Green SPS losing green

[swigen]

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I have a 50 gal mixed reef tank with a number of soft and lps frags as well as a few SPS frags. Being relatively new still to the hobby, I started my SPS collection with frags of easy SPS species including green birdsnest, pink birdsnest, and ponape green/purple birdsnest and a purple rimmed green monti cap. I placed all near the top of the live rock within 4 inches or so of the water surface under my recently purchased wavepoint 4 x 48 in T5 HO fixture. For bulbs I have 2 stock daylight, 1 stock actinic, and 1 geissman actinic. When I bought the frags, the ponape birdsnest, green birdsnest, and monti cap had very bold green coloration under the halides the store owner kept them under. After a few weeks in my tank, although all frags showed good polyp extension and growth, they had lost alot of the green color they had when i bought them. I tried replacing one of the sun wave bulb for an extra actinic but that didnt do much but make my tank too blue for my liking.

Is there any way to regain the vibrant green colors? Thanks for your help!

 

[ihavtats29]

sounds like it bleached out a little . 4'' from the water surface it a bit close to the t-5's , many people underestimate the light HO T-5's put out. for example in many warehouses they are replacing 400 w halides with 4) 54 w ho t-5's and are just as bright . seems like you just didnt aclimate you corals to the new lighting, id bring that coral lower in the tank and give it time , another possibility would be water chemistry,alk, calcium , mag , salinity , temp exct..... with all the info on the tank it will be easier to provide a good answer to your question

 

[swigen]

I dont think theyve bleached at all. I'd say theyve been like this for over a month and all are continuing to show good polyp extension and are growing quite well. Also, the purple rimmed green cap for example still exhibits bright purples and the pink birdsnest is still as pink as when I added it. The only color missing is the greens. Is it possible Im missing some of the color spectrum with the bulbs Im using?

It's possible it could be the water chemistry, I just figured since they appear so healthy and are growing well, that they are happy with the water. I think my alk is low and I'm working on getting that back in balance with my calc. Salinity is around 1.026 and the temp stays around 79. I dont track mag right now. Im guessing once I get my calc and alk under control I will see positive changes from all my corals.

 

[alovely]

it could be a lack of nutrients in the tank. That is why over time it has been slowly fading do you feed your tank anything? If not that will probably help it will help bring out the colors. I know on a couple of my corals the color was fading I started adding stuff in and now they look a lot better.

 

[swigen]

What stuff do add? I like to think I feed my tank pretty well. Just about every other day Ill add cyclopeeze, mysis, fish eggs, marine snow, and occassionally Ill throw in some reef plus. I do have an oversized skimmer on the back so maybe there is still a lack of nutrients. Whats the best food for sps?

 

[scarson61]

In general SPS are a low nutrient coral. In your aquarium your nutrients would always be higher then what would be found in the wild, so I don't think this is a feeding issue. I would tend to agree with ihavtats that it is a light issue. More than likely you put that particular coral in a higher light source then it was use too. If it has been there for a while and no further lightening happens, it will slowly adjust (could take months for any change to show) and become its vibrant self. Just to let you know a bleached coral will show full polyp extension it is the only way it can feed it at that point. Also as lights age they get weaker so your new t5 probably were stronger then the pet store older halide. Also check your nutrient levels in your tank, high nutrient levels play havoc with most sps. I would not jump the gun and start trying to move it around, unless it gets worse, in that case you may need to lower it but I think you will be alright to let this one ride out.

 

[swigen]

ok, I think that must be the case with the lighting. I've seen pictures of bleached corals and I dont think mine look anything like them. I think I'll leave them be and try to keep nutrients and water chemistry ideal and stable. Would changing out a white bulb for blue or actinic help out so that I have 1 white, 3 blue/actinic bulbs?

 

[scarson61]

Don't think it’s bleached just light stressed, I would not change anything unless you see actual tissue coming off the coral or if it starts to get even lighter

 

[swigen]

Would it help to decrease the photoperiod a little? Right now I have it runnin 12 hours full on. I wish I could take good pictures to show what Im talking about. They're still green, just pale green instead of neon green. Hopefully they will come back in time.