Lobo loosing colour, will it return??

[slowhand383]

The red lobophylia I have is not as colourful as it used to be. I think maybe its related to my lights but im not really sure. The PC lights I had over my nano were about a year old. I noticed that for the past month or two my red lobo hasn't been as bright as it once was. The red looks more washed out and the green center is not as bright as it used to be. This coral used to be a beautiful bright red and green but now looks dull. All my other corals are thriving. The only thing I could think was causing the colour loss was the year old 48w PC lights I had, even though the Acans I have are the same as they always have been along with all my other corals. So, I upgraded the lights. I went with a 150w HQI (phoenix 14k). Its only been running for a week, but so far no real change in the Lobo. Well, actually with the old lights the Lobos green center was almost tan. As soon as the halide kicked on the green was back again. I guess the spectrum was way off with the PC's. No big changes though. The red is still washed out and the green isn't nearly as bright as it once was. The HQI is awesom though, my zoas acan and frogspawn have never looked so happy. What can I do to restore the colour of the Lobo? I dont feed very often, and for the past month I havent been feeding like I used too. Perhaps thats part of the problem as well?? The colour loss happend when I stopped feeding and when the lights got old. Will proper feeding and my new lights help restore the colour. If so what kind of foods would be best? Any help in trying to restore my once beautiful Lobo would be greatly appreaciated.

 

[JmLee]

i have had a red lob for about 3-4 months now. In this time ive only seen hes feeding tenticales come out once. He started receeding because my salinity shot up to 1.030, but now he is fully recovered and puffed up during the day. I also have huge green and white Scolymia brain and IME the scolymia is way more responsive to feeding and much more active. I havent fed my lobo for about 1 1/2 months now and he looks fine and he has retain hes color since the day i bought him. When i did feed him, i fed him Spectrum pellets and he seemed to take them over mysis. I hope that helps, good luck!.

 

[David Grigor]

Only time will tell....... Corals will react differently to lighting changes probably will get a better idea in about 6 months.

The additional green your seeing is probably just a flouresce from the 14k bulbs and not an actual color change/shift of the coral itself.

Also because of the bluer presentation of the bulb itself you may not ever get a vibrate red color because of the bluer spectrum of the bulb it may appear more of a purple in color. 10K bulbs typically show off red a little better but nothing is absolute and will vary.

 

[john37]

try to feed it. when the lights go off or when you feed the fish the feeding tentacles should come out. Grab some flakes and let the tentacles grab them out of your hands.