keeping acro colors

[FCdenzreef]

i have a 75 gal mixed tank (mostly sps and lps and zoas). 20gal fuge asm-g1x skimmers and 2-175w mh, 2 96w pc's. i realize that it isn't the best for keeping colors for a lot of acros but i would like to have a few that keep some beautiful colors. i have a valida that keeps its purple tips, a formosa that keeps its blue tips,and i have a red milli that has totally browned out. any acros that anyone can recomend that will keep some pretty bright colors in my tank would be awsome!

 

[CaptiveReefer03]

how long have to corals been in your system? when they are newly placed in there it can be up to 6months before you get them to fully adjust to lighting and water perams so dont worry if they have browned out they should come back to color once they are happy...granted thats if they are new to your system. Also look at the lighting how old are your bulbs and what k rating are they? if the bulbs are older then 8-10 months look at replacing them and consider a 14-20k bulb if your wanting more of a soft color in them usually the 6500-12k bulbs are fast growing bulbs but wash the color out because the light is more yellowish,thus changing the color of the coral to brown because they have to account for the lighting change... If you want easy start of acros try some stags or tricolor ... you could also go with a pocilliapora or something like a M. Dig they are usually easy to care for and work well as beginer acros ... M. Caps are also another though... hope its a bit of help if nothing else and happy reef keeping!

 

[FCdenzreef]

my bulbs are pretty new mabey 2 moths of use and they are 10k's. i have some M. caps and digis, seterapora and they keep color just fine. would switching the color of my bulbs really help them to gain some color? i just thought it was the amount of light they are recieving. i dont have any problems keeping the acros happy, i just dont like looking at a brown piece of coral, i was just looking for some acros that hold their color in lower light.

 

[CaptiveReefer03]

ya switching bulbs could help keep the colors in because its more of a true blue light diffrent end of the spectrum.. but if your bulbs are that new dont spend the $$... if anything give the corals sometime to adjust and see that way your not chasing all over the place spending a ton of cash...
Here is my tank with 14 and 20K combo from left to right it's 14,14,20,14,20 and recently I swaped the 14k in the middle of the twentys to a 10 and it worked well so see if you like the colors ... I also have 2 Pc 6' superatinic lights for suppliment.

 

[Norwood IND]

Before we start talking about lighting and bulbs and stuff I think we need to discuss your parameters.

You have not told us anything about what your parameters are and how stable they are. I bet this is the root of your problem.

I have seen some great tanks with 175 metal halide lighting but, they all had excellent parameters.

What is your flow? How old is the system? How new are the corals to the system? We some some more input to help you out...

 

[FCdenzreef]

parameters-
Ph-8.2
kh-9dkh
Ca-480ppm
Nitrate-o-2ppm
Specific Gravity-1.024

The only problem i have had with the tank is the alkilinity droped a few months ago and has since been stable.

flow might be an issue i have a mag 12 for return and 5 maxi-jet 1200 all on hydor rotating heads.

system is 1 1/2 years old and acros were added probably 6 months ago.