Need Strawberry Shortcake advice

[shlap]

Hi guys, I dont seem to be having any color issues with my other SPS (running an SPS dominant tank) but for some reason I just cant get the SSC's mint base to color up. The tips are very pink. Under the blue leds, they really pop, but the mint just doesnt want to come in. I'll see it start to turn mint in some areas and then it just goes back to brown/pinkish.

Alk 9.5
Cal 450
Mag 1350
PO4 0 (hanna)
Nitrates 5 (salifert)
Getting 330 PAR

Heres a photo. Any advice appreciated!

 

[mediumrar3]

how long have you had the frag for? It took a LOOONG time for mine to start coloring up. and the "proper" coloration appears predominantly on new growth.

 

[bogg]

Try a little iron

 

[dvanacker]

Maybe more phosphate needed?

 

[shlap]

Thanks guys. I've had it about 4 months now. Getting next to no growth on the stick but it's encrusting pretty nicely (it encrusted even more on the side you can't see in the photo.

I add about 5ml of Aquavitro Fuel which is loaded with phosphates (more on that here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=22230200&postcount=28) I also use GFO and GAC. The GFO cleans up the phosphates added by the Fuel.

GFO is essentially iron isn't it? Would I still need to add iron somehow?

I also just started using AcroPower but haven't noticed any benefits yet.

Do these guys like to be blasted with light? I would think 330 PAR would be enough but maybe it needs more.

 

[shlap]

Meant to say that I add 5ml of Fuel / day. I also add 5ml of AcroPower/day.

 

[A.G]

Maybe more phosphate needed?

+1

had Pink with nice green TDF for months,the green was always there. Added some GFO and the green disappeared in a day.

 

[biggles]

I have about thirty frags of SSC in my display in lots of different conditions. The ones receiving low light are very green whereas those in high light have much paler green branch color, they always have lots of pink. Before you mess with your water try moving it down to 150-200 par. The frags down low in this pic would be lucky to get 150 par but the tips growing out into the brighter light are less green - hope you can see what i mean. The low frags are colored like the classic SSC look whereas the pink SSC type acro frag up above has much less green no matter where i place frags of it. If you look closely at the base of the top one you can see green on the base where it has encrusted into heavily shaded areas of rock.
A couple of weeks in lower light won't stress the acro and is easy to try before you think about adding anything to your water. Good luck mate.

 

[jroovers]

Maybe more phosphate needed?

Lol... I think Darryl meant this tongue in cheek.

I have about thirty frags of SSC in my display in lots of different conditions. The ones receiving low light are very green whereas those in high light have much paler green branch color, they always have lots of pink. Before you mess with your water try moving it down to 150-200 par. The frags down low in this pic would be lucky to get 150 par but the tips growing out into the brighter light are less green - hope you can see what i mean. The low frags are colored like the classic SSC look whereas the pink SSC type acro frag up above has much less green no matter where i place frags of it. If you look closely at the base of the top one you can see green on the base where it has encrusted into heavily shaded areas of rock.
A couple of weeks in lower light won't stress the acro and is easy to try before you think about adding anything to your water. Good luck mate.

Wow, that top one is a beauty, nice photo!

 

[shlap]

Thanks biggles. Those are some awesome looking pieces you have. I think you're probably right, but I'm hesitant to break the stick off it's nicely encrusted base It seems like it wants to encrust a good base before it grows out so if I break it off I'll basically be starting all over again right? I wish this sucker was bigger so I could just break a branch off and put it somewhere else to see how it likes the light.

 

[trueblackpercula]

Mine looked a lot like yours until I started adding nutrients into the tank. Maybe it's starved and med light seems to do the trick as stated by Biggles.

 

[Dukester]

weird, mine looks just like that when my po4 begins to creep up, its a tell tale indicator its time to change my gfo out and within a week the green comes back almost over night.

 

[biggles]

Thanks jroovers

Thanks biggles. Those are some awesome looking pieces you have. I think you're probably right, but I'm hesitant to break the stick off it's nicely encrusted base It seems like it wants to encrust a good base before it grows out so if I break it off I'll basically be starting all over again right? I wish this sucker was bigger so I could just break a branch off and put it somewhere else to see how it likes the light.

Don't break it off mate, just place a small piece of rock or whatever you want nearby that shades it a bit for a few weeks. If anything good starts to happen then you can either move the rock it's on or use a chisel to pop it off. Most times it will come away with a good portion of the encrusted base.
I always use putty and form a raised base for mounting frags if i'm unsure of the placement. That way the acro encrusts onto the putty for the first couple of months and if you change your mind you don't lose any of the encrusting when you pop the epoxy off the rocks and simply stick it down somewhere else. If it stays put it just keeps encrusting down onto the rocks giving you a very natural looking tapered base.
Just an idea for you to try with frags in future so no growth is wasted.

 

[shlap]

Thanks jroovers
Don't break it off mate, just place a small piece of rock or whatever you want nearby that shades it a bit for a few weeks. If anything good starts to happen then you can either move the rock it's on or use a chisel to pop it off. Most times it will come away with a good portion of the encrusted base.
I always use putty and form a raised base for mounting frags if i'm unsure of the placement. That way the acro encrusts onto the putty for the first couple of months and if you change your mind you don't lose any of the encrusting when you pop the epoxy off the rocks and simply stick it down somewhere else. If it stays put it just keeps encrusting down onto the rocks giving you a very natural looking tapered base.
Just an idea for you to try with frags in future so no growth is wasted.

Thanks for the advice biggles! So simple I can't believe I never thought of that; shading it with something, and using the epoxy putty platform so that I can move it after a month or two if it's not happy. Brilliant! :beer:

 

[OzarksReef]

How about flow? Mine seems to prefer fairly strong flow - it's about 12" away from the output of an mp40. The frag started out brown and encrusted, but colored up pretty quickly under high light and lots of flow.