Acan Color And Growth

[XxMutedYouthxX]

Hey guys... All my acans are doing awesome, extending about 1/2-3/4" and growing fairly well. I have noticed though that the colors I am getting out of them arent the brightest they could be. My calcium is at 460ppm and my iodine is at 1ppm. I havnt been testing any other trace elements due to the fact i dont have the kits and have not been dosing any others. What are good trace elements to dose for LPS? my nitrates and phosphates are minimal as well. any help would be awesome

 

[impur]

What kind of lighting?

 

[All Delight]

Lighting is very important. Most of the ones I've bought were under MH and I have PC. After 2 weeks I lose alot of color intensity. To the point that it looks lilke a different coral.

So if you have PC's buy MH. Thats what I plan on doing.

 

[XxMutedYouthxX]

sorry forgot to mention lighting... I am currently running 2x250 HQI MH, 2x96 PC's the halides are 10k and the pcs are actinic. I am going to be switching the halides to 20k soon but that shouldnt actually change the color just change the way it looks... any trace elements i should be adding?

 

[impur]

I don't do anything special for my acans. Some ppl feed them often, that should get them to grow faster. I only feed them maybe once a month, other than that they get what they can catch. Like this

 

[slojmn]

Actually the spectrum of our lighting can and does change the actual color of the coral along with other things such as nutrient levels in the water. I have had corals change actual color when going from 10K to 14K. A lot of the brightly colored corals will "color up" under the 20k, not just look different due to the blue spectrum of the light. Having said that lighting alone, as mentioned, is not the only factor. Could you actually be having some minor bleaching, this could appear as fading of the bright color? Just a thought. Good luck figuring it out and getting your color back.

 

[XxMutedYouthxX]

nah its not bleaching... just not as much color there as I think I can get out of them... dont get me wrong they are still bright and super healthy just want em brighter heh... I think the 20k will make the difference probably cause everything else is testing perfect... plus my bulbs are pretty old so the spectrum is dying out on em

 

[smp]

I think the change in colour that people experience going from 10 to 20k has more do with cutting back on your lighting than changing the colour. Obviously, what you see will look different under different lighting, but the actual changes that take place I personally believe are because the coral is now getting less light (all other factors being equal). A 250 watt 10k bulb puts out a lot more PAR than a 250 watt 20k bulb.
That's just IMO of course and if someone cares to teach me otherwise, feel free