acan coloration

[toddmau5]

I tried doing my research on this subject. What I have gather so far is that higher lighting causes Acans to brown out or darken, and lower lighting the opposite. I have a rainbow acan that I picked up back in janruary. It was super bright rainbow color. I had it in what I thought was lower lighting but it browned out after a couple of days So i put it in the shade. Fast forward to now and it hasn't colored up, still dark brown. I also have an acan that was bright read/pink with teal stripes, it was doing great where it was for about 3 months, then one day it has started getting really dark, not brown but like an eggplant color so far. Its in a decently low lit area and hasn't moved in the time ive had it. All my acans seem to go great. I have 4 frags so far and they are all sprouting babies like crazy, i'm just having issues getting the coloring back. Is it really the lighting? Do I need to move them back into higher lighting or keep them in the lower lighting? I am running LEDS. D120s. LIghting schedule is blues for 14hrs and whites for 8. I also have a colony of bright green and a colony of titans that seem to be holding their color pretty well, I picked the green and the red/pinks up at the same time and have been in the same area of the tank.

 

[ReefingMadness]

I have mine on the sandbed of an 16" deep tank. I run my Radions at 85% and I have wonderful color. It sits in 80 min.-200 max. PAR.

 

[toddmau5]

It's been a while since I took a par reading but it was about 70 where they are sitting on the sand bed

 

[ReefingMadness]

Do you have ramp up and ramp down capabilities?

 

[toddmau5]

I do not.

 

[markalot]

Do you have just white/blue LED's? My understanding is that some of the acan coloration needs green / lime light that is missing from many of the white/blue LED fixtures. Can you try temporarily adding another light, like a T5 or full spectrum led, just for the acans?

I get a decent red under my Maxspect Razor lights supplemented by some full spectrum LED strips, but not as good of color as T5's produced.

 

[toddmau5]

They are full spectrum with reds and greens. I've just heard that when they get dark and brown it's from too much light and the zooxanthelle going crazy from the excess light but with them being in the shade I'm finding this hard to believe