Monitcap color

[oneradtek202]

so i want every ones opinions on this.


is it normal for a colony of orange cap that has grown from the size of a quarter to the size of a large dinner plate with multiple levels to change color to a pinkish?

does the coral color change with growth?

 

[buy_baff]

Nope mine has always been the same color. Something is probably off in your tank.

 

[noobtothereef]

whats your water change regiment? Do you add any trace elements? It could be starving for a certain mineral etc, whats nitrates like?

 

[oneradtek202]

15 gal changes on 85 gal of water every other week.

i dont add any trace elements, certain parts of my colony look better than others, im thinking more of a flow issue, but i dont know. Undetectable no4 and po4 using salifert.


it is growing upwards pretty fast, its huge now. maybe the whole colony isnt gettin enough flow now?


more orange on the rim than inside the colony

 

[Tater11]

wow!!beautiful tank.

 

[Felixc395]

I've never heard of that before. Have you changed your lights recently? I see you have Radium's. Did you have a 10k or 14k bulb before? Maybe when your lighting changed it just seemed pinker. JMO but that's pretty odd.

 

[Felixc395]

wow!!beautiful tank.

And yes, i couldn't agree more! Very nice colonies!

 

[oneradtek202]

thanx guys, i just see some of that deep orange that i used to have when teh colony was smaller, i was battling for a long time alk swings, and recently (aprox 1-2 months) got that stabilized.,..maybe thats still takin time to kick in? also maybe magnesium? idk.


havent changed radiums , always kept 20k's

 

[Felixc395]

Maybe you're right. I'm not sure if swaying parameters can change color, but i've heard of changes in magnesium levels affecting color but to what extent i don't know.

 

[oneradtek202]

its just weird, how varying layers have diferent shades. It HAS to be flow, but im not 100% i have struggled with a good flow due to all the growth in my tank, maybe thats it....

heres the color it used to be, notice how much deeper orange it was, but the whole tank was alot more colorful too...hmmm

 

[buy_baff]

Are you doseing a carbon sorce?

 

[Tater11]

did you change your lighting in anyway?because that happened to us when we changed or lighting.

 

[manix man]

This is real strange, I thought they were bomb proof. And the tank looks great, I mean they look ok even just the colour.

 

[oneradtek202]

well im noticing the algae in the older pic, and the/ better color. perhaps more dirty water = more food for corals and better color?

i dose rox carbon 24-7 due to me having leathers (which im getting rid of this weekend)

 

[rigleautomotive]

well im noticing the algae in the older pic, and the/ better color. perhaps more dirty water = more food for corals and better color?

i dose rox carbon 24-7 due to me having leathers (which im getting rid of this weekend)

It appears you are approaching ULN with this system which will lighten corals and in some cases change colors.Some really strive for the lighter colors and some acroporas look awesome under these conditions.The deeper colors you had before were due to higher levels of DO along with nitrate and phosphate I would imagine.Feeding heavier will help the corals regain the deeper colors.The caps are like canaries in the coal mine for low nutrients and will be the first to show color shifts and loss of color.JMO of course.GL

 

[oneradtek202]

what is ULN?

EDIT: just found it means ultra low nutrients. That has been my thinking all along now that the corals have gotten bigger and use more nutrients. i dont feed too heavily and only have 7 fish in tank thats a 75 with a 55 gallon sump. recently ive started feeding twice a day, (mysis) and at night using some reef chili. i also knocked my lighting back by an hour.


what would polyp extension suggest? some of my colonies have very little polyp extension too