Bleached color in Acros help!

[Manwolf]

For some reason i can never get my sps to keep their great color that they have when i first get them. I recently got a red planet, and couple other sps frags that had amazing color and now they seem to be bleached away. But the growth is pretty good.
System:
-30g with sump
-Aqua remora-c skimmer
-Tek-T5 lighting with 2Ati Blue+, Ati Purp+, ATI Aquablue
-Photo period: 2bulbs on at 12pm, other 2 on at 1pm, 2 bulbs off at 10pm, last off at 10:45pm (Blue+ are first on and last off)
-Mp10 + Koralia 1+ Mag 5 for return as flow
-System is 1.5years old
-Alk 8.5
-Calcium 500
-Nitrates 0
-Po4 0
-Top off with RO/DI
-Weekly 7g water changes (I get my salt water from a local reef store since its so close. Im starting to think that maybe its their water I buy even though they told me they use ro/di for the salt mix)

Its not all my corals, its mostly my acros. My sunset monti i bought was brown and now its got a bright orange color to it and it is growing insanely...
I will post some pictures, a little later today, of my Acros when i first got them and now.

 

[Manwolf]

I forgot to add that I Dose BRS 2part (mostly alk and very little calc) but once a week since the water changes seem to keep everything in place.

 

[laud]

Do you have any fish?
How old are your bulbs?
If your sps are new to your tank they may need to adjust to your lighting. I lost all color when my tds readings were high in my ro/di topoff water. And again when my bulbs got old.

 

[Manwolf]

I replaced my bulbs last month, i have 2 clowns and a tiny blue tang (1 inch). Oh and the frags i got came from ATI powered T5 Fixture.

 

[Chyendra]

Do you feed your corals? with such low nitrate levels you probably should be supplementing your corals with extra food, either amino acids or extra fish food.

 

[Brian Chong]

take out the red spectrum(purple plus) and add a true 420 actinc.
lessen the amount of water you change weekly to 10 percent
and definitely ditch the aqua c skimmer.
this was my first skimmer then i switched to a real skimmer and i realized how garbage the aqua c is. I'm thinking all the ppl that wrote great reviews for it never used any other skimmers before or had worse ones. ill trade my hob and urchin pro for a nice stick.

 

[Brian Chong]

btw, your calcium is a bit high

 

[landers96]

I've got a 125 with 6 t-5's on IC ballasts and I'm having the same problem. Last week I started feeding way heavier and started elos amino acid and there already starting to color back up. I also dose vodka so I had nothing in the water for them to eat. I'm going to try to get my nitrates up to about 5.

 

[Jmc2009]

Dangerous. Your lighting. and new param and water changes dude

 

[krazysps]

I would say your lights are doing the damage myself. Never under estimate the power of them t5 bulbs they can bleach any sps quick! How long do you run your light's?

 

[sslak]

Dangerous. Your lighting. and new param and water changes dude

Is this English? What are you trying to say?

- Tagging along. I have the same problem. Great growth, no color. Added ATI Blue+ bulbs instead of the true actinics I had before...are they really that bright?

My frags came from 400w Halide tanks...

Will time allow them to adjust and color up? It's been a few months...

 

[Brian Chong]

Is this English? What are you trying to say?

- Tagging along. I have the same problem. Great growth, no color. Added ATI Blue+ bulbs instead of the true actinics I had before...are they really that bright?

My frags came from 400w Halide tanks...

Will time allow them to adjust and color up? It's been a few months...

from what i heard and par results ive seen posted on another thread, they are supposedly the brightest 460nm range actincs, almost close to daylights. A few months is too long to see no change. use both ati blue plus and true actincs. every coral even if it comes from a 400 watt lighted tank needs to be acclimated to your light.
Btw, No need to dose aminos or vodka. If you think you need that, then find out what the problem is and change your routine, not keep doing what you always did and adding more stuff so your sticks can improve. But if you want to spend the extra money be my guest

 

[Manwolf]

With my Remora C skimmer i have to empty the suction cup once a week. It gets half way full. I didnt feed that much but recently i have increase the feeding. I feed mysis, Cyclopeez, reef chili, flakes, and i try to spot feed the sps once a week. I will post pics right now of my sps that are bleached.

 

[Manwolf]

<a href="http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37/MK-Manwolf/?action=view&current=Redpanetbeforeandafter.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37/MK-Manwolf/Redpanetbeforeandafter.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[Manwolf]

<a href="http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37/MK-Manwolf/?action=view&current=Purpacrobeforeandafter.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37/MK-Manwolf/Purpacrobeforeandafter.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[Manwolf]

<a href="http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37/MK-Manwolf/?action=view&current=PurpMilibeforeafter.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37/MK-Manwolf/PurpMilibeforeafter.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[Manwolf]

And here is a coral thats actually doing well...

<a href="http://s559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37/MK-Manwolf/?action=view&current=MontiProgress-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss37/MK-Manwolf/MontiProgress-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[ericung]

Hi,

It appears that all those "bleached" sps are purple/blue/red.

Potassium supplement may help the blue. B-Balance may help the red.

BTW, your sps are nice looking.

Cheers!

 

[Brian Chong]

from all the zeovite threads i read , it's not potassium but iodide that helps with the purple and blues. dont add potassium unless you know the required amount needed and test for it.

 

[Brian Chong]

btw, when i had my aqua c skimming wet, the water was green. My new skimmer skims dark brown and i have to clean it 3 times a week because of the smell.