color washed out

[hangles]

Hello
I have a frag of neon green zoo's with burgandy skirts that the color has been fading from for about three weeks. does anybody have any idea's about why? the colony is growing and spreading from the plug to my rock and are open .
any help is apre.
thanks!

 

[Chemguy85]

what kind of lights are they under and what are the tank parameters?

 

[hangles]

they are in a 75g with PC's 2-65w 10000k's and 2-65w 420 actinics. medium flow,low in the tank.
sal 1.023
nitrates 0
nitrites 0
ammonia 0
alkalinity 2.5
ph 8

thanks

 

[surfnvb7]

most likely reason is b/c of the PC's. PC's dont give nearly as good color to zoas as metal halide bulbs do IMO. and im guessing they most likely came from a tank with MH's (or T5's or VHOs) if they are fading under your PC's.

IMO 240 w of PC is not nearly enough for zoas in a 75g tank. they may survive, but they definitely wont thrive or look very good.

in the mean time, put them up as high in your tank as possible to see if it helps any.

 

[theop]

How old are your bulbs? If > 6 months, it may be time to get new ones.

 

[hangles]

thanks everyone!
the bulbs are 2 months old. I thought that zoos did not need MH to thrive?

 

[surfnvb7]

you dont, but in order to get the same intensity of PC as you do with MH, you'd have to easily double the amount PC lights you currently have. or switch to another source of lighting that is more intense, such as VHO or T-5s.

the amount of PC lights you have, really isnt strong enough to penatrate the depths of a 75g tank with much efficiency.

what other kinds of corals do you have in there?

 

[hangles]

I have
hairy mushroom
devils hand leather
pipe organ
pulsing zenia
purple acropora
sinulara (not sure of spelling?)
various snails

 

[Chemguy85]

is the acro purple in your tank? when i had pc's any acro i had browned out. i would recomending upgrading your lights in the future to halides or t-5s. It will give you better color in your corals and more versitility in what corals you can keep in your tank. Just a thought ben

 

[greenstarman]

Hangles, how deep is that 75gallon. I have a 55gallon that is running on 4 x 65 watt PC lighting and all of my zoos are doing great but not sure if the depths are the same between the two tanks. I do also supplement with DT's phytoplankton, zoo's and GSP and mushrooms doing great.