Calling acro experts

[Nathan4Wvu]

Question, the following pictures are the same frag almost two months apart. I took the first one 1 day after arriving from Ora. It's growing like crazy but you can see the color fade.

To much light? Lacking food? Waters parameter are good. 460 calc 9dkh 8.15 ph 78.8degrees 1300 mag.

 

[jcw]

Thats what most of my frags do in my tank. Following...

Personally, if i'm getting good growth, i'm ok with it and let the color come back over the next 3-6 months with stable alk.

 

[DrAsTiC]

What are your phosphate levels? Coral browning usually has to do with none adequate lighting or some po4 no3 levels

 

[Nathan4Wvu]

I battled them for the first 3 months but had them to 0- .25 before this guy ever arrived.

 

[Nathan4Wvu]

I added that guy on 6-28. Does that growth look good for 53 days?

 

[Nathan4Wvu]

This supernatural has lost some pop as well. Added the same day.

6-28

Today

 

[karsseboom]

Looks like it would be your lighting. What lighting are you using?

 

[Decadence]

0.25ppm phosphate is pretty high for an SPS tank and likely the source of your browning. You should get a more accurate test kit to check your phosphate levels and try to get them below 0.06ppm.

 

[Nathan4Wvu]

Yes, a better test would be good. I'm siding more on the level closer to 0 it's hard for me to tell what color it is. I'm rather color blind. However I have been running GFO for 4 months and changing it ever 10-14 days.
The lighting I'm running is 2 130 watt led pendants. The acro frag is about 8 inches under the surface and the lights are 9 inches from the top of the water.

The supernatural was actually sitting at the same level. I moved it down to the sand and the color did improve over about a 2 week time span.

 

[Nathan4Wvu]

The growth and polyp extention on all my sps seems steller. The polyps look like they are going to rip right out of the skeleton. I'm thinking about doing some reseach into the zeovit. I have seen people using it have amazing results.

 

[Decadence]

I too have seen great results with zeovit and with carbon source dosing. You should still first go out and get a really good test kit to see where you are at. You can buy a salifert kit off of ebay for less than $30 and it is worth every penny.

Could you tell us more about the lightings system that you have?

I can only speak from my own experiences but my 20 gallon long SPS tank has all of my acros around 8" from the water surface and the LED lights are mounted a foot above the water. I run 38 watts of royal blue, 30 watts of cool white, 20 watts of UV and 2 watts of red (90 watts total). My SPS all grow very fast and browned out or bleached acros that I buy at stores wind up showing awesome colors in less than a month. I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with the addition of the UV lights. They might not be helping color up so quickly but they definitely make the colors that do show up a lot more noticeable that much sooner.

These photos were taken within seconds of each other with no changes in the camera settings or lighting other than turning the UV lights (along with an additional 8w of blue and 2w of red) on off and on:

UV off:

UV on:

UV off:

UV on:

It really is that dramatic.

 

[npartzz]

I'm no expert but I think its the lighting.

 

[Nathan4Wvu]

http://www.aquariumleds.com/

Those are the lights that I am using. I have seen photo's of tanks with sps using them and they looked great. My frag tank shares the same water and uses a 250wattt de pendant with a low hour Phoenix bulb. The same thing the colors on the frags just look dull.

 

[Nathan4Wvu]

 

[Decadence]

Have you had an opportunity to get a good phosphate test kit yet? I know somebody else using those lights. He can't support SPS at the bottom with the 1w LEDs but they certainly do well up top.

 

[Nathan4Wvu]

Not yet. I have to order it everyone in my area just carries API.

 

[Felipe Sellera]

Hi Nathan

I'm not the expert on it but it is suggestible that your light is too intense + low nutrient in system..

When my Strawberry shortcake faded colors here in Brazil.. the coral became almost transparent

I put it to the bottom + added regularly ELOS AMINO and stated that colors are getting back..

Rgds

 

[rburns24]

FWIW, my phosphates are 0.027ppm and I consider that high for SPS.

 

[Decadence]

I keep mine below 0.03 and am happy with that. Salifert test kits don't test and lower and mine come out completely clear. I assume it to be well below 0.03.

 

[bogg]

Use a Hanna to test for po4
Ime with purples less
Light more purple