chilake08
New Member
That is the question.
So, after reading as much as I can, and becoming utterly over saturated on it, I decided the next best choice of action was to go to the community. Here is the backstory: I took part in a WWC live auction and managed to snag some very nice corals to help populate an upgraded aquarium. The PC rainbow acro was probably the prize from that batch. I acclimated them to the tank under my Radion G3 over the course of 3 or 4 weeks and then placed them on the rocks.
The good news: After 4 months they are all alive and healthy with polyp extension almost constantly. I have also noticed encrustation of the plug (at varying rates) of all the frags I got.
The bad news: Many of the corals lost their brilliant colors and are muted or pale version of what I received from WWC. At first, I attributed this to acclimation and new environment, but now that they are growing in the tank I suspect otherwise. The PC rainbow has recovered its greens and a hint of purple but the reds seem to be gone. Two other red corals are very muted as well.
Using the APEX light meter, I had set the top shelf of coral to between 300-320 PAR since I had read thats what WWC runs their tanks at. Everyone can easily agree that too little light on acros and the zooxanthellae get boosted to provide enough energy for the coral and they go brown. Go in the opposite direction and the zooxanthellae get booted and we get bleaching. Its the in-between that has me lost, because this is where the chromophores of the coral come in. Everything i've come across indicates that these act almost like sunscreen in helping protect and regulate the coral and zooxanthellae from too much light (up to a point of course).
Where I get conflicted with my tank is this. Pale corals in a new tank seem to indicate to me I need more light. But when I shifted a chalice coral out to the corner of the tank and left it there for the last 3 months it regained much of its original color. This suggests everything needs less light. But then why would pale corals need less light? All the scientific papers i've come across point to more light more chromophores since its a response to light intensity.
Whatever I choose it has to be gradual. But after 4 months and little to no change with either coloring up more or less I thought it time to come up with a plan. Looking forward to hearing everyone's suggestions!
So, after reading as much as I can, and becoming utterly over saturated on it, I decided the next best choice of action was to go to the community. Here is the backstory: I took part in a WWC live auction and managed to snag some very nice corals to help populate an upgraded aquarium. The PC rainbow acro was probably the prize from that batch. I acclimated them to the tank under my Radion G3 over the course of 3 or 4 weeks and then placed them on the rocks.
The good news: After 4 months they are all alive and healthy with polyp extension almost constantly. I have also noticed encrustation of the plug (at varying rates) of all the frags I got.
The bad news: Many of the corals lost their brilliant colors and are muted or pale version of what I received from WWC. At first, I attributed this to acclimation and new environment, but now that they are growing in the tank I suspect otherwise. The PC rainbow has recovered its greens and a hint of purple but the reds seem to be gone. Two other red corals are very muted as well.
Using the APEX light meter, I had set the top shelf of coral to between 300-320 PAR since I had read thats what WWC runs their tanks at. Everyone can easily agree that too little light on acros and the zooxanthellae get boosted to provide enough energy for the coral and they go brown. Go in the opposite direction and the zooxanthellae get booted and we get bleaching. Its the in-between that has me lost, because this is where the chromophores of the coral come in. Everything i've come across indicates that these act almost like sunscreen in helping protect and regulate the coral and zooxanthellae from too much light (up to a point of course).
Where I get conflicted with my tank is this. Pale corals in a new tank seem to indicate to me I need more light. But when I shifted a chalice coral out to the corner of the tank and left it there for the last 3 months it regained much of its original color. This suggests everything needs less light. But then why would pale corals need less light? All the scientific papers i've come across point to more light more chromophores since its a response to light intensity.
Whatever I choose it has to be gradual. But after 4 months and little to no change with either coloring up more or less I thought it time to come up with a plan. Looking forward to hearing everyone's suggestions!
