Lets Talk About Colors!! What are your experiences in improving them?

[Nexenn]

Ok, I'm to the point where I'm ready to focus primarily on the coloration of my SPS. I run calcium and kalk reactor, run GFO, Carbon, UV, Dose Vodka and Zeobak.

Are supplements the way to go?
If so which ones?

What have you done to improve colors?

 

[Nexenn]

Bump!

 

[mrk88]

i think lighting makes the biggest difference when it comes to color

 

[Maksimsf]

Good water parameters, good light and high quality live food!

 

[Nexenn]

So far not much on additives?

As far as lights go. I run two 250 watt phoenix HQI, two vho (super actinic and 454), and two t5 (blue plus and figi purple) on a standard 90. Plenty of lighting, not planning on changing it and I like the look/pop.

Only thing I would change on water quality is my calcium levels.
SG - 1.026
Nitrate, nitrate, ammonia are all 0.
Phosphate is 0.00 with hanna photometer
Calcium 380
Alk 9dkh
Mg 1500

Just setting up the calcium reactor which should fix my calcium problem. Haven't heard many reports of lower calcium causing coloration problems though.

I feed 3 small portions a day with an autofeeder. I'm feeding half formula one half formula two pellets. I feed some frozen foods, brine shrimp, formula 1 and 2 mostly to my lps. Certainly nothing live. What live foods do you use?

What about foods aimed towards corals? Cyclopeze, etc?
How about supplements aimed at feeding coals and polyp extension such as KZ exta and vitalizer?

 

[RenoR1]

I am by no means an expert, but with the numbers in my sig and feeding a 1/4 cube of frozen a day with a pinch of dry, I have AMAZING color in my SPS's and clams. I have great polyp extension on everything. So I like to think it is just water quality.

 

[dg3147]

I am by no means an expert, but with the numbers in my sig and feeding a 1/4 cube of frozen a day with a pinch of dry, I have AMAZING color in my SPS's and clams. I have great polyp extension on everything. So I like to think it is just water quality.

Do you Dose any vodka, etc?

My Experience has been that I have had the most improvement when dosing Vodka. Despite having "perfect" parameters (zero NO4, zero PhO3), when I begin to add Vodka the sps color up. The process appears to take about 30 days, with about 60 days needed to return to basline "brown" if I discontinue vodka.

I have had no luck with AA's or fatty acid supplements used in a similar manner and I have never tried Zeo or Potassium.

I currently run NP reducing pellets instead of Vodka and do not have the same results that I get with vodka.

In summary, my answer is: Vodka (but all my LPS die during vodka dosing --even dosing just 0.5mL every other day).

My lights are 4 T5's with 2 good LED 48" strips. The tank is only 18" deep. I also run 2 vortech 40's at 80% power. (I don't think lighting and flow are the issue in my tank). I do 10 gallon water changes weekly.

That help at all?

 

[Nexenn]

Interesting, I dose a shot glass, or 1.5 oz (45ml) a week in vodka and have for several months. Never went higher because my levels are always 0 and I didn't want to risk over dosing. I also haven't had any problems with my lps.

My colors are actually pretty dang good. Just was trying to make them better. My only coral problem is my encrusting montis and my ORA Orange branching monti don't extend their polyps much. My monti caps have great polyp extension tho. It's weird.

 

[NyReefNoob]

really low phoshates = good color and growth along with water stability lighting and flow

 

[seanm001]

Personally, I've been dosing AAs for the past two months or so, and my colors and rich and full. I've got no complaints there. I started with Brightwell AAs, but switched to Res Sea Reef Energy 2-part and I'm happy with it.

I recently came across this post on a local forum, which apparently is taken from another post somewhere else:
http://www.cmas-md.org/forums/showthread.php?t=65097

 

[cjcmcheek]

0 nitrates
<.03 phosphates
steady DKh
balanced Ca and Mg
laminar flow
good feeding and lighting

 

[gonpostal]

I recently came across this post on a local forum, which apparently is taken from another post somewhere else:
http://www.cmas-md.org/forums/showthread.php?t=65097

Looks like that post originated right here (not surprisingly).
I thought it looked familiar

 

[Dadekster]

I believe your type of lighting will be the primary reason for whatever colors your corals will develope. This is then effected by phosphates and food available. You could run natural sunlight, have great flow and have dolphins swimming around your corals but if you have phosphates in the .20's you're probably not going to have great colors. Same thing if you have great parameters but you run sub par lighting. I think all of these things effect coral colors but in order of importance it goes lighting, wq, and then food, flow with food and flow being pretty interelated. This is just based on reading and observations though, I don't run a lab.

 

[pacmann117]

I def get much better color by focusing on keeping the *major trace elements, like strontium, iodine, and iron. I know strontium isn't technically a trace element, but it is frequently not dosed because many people think that calcium supplements include small amounts of strontium. Anyways I notice better growth with strontium, better polyp extension with iodine, and less stress/rtn/random browning with iron. This of course only matters if your parameters are already pristine, and consistent.

*edit- I only use simple potassium iodide not lugol's for iodine supplementation, I find that lugol's does not provide the same benifits, and I believe this is a frequency issue.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I only use simple potassium iodide not lugol's for iodine supplementation, I find that lugol's does not provide the same benifits, and I believe this is a frequency issue.

I'm curious as to why the form of iodine is tied to the frequency of dosing in your sentence?