The key to great colors

[Deep_Six Corals]

Ive been into sps for a lil while now. I've gotten good growth from my stonies but I know I'm lacking some color. I see tanks on here where the colors are awe inspiring and can't help but wonder what fellow reefers do to get that effect. I've been messing around with nutrients and what not no3 po4, dosing aminos and feeding, but I'd like to know what you guys feel is the key to great colors in your corals. I hope some heavy hitters pop up on here!

 

[KoleTang]

I found this thread very insightful:

 

[bobstir]

but I'd like to know what you guys feel is the key to great colors in your corals.

Answer: photoshop

 

[mcarroll]

Ive been into sps for a lil while now. I've gotten good growth from my stonies but I know I'm lacking some color. I see tanks on here where the colors are awe inspiring and can't help but wonder what fellow reefers do to get that effect. I've been messing around with nutrients and what not no3 po4, dosing aminos and feeding, but I'd like to know what you guys feel is the key to great colors in your corals. I hope some heavy hitters pop up on here!

Many (not all) pictures with unbelievable colors are either doctored pics, or more and more likely, just pics taken under LEDs with the colors turned way up like a TV sale at a big-box electronics store. (Beware of "full spectrum" lighting pics.)

You do need good lights, but good does not necessarily mean "full spectrum". A healthy, well-fed (but not over-fed!) tank is the only legit way I know to get well-colored corals...tricks and magic ingredients are not needed.

Using whole foods, like real phytoplankton (fresh or dried), or frozen whole clams (scraped) is suggested. (For two examples.) If you feed processed foods like flakes and pellets, more moderation is called for.

 

[rovster]

Time.....

 

[Apisto]

Time.....

Couldn't agree more. Of course there are very bright or richly-colored sps (like, green slimmer, Oregon tort, etc) from early in their growth, but many corals need quite awhile to color up and some do not reach their full potential until they become mature colonies.

In general, I have found fish poop to be about the best food for sps. That, good lighting, and stable parameters are about all you need.

 

[Pete polyp]

I have one tank that the color is really impressive, and another that sucks. I bet you can guess which one my sps tank is lol. I might just have to swap my sps for my lps/polyps or something.

 

[soggytees Verified Sponsor]

:bump: Hopefully we can get some answers not related to post-processing :tongue:

 

[ycnibrc]

You need to experiment with additive such as zeo and fauna marine. The big 3 Cal,Alk and Mag only help to maintain the corals but can't enhance the color. Light is another factor, blast them with a lot of blue light and uv then you will see the color change. If your tank is healthy try zeospur2 and B balance from zeo your coral color will change but before you think about color your reef need to be healthy so your corals is showing the true color then you can adjust it darker or lighter through additive. If your corals are all brown and weak then you just waste your money try to change color.

 

[acolotto]

Stability! Find the range of nutrients where you think the corals look best and then just put everything towards keeping your levels at that point. For me its using prodibio biodigest, bioptim, reef booster, iodine (for inverts and clams), stronium, and coral vits and lots of feeding. Using all this im able to keep my po4 less then .03 and nitrates under 1 and this where I have experienced best colors. Also for SPS i recently switched from jebao wps to a gyre and the increased flow seem to help with color but i think its from not letting detritus settle and giving more fish poop in water column for corals to feed on. But good flow and ulns seem to always have great colors.

 

[JBNY]

I know people don't want to believe this but here is the key to colorful SPS. Keep you tank very stable, provide good lighting and good flow. That is it.

Vendor pictures are for the most part taken under lighting and played around in post processing to look the way they do. In a really good tank the corals will look pretty much the same as photos, but almost all vendors cheat but putting the coral under lighting that makes it look different. Most SPS look great taken from the top looking down, no always as nice looking from the side.

Almost always when people start dosing some additive specifically to bring out a color in a coral, they start paying attention to their water quality and it's stability in ways they had not before. That stability is what most times brings out the coloration. A stable reef tank means healthy corals, healthy corals will show good coloration. The only additive I have used over the years is amino acids, they do not make the corals more colorful IMO they make them healthier.

Now all that said, corals will be the color they are, tan corals don't' turn blue, yellow one don't turn purple. So choose corals that are/were colorful and they should be that way in your tank.

I have had very colorful corals under 10K, 14K and 20K MH lighting. I absolutely don't think it was the lighting that made them so colorful it was the stability and health of the tank.

 

[acolotto]

I know people don't want to believe this but here is the key to colorful SPS. Keep you tank very stable, provide good lighting and good flow. That is it.

Vendor pictures are for the most part taken under lighting and played around in post processing to look the way they do. In a really good tank the corals will look pretty much the same as photos, but almost all vendors cheat but putting the coral under lighting that makes it look different. Most SPS look great taken from the top looking down, no always as nice looking from the side.

Almost always when people start dosing some additive specifically to bring out a color in a coral, they start paying attention to their water quality and it's stability in ways they had not before. That stability is what most times brings out the coloration. A stable reef tank means healthy corals, healthy corals will show good coloration. The only additive I have used over the years is amino acids, they do not make the corals more colorful IMO they make them healthier.

Now all that said, corals will be the color they are, tan corals don't' turn blue, yellow one don't turn purple. So choose corals that are/were colorful and they should be that way in your tank.

I have had very colorful corals under 10K, 14K and 20K MH lighting. I absolutely don't think it was the lighting that made them so colorful it was the stability and health of the tank.

+1,000,000
Stability is key to this hobby! And i also agree with the vendor pic comment, I have multiple RR pieces and seen them in multiple tanks, the only ones that ever look like the pics are the people who keep there tank stable and nutrients low

 

[JBNY]

To put my money where my mouth is. Here are some picture of SPS under 10K MH. In a tank of mine from 10 years ago.

 

[RIReefer]

Great topic following

 

[JBNY]

A different tank of mine 4-5 years later. Using 14k MH

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Beautiful!

 

[Sangheili]

The key appears to be:

1) Time
2) Light
3) Food (low levels of nitrate/phos combined with coral foods like amino acids - Zero levels of Nitrate/Phos are not good)
4) Correct parameters (including traces like Iodine, Strontium, etc)


KZ Zeospur2 apparently helps. I will caution that you should not use it unless the tank is extremely healthy and you start at a low dosage (it will bleach corals overnight). It is essentially copper in a bottle and causes the coral to expel zoox and/or modify its color tissue somehow.

 

[beastium]

I have heard Potassium enhances color. Any merit to that?

 

[Deep_Six Corals]

A different tank of mine 4-5 years later. Using 14k MH

Thank you for the insight! You have answer what I hope to get out of this thread and judging by these photos, who can argue with you? I've been keep stable parameters and have been having success. The tank is still young, but I think I'm going in the right direction. Thanks again for the input!

 

[Pete polyp]

I guess I need to try that kz zeospur2 then because the zooax on my acro is extremely thick