How to keep the green?

[Lynnmw1208]

I noticed more and more my green birdsnest has been loosing it's green polyp color slowly and finally it is no longer green. I am using ATI bulbs in an aquaticlife fixture with 4 bulbs (8 total across 72"). The bulbs I use are 2 blue+, 1 purple+ and an aquaticlife actinic (I used to have an aquablue but I felt it washed the colors out).
My params are as such
SG 1.025
temp 78-80
cal 420
mag 1450
alk 9
nitrite, nitrate, ammonia and phosphate 0

So how do I get that color back? here are some pics of when I first got it and now

4/20/2011

7/24/2011

 

[oscarslr]

Just my opinion but bringing back the aquablue special might help, I run 5 blue +, 2 purple plus and one aquablue. When I only have blue plus on I see more of a yellow look to my green corals. The Purple plus and aquablue give the corals back the green . I also have that birdsnest, It looks just like your first picture and its located between the blue plus and aquablue. If you bring it back you might have to give the corals time to adjust to the higher par.

 

[Kataro]

I believe lower light for the birdnest can bring out the green better. Too much light and it can lose some of the green

 

[Lynnmw1208]

Just my opinion but bringing back the aquablue special might help, I run 5 blue +, 2 purple plus and one aquablue. When I only have blue plus on I see more of a yellow look to my green corals. The Purple plus and aquablue give the corals back the green . I also have that birdsnest, It looks just like your first picture and its located between the blue plus and aquablue. If you bring it back you might have to give the corals time to adjust to the higher par.

That picture had the aquablue in unfortunately so I don't think that will help

I believe lower light for the birdnest can bring out the green better. Too much light and it can lose some of the green

I was thinking it might be too much light. It is near the top but not all the way up there. I thought SPS liked higher light :crazy1:

This is where it is located in the tank

 

[allsps40]

IME that type of BN goes more green in higher nutrients and more the color you are getting in lower nutrients.

 

[danil]

not long time ago my nutrients went up (add few more fishes) and I got 'green tsunami' in my tank! All my yellow corals turns to green and green turns to neon green etc. So.. you might try to make your tank a bit more dirty and slowly bring your nitrate up a bit. But be really slow with that few of my corals just turned brown and show very few signs of true color since that.

 

[JG1]

you need more nutrients

 

[Dave71]

Admittedly, I have not had that BN, but I have kept most of the others.

IME, if you are looking for deeper colors, then you should experiment with less light.

When I have moved mine around, their coloration always does better when I move them to less direct light.

I currently have several on my sand bed, and they have never looked better.

 

[batt600]

Its to much light or lack of Iron . Low Iron will fade your greens

 

[Allmost]

IME, feeding it, as well as additions of Iron, at low amounts, would help.

here is what mine looked like

I used to feed the tank, when this guy lost color or showed less PE.

this piece was on the top 1/3 of the tank, under 6x39W T5HO.

 

[mattGgator]

I would move it down. I have that same fixture and my bird of paradise is almost in the sand bed and I bleached a stylo with that fixture and it's moved down. I also bleached a ponape birdsnest with the same fixture. lol. They need to be low in the tank because that fixture has really good reflectors and is very efficient.

 

[Lynnmw1208]

wow thanks for all the replies everyone!! :wave:

First off, is there a test kit that will test iron? I don't want to add anything I can't test.

Second, I don't really have much filtration in my tank I don't think. I have an eshopps psk 200 skimmer, GFO/carbon and cheato. I don't run filter socks or anything like that and I do water changes every 3 weeks.

Third, I started feeding 2 days ago when I got a goniopora; hopefully this may help. The birdsnest seems to like cyclops.

Fourth, I may have to try moving it down further. I had no idea this fixture was putting out so much light!! good thing I didn't get the bigger one!! I wonder how my other sps corals will fare..

Will popping another actinic bulb in there help or will it just be too blue? I'm not sure how much par actinics give off.

 

[batt600]

wow thanks for all the replies everyone!! :wave:

First off, is there a test kit that will test iron? I don't want to add anything I can't test.

Second, I don't really have much filtration in my tank I don't think. I have an eshopps psk 200 skimmer, GFO/carbon and cheato. I don't run filter socks or anything like that and I do water changes every 3 weeks.

Third, I started feeding 2 days ago when I got a goniopora; hopefully this may help. The birdsnest seems to like cyclops.

Fourth, I may have to try moving it down further. I had no idea this fixture was putting out so much light!! good thing I didn't get the bigger one!! I wonder how my other sps corals will fare..

Will popping another actinic bulb in there help or will it just be too blue? I'm not sure how much par actinics give off.

There is no test kit that i know of but i only dose Iron once a week and my greens are bright green .

 

[Lynnmw1208]

There is no test kit that i know of but i only dose Iron once a week and my greens are bright green .

Hmm maybe I will try this as a lot of you mentioned it. What do you guys use to dose?



On another note, I never thought I would care about these colored sticks when I first set up my tank and now I want more!!! They're like skittles, you can't have just one I suppose. :lol:

 

[surfjeepzx]

How are you checking your ph4 levels?

 

[dzhuo]

I have an eshopps psk 200 skimmer, GFO/carbon and cheato.

What do you guys use to dose?

If you are running GFO regularly, you are more than likely dosing lots of iron already. I wouldn't add any extra. You can test iron with a Hana HI 721 colorimeter as in here:

PO4x4 = iron based polymer?

GFO is well known to release excess irons. I would take the advice you got from most people: try reduce the intensity of the light and slowly increase feeding to see how the coral react. Most likely, the green will return.

 

[dzhuo]

There is no test kit that i know of but i only dose Iron once a week and my greens are bright green .

You can use a Hanna HI 721 colorimeter as I posted above. If you dose additional iron regularly, you might want to have one handy.

 

[Lynnmw1208]

How are you checking your ph4 levels?

With the API test kits. I test the water coming out of the reactor to be sure it is still reading 0 also. I change GFO once every 2 months.

If you are running GFO regularly, you are more than likely dosing lots of iron already. I wouldn't add any extra. You can test iron with a Hana HI 721 colorimeter as in here:

PO4x4 = iron based polymer?

GFO is well known to release excess irons. I would take the advice you got from most people: try reduce the intensity of the light and slowly increase feeding to see how the coral react. Most likely, the green will return.

Thanks for the info. I didn't know that! I will most likely have to move the coral down and see what happens. I have started to feed more regularly as well.

 

[REEF SMAC]

Mine is light green, almost white polyps under intense MH in my DT.
Same coral is dark green in my frag tank under T5s.
They both share the same water and the flow is very similar.

 

[batt600]

You can use a Hanna HI 721 colorimeter as I posted above. If you dose additional iron regularly, you might want to have one handy.

Thanks didnt know thay had this, but ill stick to what i been doing it been working for me . And gfo has Iron and heavy metals yes but every little when used correctly.