Aussie SPS-Do they keep their colors in our tank?

[OrionN]

The tittle said it all. I have a lot of nice color SPS for a long time and still look great. However, my new Aussie frags just slowly fade in color. The are doing well otherwise and is growing but very poor color. Right next to these, my other corals are doing great with beautiful colors. Most are under 600PAR or so so I don't think light intesnity is the issue.
What are your experiences?

 

[madadi]

in my experience they brown out and will show their true color in 6 months or so.

 

[ZON]

And your light is too much.. Best results on aussie wild are max 400 par on them

 

[ZON]

this aussie wild microclados grow like weed with only 350 par of blues

 

[OrionN]

And your light is too much.. Best results on aussie wild are max 400 par on them

I don't know if one can or should make such sweeping statement. There are high light and low light SPS but most of the highest light SPS that I have doing great at about 600 PAR. There are others that will better at lower PAR. I immagin it is the same with the Aussie.
Nutrient wise, my other corals does not brown out. My nitrate is 0 and my phosphate is 0 the last time I checke it about 1 month ago.

 

[OrionN]

Some of my Aussie still look nice but not as nice as initial color. They are growing well. I will see if I take some pictures later today or this week.

 

[jda]

IME, some of them do and some of them don't. I wish that I knew how to pick which was which. Most of them look so-so for months before coming back.

I have had 2x 4 foot HQI fixtures over my 120G SPS tank with 6x 250W HQI and par levels and 800-900 and the SPS loved live even more. Too much can almost never happen - too much of the wrong kind is more of an issue.

 

[ZON]

I don't know if one can or should make such sweeping statement. There are high light and low light SPS but most of the highest light SPS that I have doing great at about 600 PAR. There are others that will better at lower PAR. I immagin it is the same with the Aussie.
Nutrient wise, my other corals does not brown out. My nitrate is 0 and my phosphate is 0 the last time I checke it about 1 month ago.

for sure you are correct, a deepwater echinata prefer less light then a spathulata or humilis that are near surface in the GBR..is the truth.


but..i talk only for my little experience..too much light are not good for them.

i tried to give more PAR with powerful light (t5 or LED) and aussie prefer less light then indo wild acroporas. with stronger light they bleach or take a light brownish cream color that i don't like..I talk of wild big colony fresh imported from australia not small frag from a shop. Also i can tell that indonesian are more stronger under leds then aussie..
For last is more hard to color up using commercial products (for example thomas pohl said that fiji and aussie corals are less affected to zeospur2 then indonesian )

is only my 2 cents

 

[ZON]

also no3 really at 0 is not good for sps..i usually add NaNO3 when my photomether display 0..

 

[ZON]

IME, some of them do and some of them don't. I wish that I knew how to pick which was which. Most of them look so-so for months before coming back.

I have had 2x 4 foot HQI fixtures over my 120G SPS tank with 6x 250W HQI and par levels and 800-900 and the SPS loved live even more. Too much can almost never happen - too much of the wrong kind is more of an issue.

maybe my quantum meter show less par then i really have..i use many blue tubes i know that blue is underrated ...i read 400/500 at middle tank and my tank is only 24" deep

 

[OrionN]

Just a few pictures to show that my other corals are doing fine. They do grow very fast. My Nitrate and phosphate are not too low.

 

[OrionN]

also no3 really at 0 is not good for sps..i usually add NaNO3 when my photomether display 0..

I don't think there is any scientific or even hoby basis for this statement. In the wild, nitrates is always 0 (blow the testing threadhold of detection) whay below what we can test with our hoby test kits.
My nitrates always test at 0 with hoby test kits.

 

[jda]

I know that PAR is fun, but it is nearly worthless since it barely touches on actual output and does nothing for useful spectrum. Radiated watts is probably better for actual output. Anyway... another discussion for another time.

I can tell you that in Missouri, I could grow corals like crazy in the summertime outside under the sun with PAR at 1300+. All kinds of corals - softies, LPS and SPS. My take-away from this was that amount of light is not the issue... rather quality of light.

There can be no diatoms without food. There has to be some NO3 for coral to live. I look for "clear" results on my salifert N and P test kits and if the coral are growing, then I know that I have some, but not too much.

 

[ZON]

The colors of those corals aren't a a color that normally find in a very ULNS tank ..a like it more yours ;-) before i liked pale but now i prefer intense colorations..so i think that some no3 are present

 

[OrionN]

Of course Nitrate is there but below the treadhold detect by our hoby kits. I know that it is higher than in the wild. When one push Nitrate and Phosphate even low when we drip Valka or vinegar, we can push Nitrate even lower and the coral color become really light aproach that in the wild.

 

[ZON]

I normally use some lab in germany ( triton or fauna marin) to test in deep the water ..i just send today a probe to triton ..when have result i post them here!

 

[Dugless]

The reason behind shooting for some nitrates is that our aquariums can't compare to the nutrient rich availability that a natural reef has. If we were to rob our systems of every available food source by aiming for undetectable nitrates and phosphates our corals would surely starve.

 

[OrionN]

I can tell you that my hoby test 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate and my corals do not starves. They are doign very well. I stress again, that this does not mean 0, just lowr than my test can detect.

 

[ryanrid]

Hi Orion,

I am from aus so all the corals i can get are aus corals. There is not a huge frag industry over here due to the low cost of wild colonies.

here is a pic of my tank 1/2 from frags 1/2 from colonies



A small % of wild corals will brown for example aboranthies and humulis but most keep color long term.
It could be the stress of moving which is making the color loss?

 

[OrionN]

I think Australia coral are better keep and transport than coral from Indo-Pacific. Other than that, I think they are just like other wild corals, unless we give them the intensity of light and clean water, they will change color.