Coral coloration and overall health

[spdjnky]

I am posting 2 pictures. The first one is from about 4 months ago when my aquarium was newer and I don't know what any of the parameters were but as you can see it's doing good I think. The second picture is the same coral that I took the picture a few days ago. Some basic information the aquarium is a little over 8 months old and the parameters now are Ca 450ppm,KH 8.9 dKh, Mg 1340, NO3 0ppm,NO4 .04ppm.
I have just got things down as far as testing and am using RedSea A,B,C along with NOPOX.
I just bought a dosing pump and am looking into a GFO or the AquaMaxx Fr-se GFO Carbon and Biopellet Hang-on Filter Media Reactor.
So now that I am just about ready to add corals and know how to test and think I will be able to set everything up I am trying to see why this coral now looks the way it does now compaired to the first picture when I didn't check anything.The only other thing I can think of is that I had a set of LED lites over the aquarium and now I am running T-5"s.

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[spdjnky]

Old light set-up to what I have now.

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[spdjnky]

[/URL][/IMG]Here is another picture I just took can someone help with what is going on

 

[LaOtIn]

LED vs T5 lighting is going to make everything look totally different.

just changing from a T5 pure actinic bulb to a T5 actinic makes it look different, or whatever, you get the idea.

As long as the coral are opening all the way and seem to be healthy I wouldn't really worry that the color is slightly different with different lighting

its kinda like when you look online at pictures of coral for sale, buy it and when you put it in your tank its totally different

I would nip that GHA in the bud before it takes over that colony though.

check your phosphates, water changes, maybe run a phosphate reducing media, I use phosguard by SeaChem.

That will take over that colony and block out the light and make the zoas suffer as a whole

 

[spdjnky]

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Heres another picture and just me or things could be better. GHA is that the white like spider webs that you see? thats the only place I see it but before that it was like a red slime.

 

[spdjnky]

Have been using NOPOX and my PO4 was down to .02ppm this morn

 

[KMS.Kyle]

I'd suggest - If you can afford them - The Kessil series of lights.. Youtube them - you won't be disappointed and they have a relatively cheap control device you can purchase to automate (if you don't have an apex yet).

The coral growth has been INCREDIBLE and the colors pop so darn nicely.

 

[Ron Reefman]

It's not just the difference t5 vs leds.

I have green zoas that I collect from the Florida Keys. Most of them are quite green and come from water about 2' deep.



But when they get home, some of them go in a Florida 75g tank with 24" deep water and they stay almost the same. But some others go in my shallow frag tank (10" deep) and the more intense light, due to the shallow water. And in time, like 2 to 4 weeks, they morph to be a sky blue color. That's both leds, but different PAR levels.

 

[LaOtIn]

[/URL][/IMG]Here is another picture I just took can someone help with what is going on

that green stuff surrounding the coral. if I'm not mistaken its green hair algae, or some sort of unwanted algae bloom

 

[OrQidz]

Yep that green stuff is the green hair algae. It will spread! Keep working on your nutrients.

Do you feed those paly/zoas at all? They look big enough to appreciate an occasional meal of mysis or brine shrimp or something similar. I feed all my palys once a week or so.

They may just be reacting to the change in lighting. If they are getting closed up, something is bugging them. You might need to play with the light intensity to see how they do. Mine did not like bright LEDs right over them.

 

[spdjnky]

The T-5 Lights sat in a box for like 8 yrs think I bought the fixture in 2009 one bulb was broke so I replaced that. But I was thinking I should replace all of them again but not sure about the make of the fixture but 48" so it's pretty standard I would think.
These are the Leds that I was using,got them from Amazon all kinds of reviews but as far as setting the adjustable dimmers on them not much help so I went back to the T-5's righjt about now I'm lost as far as which way to go (Galaxyhydro Led 55x3w Dimmable 165w Full Spectrum LED Aquarium Light for Reef Coral & Fish)
All I know is that I want to be ready to start making this aquarium look more like a reef with some more corals.