Daimyo68
Active member
Hoping I might find some insight here into my color issue. My tank specs for this 75g reef, are in my sig, parameters at the bottom of this post.
I cannot seem to get color in this tank. It was a transfer from my 3yr old 50g into a 75g. Only difference is the lighting. I went from a 6x39w T5 fixture 5" above the surface to 2x150w 14k Pheonix Halides with 8x20w Blue LED's, 10" above the surface. This was 8 months ago.
Color when it was in the 50g was great, only a couple of corals showing signs of not being colored up (matching against web images and here on RC). I moved to the 75g and it seems that most corals brown out now. I get incredible growth and polyp extension, but color is way off. I've brought some new corals into the system, from bright yellow's, red's and greens, and most have gone brown. Even older established corals that have been in the system since the start have browned out.
I do have some corals that still have color, but most of them are blue tipped acro's. I have a 14k Millipora that was bright yellow when in QT and has been green since 5 months ago. My Sunset Peach and Green digitata's are fine, Bird of Paradise, Hyacinth and Ponape Birdsnest's perfect.
WC's at first were every month, then every other week and now I've been doing 8g a week for 2 months with no change.
I thought it might be too many fish at first (9 fish at roughly 2-3" each), but this has been ruled out now as I removed them all almost 2 months ago when I had an Oodinium outbreak (of the 9, 6 survived at first until 2 jumped ship. they are all in QT to this day and will be for another 3 weeks). So I know it's not an excessive bioload since the reef is fallow.
I fed the corals twice a week with Reef Snow broadcasted, and phtyo weekly in the 50g, followed that same regimen in the 75g.
I've fragged some of the corals and given to friends, whom after a few weeks/months, show coloring up or completely colored to proper levels. I've now taken some of my frags and moved them to a softy tank and they have started coloring up also. The 57g softy tank is getting the same treatment as the 75g with the exception of lighting, as it has a 6x39w T5 fixture.
Honestly, I've never had such a stable system in means of water quality. Again, the only difference is the lighting, and it's disappointing. I've used Halides in the past with spectacular results. I missed the shimmer and went back to them with this tank, only to be baffled by this problem.
Couple other things:
The halides are 150w 14k Pheonix bulbs, and while they are blue (looking at the bulbs when they are on) they do not produce a great blue. When I have just the halides on, it is very 10k'ish in the tank. With the growth that I get from the corals it is just like having 10k's. I added the Blue LED's 4 months after setting this up for the added color (which while it makes all the difference in the tanks color) it still does not give me the results I had under the T5's and previous halide setups.
Par levels in my 50g were 200 on the sandbed up to 500 just below the surface. Under the Halides, the highest par level is 300, with acros everywhere around the tank from mid to high on the 300par range. I cannot keep anything that is yellow from going brown.
The last 2 statements tell me it is an issue with lighting and par levels, but all corals that came from 2-300 par are again in 2-300par in the 75g
I am considering going to LEDS or back to T5's, and don't have an issue spending the money on LED's, but that's a big nut to drop on something that may not work.
Thanks
Parameters:
pH 7.9-8.2 (day/night)
Salinity - 1.026
Ammonia - 0.00
Phos - 0.00
Nitrite - 0.00
Nitrate - 0.00
Cal - 440
Alk - 9.5dKH
Mag - 1450
Temps - 77.8-78.9F
I cannot seem to get color in this tank. It was a transfer from my 3yr old 50g into a 75g. Only difference is the lighting. I went from a 6x39w T5 fixture 5" above the surface to 2x150w 14k Pheonix Halides with 8x20w Blue LED's, 10" above the surface. This was 8 months ago.
Color when it was in the 50g was great, only a couple of corals showing signs of not being colored up (matching against web images and here on RC). I moved to the 75g and it seems that most corals brown out now. I get incredible growth and polyp extension, but color is way off. I've brought some new corals into the system, from bright yellow's, red's and greens, and most have gone brown. Even older established corals that have been in the system since the start have browned out.
I do have some corals that still have color, but most of them are blue tipped acro's. I have a 14k Millipora that was bright yellow when in QT and has been green since 5 months ago. My Sunset Peach and Green digitata's are fine, Bird of Paradise, Hyacinth and Ponape Birdsnest's perfect.
WC's at first were every month, then every other week and now I've been doing 8g a week for 2 months with no change.
I thought it might be too many fish at first (9 fish at roughly 2-3" each), but this has been ruled out now as I removed them all almost 2 months ago when I had an Oodinium outbreak (of the 9, 6 survived at first until 2 jumped ship. they are all in QT to this day and will be for another 3 weeks). So I know it's not an excessive bioload since the reef is fallow.
I fed the corals twice a week with Reef Snow broadcasted, and phtyo weekly in the 50g, followed that same regimen in the 75g.
I've fragged some of the corals and given to friends, whom after a few weeks/months, show coloring up or completely colored to proper levels. I've now taken some of my frags and moved them to a softy tank and they have started coloring up also. The 57g softy tank is getting the same treatment as the 75g with the exception of lighting, as it has a 6x39w T5 fixture.
Honestly, I've never had such a stable system in means of water quality. Again, the only difference is the lighting, and it's disappointing. I've used Halides in the past with spectacular results. I missed the shimmer and went back to them with this tank, only to be baffled by this problem.
Couple other things:
The halides are 150w 14k Pheonix bulbs, and while they are blue (looking at the bulbs when they are on) they do not produce a great blue. When I have just the halides on, it is very 10k'ish in the tank. With the growth that I get from the corals it is just like having 10k's. I added the Blue LED's 4 months after setting this up for the added color (which while it makes all the difference in the tanks color) it still does not give me the results I had under the T5's and previous halide setups.
Par levels in my 50g were 200 on the sandbed up to 500 just below the surface. Under the Halides, the highest par level is 300, with acros everywhere around the tank from mid to high on the 300par range. I cannot keep anything that is yellow from going brown.
The last 2 statements tell me it is an issue with lighting and par levels, but all corals that came from 2-300 par are again in 2-300par in the 75g
I am considering going to LEDS or back to T5's, and don't have an issue spending the money on LED's, but that's a big nut to drop on something that may not work.
Thanks
Parameters:
pH 7.9-8.2 (day/night)
Salinity - 1.026
Ammonia - 0.00
Phos - 0.00
Nitrite - 0.00
Nitrate - 0.00
Cal - 440
Alk - 9.5dKH
Mag - 1450
Temps - 77.8-78.9F
