Increasing the colours on my corals

mucky1957 · Apr 2, 2020

My tank looks great but I want it to look even better if possible. Is there something that I can use as a colour enhancer that would make the coral pop even more than they do.

windemerejack · Apr 2, 2020

Mine coloured up more after increasing my nitrate to between 15-20

vetteguy53081 · Apr 2, 2020

I accomplished by switching salt mixes and currently using Tropic Marin

svogun · Apr 2, 2020

check nitrate and phosphate. Id start there if your colors are not where you want them to be.

mucky1957 · Apr 2, 2020

I can't change salt as I get my water from a friend...my nitrate is less than 1 and the phos is around 0.25. Looking at my tank right now I have the blues and night blues both running at 100% and it looks really good. I just wonder if there is something out there that would make it look really REALLY good.

Dragon174 · Apr 2, 2020

What lights are you running?

svogun · Apr 2, 2020

mucky1957 said:
I can't change salt as I get my water from a friend...my nitrate is less than 1 and the phos is around 0.25. Looking at my tank right now I have the blues and night blues both running at 100% and it looks really good. I just wonder if there is something out there that would make it look really REALLY good.

Nitrates between 5 and 10 may help. Phos seems a little high in relation to that low of nitrate.

mucky1957 · Apr 2, 2020

What lights : Chinese black box. 72 x 3wt cree bulbs. I only have the whites running at 25% during the day but blues ramp up and down
Phos/ Nitrate : Ive always had a phos issue. Sometimes it goes as high as 1.0. I have a skimmer and I use nopox daily ( when I remember ). I'm happy with the low nitrate tbh.

svogun · Apr 2, 2020

mucky1957 said:
What lights : Chinese black box. 72 x 3wt cree bulbs. I only have the whites running at 25% during the day but blues ramp up and down
Phos/ Nitrate : Ive always had a phos issue. Sometimes it goes as high as 1.0. I have a skimmer and I use nopox daily ( when I remember ). I'm happy with the low nitrate tbh.

I'm not a numbers chaser myself but if you are looking for more pop from you corals increasing your nitrate by feeding more and or adding more fish to poop could help. When I first started my newest tank 2 years ago my coral colors really took off once I got nitrates between 5-10.

Duncan Tse · Apr 2, 2020

Can we see some pics of your tank/corals?

mucky1957 · Apr 2, 2020

mucky1957 · Apr 2, 2020

the gsp and the mushrooms do not look this bright to the naked eye.

JR55 · Apr 2, 2020

My colors were not the best so I got a RS trace colors test kit - it was pricey but I found out all of the readings were low. I started dosing RS trace colors and after about a week the colors started to really pop.

Passedyouby · Apr 2, 2020

windemerejack said:
Mine coloured up more after increasing my nitrate to between 15-20

With high nitrates, would that equate to more algae? I'm at that phase where I want better colors, but have always run low NO3 NO4 for fear of GHA, which always seems to pop up when I let the numbers creep.

kamar · Apr 2, 2020

I think your tank looks amazing! What's the taller, branching corals in the back . . . finger leather?

Glenn Siegel · Apr 2, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
I accomplished by switching salt mixes and currently using Tropic Marin

What did you switch from and where do you keep your parameters?
I bought the Tropic Marin since I have heard many good things. I have been reluctant to switch since I have been using Live Aquaria professional for a year +. Alk is about 8.4 and CA 440. Colors are good but have been curious to see if the tank looks better with Tropic Marin...

vetteguy53081 · Apr 2, 2020

Glenn Siegel said:
What did you switch from and where do you keep your parameters?
I bought the Tropic Marin since I have heard many good things. I have been reluctant to switch since I have been using Live Aquaria professional for a year +. Alk is about 8.4 and CA 440. Colors are good but have been curious to see if the tank looks better with Tropic Marin...

Was using red sea coral pro
Alk- 9.4
PH - 8.22
salinity 1.0254
Mag- 1366
CA- 442
temp 79.7

windemerejack · Apr 3, 2020

Passedyouby said:
With high nitrates, would that equate to more algae? I'm at that phase where I want better colors, but have always run low NO3 NO4 for fear of GHA, which always seems to pop up when I let the numbers creep.

15 is not high