Koral Color

Chuckd76

New member
I posted this on the main board but figured I'd put it here too in hopes that maybe our local T5 guru (I'm looking at you BigE) would chime in.

Not sure if this is the right place to post this as it deals with lights too but here goes....
I recently (~2 weeks ago) swapped out my black box leds for a Coralife quad T5 unit with 2 x B+ and 2 x C+ on a 55g 48x13x21 and am dealing with some bleaching in corals that I had under the leds. A new batch of corals I just purchased seem to be dealing okay.
I'm not a regular tester but my last params (in late December) were: Cal 475, dkh 9.1(Hanna says) and Mag 1575. Obviously not optimal numbers but I've been satisfied with my growth.
I haven't bothered chasing coral color as I've been feeding heavily to feed pods for a scooter dragonet so, although my LPS have been colored up, my SPS are pretty much brown.
Since my switch to T5 a few of the SPS have started bleaching. Not heavily but I'm trying to nip it in the bud. I cut back my photoperiod, raised my light a couple inches (no hanging option) and I put a white trash bag over part of the tank to dim it a bit.
Now, finally, to the question: I've never used Brightwell's Koral Color but my understanding is that it "strips" excess zooxanthellae from corals so they can be colored up by dosing aminos, food, etc. Does anybody out there have an opinion as to whether or not Koral Color would take the excess zoox out of a bleaching coral in order to prevent/reduce the production of excess oxygen in that coral's tissue due to a light overload?
Thanks for the help and for reading my essay.
Also, I know the trash bag sounds bad but it's what I had so it's what I'm using.
 
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Hi Chuck,

I'd stay away from dosing Koral color with the state your corals are in now. Once you have healthy corals with some color you can experiment with that product.

You can use window screen in layers instead of the bag. I wouldn't run the lights more than 5 hours right now.

Your Mg is too high. stop dosing it if you have been.............just let it work it's way down naturally.

Right now the goal is to just get the corals a nice deep brown, than you can focus on coloration. More often than not once the corals are healthy and growing the new sprouts will be colored up, so a lot of this will be you being patient.

You need to find out what your nutrient readings are.

If you want me to stop by we can talk more on all this.............contact me per pm or txt me if you still have my phone #.
 
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Hey Ed, thanks for answering.
I actually found some screen in my garage. I have about four layers on there now.
I've got my light timers down to ~5 hours now. The mechanical buttons aren't exact so it's a guesstimate.
The magnesium issue has, oddly enough, been going on since the first iteration of this tank. I tore it down due to some slimey "stuff" on my rocks and gave them an acid wash. In that first go round my magnesium got up to 1800. I haven't dosed it in close to a year but I can't get it down.
On the main forum I got an answer from Jonathan Bertoni who's opinion about the Koral Color vibes with yours: Don't, at least don't until the corals are healthy again.
I'd welcome a visit. Like I said when we talked before, I'll take any comments or criticism if it makes me a better reefer/human.
I don't have your number but I'll shoot you the pm.
 
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