Strawberry Shortcake not very colorful

[NormanB]

It's been in my DT for 2 months now, encrusting and some branch growth are happening too, but not as colorful as when I bought it and only so so polyp extension.

It gets plenty of flow and sits about 2/3 of the way up so plenty of light.

Standard size 75 with 55 sump

Ca 420-450
Mg 1400
Alk 3.5 meq/l
78
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5-6
Phosphate .1
pH 8.1

Feed reef roids 1x per week
Amino Acids 5ml per week (started at a higher dose but got a bit of algae growth) should be able to increase AA soon

Should I just be patient and see what happens?

Please let me know if more info is needed.

Thanks!

 

[BobbyOtto]

Get your Po4 down that's high enough to brown out acros. What are your lights? I'd wager you skipped some key things and are paying the price now. Amino acids only help if you already have decent base color its food. It's not just oh I dose AA and all is good. Dont worry about those for now you are just gonna overwhelm yourself or frustrate yourself. Also what test kit brand? I dont trust that No3 reading with such high Po4

 

[kevin_e]

2 months isn't that long to color up.

 

[Justdrew]

Agree on give it more time. I wouldn’t worry about .1 PO4. Many colorful SPS sticks at that level and even higher out there.

 

[NormanB]

Thanks for all the responses!

To answer the questions above.

Lights are Reefbreeder V2+ 48"
Seachem test kits for all perimeters

The phosphate results can be hard to determine. I'm getting a hanna low range for Father's day so hoping to get better numbers.

Forgotten parameters

Salinity 35ppt

Now another question...what key things did I skip?

Thanks again all!