polyps, and I thought they looked pretty cool, untill I saw some really bright colored GSPs at a high end lfs. I am very new to reefing, and saltwater in general, but is there anyhing I can do/feed my tank to make my corals pop?! I only have a few zoas, GSPs, and a bunch of tree coral. I also was given a sample vial of reef roids, but havent used it yet.

If you would like my params, let me know and I will test later, although I will say nitrate is high... working on getting that down.
75g
Sicce whale canister filter
60lbs of live rock, will add more dry rock soon.
50lbs live sand (also need more)
Yellow tang
Canary wrasse
2 yellow tail damselfish
4 O. Clownfish (will be rehoming 2 shortly, getting aggression)
Matted filefish
2 peppermint shrimp
Sea serpent star
Sand sifting star
Bunch of snails and blue leg hermits

Oh and this is my first post here on R2R!

 

[cjd]

Could just be dependent on the wavelength of light . To get them to glow or look their best as you describe the royal blue in the 450nm range really makes them pop. A lot of stores will put these corals in a tank with royal blues illuminating them because it grabs your eye and makes you buy them. Green stars are one of my favorites even 15 years in the hobby . I just love them and always put them in top center of my tanks. (notice in my sig). They adjust to all levels of light in time . If you blast them with full white light they tend to have shorter arms for some time giving them the illusion they are not as green as the ones in the store. As they acclimate the green arms get longer making them appear more green and brighter. I recently bought two frags of green stars and placed them side by side in my new nano cube. They both appeared different at first and within a couple months you cant tell the difference from one from another. In short : time to acclimate , grow some and wave length of lighting to accentuate that glow.

 

[cjd]

Oh .........and welcome to R2R !

 

[Parkerbenz]

Thanks!!! I have a fluval sea LED light, I believe it has 400nm, 420, 440, and 460nm blues. My GSPs just look brownish for some reason.

 

[Parkerbenz]

Should I maybe buy a few 10w 450nm leds and make my own little led strip? Also, a bit off topic, but is it ok to only run the blue leds? Ive noticed that every time I see corals for sale they are always kept under blue lights!

 

[cjd]

Should I maybe buy a few 10w 450nm leds and make my own little led strip? Also, a bit off topic, but is it ok to only run the blue leds? Ive noticed that every time I see corals for sale they are always kept under blue lights!

As i stated in previous post, vendors use the blue light to grab your eye and makes you want to buy . Nothing wrong with adding more blue . In the late evening hours my tank is only blue for my enjoyment of the glow!!