Acros closer to light browning

[bitwise]

I finally decided to make a post about this.

Some background: I have a small number of acros and have trouble getting and keeping them nicely colored. 18g reef with Kessil 150. It seems like the tank is getting "blasted" with light.

It seems like acros that I mount higher up are browning versus ones that I keep on the bottom. For example, one of my frags was coloring up and I moved it higher up and parts of it are browning while another frag of the same type on the bottom is going the opposite direction.

Params:
Cal 390ppm
Alk ~165 ppm
Nitrate 2.5ppm
Phosphate ~.085 ppm (I know, I have a phosphate problem)

I've done several searches on the matter and can't find any cases that are very similar. I'd love to hear some possible explanations.

 

[Coralmassa]

I was getting this too for awhile. What. Ended up doing was shortening the acclimation period for new acros, to get them used to higher light more quickly. I ordered ten frags from an add sale, most came browned out from shipping and I left them on the sandbed to color up. It too a month, but they began getting the greens and blues back so I moved them higher and they either turned back to brown or bleached and died. Now when I get frags I keep them on the sandbed for only a few days so I Can keep an eye out for pests, away from the clean colonies. Then I glue them to their permanent homes. With my tank, I've noticed this helps them retain their color. I also keep up on my trace element tests and dose aminos everyday, with direct oysterfeast feeding twice a week. I've also had some colonies that got really light when I put them higher, then after a few weeks they started to get darker, then showed color again in the tips.

After I removed my bio pellets color improved a lot also.

 

[bitwise]

That is an interesting observation.

My acros are starting to color up again. I have a theory that my water is deficient something and the acros that are towards the top are being effected more.

I'm back to feeding frozen daily and dosing AAs every other day now that I'm getting my algae mass under control. I think this is what has helped 'em color up.

 

[organism]

with Kessil 150. It seems like the tank is getting "blasted" with light.

Were they ever fully colored up? My guess would be the lighting, those are not great for SPS imo.

 

[Gmerek2]

It can always just be coincidence and one of the 200 other factors timed just right. I probably just over things lol

 

[bitwise]

The acros in question are 3 frags of a rescue milli and 1 frag of a tricolor. I have a green slimer frag that is always bright lime green.

Long story short: they haven't been fully colored up. They have been going from brown to light green to green and back. Due to me mounting frags on the highest rock and them sometimes breaking off and sitting on the bottom for weeks at a time - I have seen what I think is a correlation between height and browning. The height difference is only about 6 - 8 inches.