Is this normal?

[jmowbray]

I got some polyps a week ago now and the colors looked great. However, now a week later I have noticed that the color seems to be "fading". Please take a look at the attached pics. The polyps were green green. now they are turning darker like a black purple color.

Ok well the pics wont load so I will have to try tomorrow when I have a better internet connection. Here are some current pics of the other corals.

Unsure about what this is. I was told an encrusting gorgonian.

Yellow polyps???

eagle eyes

 

[jmowbray]

I guess you can sort of see it in the pic of the yellows. It's the nuclear greens that have the wired color.

 

[jmowbray]

Here you go:

The tank is a 20 long with a AJM reef multicolor light on high.

 

[jmowbray]

No one?

 

[modernREEF]

My znps tend to go darker when there is less light on them, move them up?

 

[SantaMonica]

Yea probably needs more light, or more hours.

 

[jmowbray]

Ok I moved them up as high in the tank as they can go ~6 inches from the surface of the water. The lights are on 100% and for 6-7 hours. Is that to short? I'm sort of dealing with a hair algae problem as you can see from the picture hence the reduced time.

 

[SantaMonica]

It is pretty short. Let's see if they color.

 

[DrinkinPepsi]

what are you using for water?


i run my lights 11 hrs a day

 

[jmowbray]

I have a RO/DI unit that the water comes from. I will try to add more time to the lights over the nest week or so.

 

[650-IS350]

gradually acclimate the to light, but it the NG's get too much light they'll get spotting or blotches. ( lighter color spots ). I had my NG's as high as 5" from the water surface under 8 T5's.

 

[Peter Eichler]

First of all, the zoanthids have only been in your tank a week, it's only natural that they will lose a little color from the stress of the change. However, I think there's a lot more to it than that...

High nutrients will also play a role in zoanthid colors. From the looks of your tank you've got some high nutrients and algae problems. The algae problems will be especially problematic with zoanthid growth. In fact the zoanthids in all of the pics look stressed and unhealthy and there's a lot more at play here than the amount of light they're getting. Knowing your basic water parameters would help us as well. In particular alkalinity, nitrates, phosphates.


I would suggest not increasing your photo period more than a an hour or two, if at all, as you're just going to encourage more algae growth. Also, if your zoanthids aren't geting enough light in a 6-7 hour period it's more a problem with the intensity of your lighting than the length of the photo period.

 

[jmowbray]

The results as follows are for a full panel of test yesterday:

Ca: 465
Alk: 9.3
Mg: 1400

NH3: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0
PO4: 0.04

I2: 0.03
Fe: 0
K: 356
pH: 8.3

Temp.: 79.3
TDS: 6870

I understand that nitrate and phosphate readings can be false
Positives when dealing with algea at the same time. However, I have to believe that the issue is getting better as for the past month the algea has stoped growing. It mainly looks dead and brown now. Some is easy to remove with a slight wave of your hand, others not so much. I will continue to keep up with WCs since these are nothing new to me. I do 25-50% weekly WCs on my freshwater tank anyway; what's another 5 gallons of water.