Shorter photoperiod = better SPS color?

[dwillingm]

There is a lot of advice going around suggesting that decreased photoperiods will bring colors back to browned out acropora.

On one hand, this makes sense if the zooxanthellea is at such a high concentration that it is masking the color. There is evidence that this coloration is produced by the coral to protect it from UV radiation, like a sunscreen. These two ideas sort of conflict with each other. Im interested in what everyone thinks about this, and any experiences people have had with bringing colors out in SPS through adjusting the photoperiod.

I got some frags from Steve Tyree and they either browned out or lost the vibrant colors they originally had within a matter of days. My lighting is the last thing left I can think of that may have caused this. My phosphates are undetectable, I have about 1ppm of Nitrate. Ph, Ca, and KH are at or slightly above NSW. I feed large amounts (about 1 TB) of Eric B's. coral food recipe everynight, skim the tank heavily and constantly use activated carbon. I have a 400 watt 20k XM bulb about 8 inches off the top of the water, running 10 hours a day. Most of the SPS are about 1 foot under water. Tank is turned over about 30-35x per hour. The only other issue I have found is that my salinity is high, around 1.027-1.028 (my hydrometer was giving inaccurate readings when compared to a refractometer). The salinity issue will be fixed over the next several days.

Sorry for the long post.. My main questions are:

Does anyone have any input regarding photoperiod and SPS coloration?

Should I decrease my photoperiod and if so by how much. Raising the light is not an option with my setup. If I switch from an XM 20k to an XM 10k, should I decrease it even more?

How long should I wait before deciding if lighting adjustments are having an effect?

Could the high salinity somehow be contributing to this browing out?

Thanks!

 

[Horace]

I dont think you can expect to get better colors (brown to bright) if you decrease your lights. Typically brown colors are caused by nutrients, not light. It is often recommended to reduce light if your corals are light in color or look bleached.

 

[dwillingm]

Phosphate is undetectable, and nitrate is 1ppm. I cant really get those nutrients down any lower.

I did notice that the Bali Tri Color began to brown on the side facing the light first, then eventually the entire frag browned out within a week.

 

[carib]

What kind of ballast are you runing 20k XM's.I will try a little higher PAR bulb.Do you have any algea issues?

 

[zapata41]

i think what he mean by saying nutrient issues is a lack there of. most ppl that run heavily skimmed tank dont have much in the water column for the sps. thus why ppl feed super heavy and or add suppl. for the corals. i noticed a large improvement with the PE on my sps when i started dosing coral-vite from kent. it isnt really anything special, just stuff that i wasnt adding by my normal feedings.

also it is true with the photoperiod thing, with lessening it helps the color, but it is usualy only when ppl swith to BB tanks, the water is soo much cleaner and clearer that the lights penetrates better and thus starts to bleech the sps, so ppl drop the photoperiod to stop the bleeching


Tim

 

[dwillingm]

Carib: I am running the XM bulb on a magnetic industrial ballast. I am considering switching to an XM 10K, a higher PAR Bulb. No algae issues at all, other then a very light coating on the acrylic that needs to be cleaned once a week.

Horace: Did you mean excess nutrients or lack of nutrients may be causing my problem.

Zapata: About 2 weeks ago, I started turning off the skimmer from 8pm to 1am, and feed the tank pretty heavily at around 8-9 pm. SHould I push the feeding and back off the skimming until it gets to the point where I detect phosphate and start growing more microalgae? Other then PE, did the Coral-vite help with coloration?

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[zapata41]

i dont know about shutting the skimmer off. i leave my skimmer running 24/7. i did notice some deeper color from the corals. i have a digi that would get nice and deep purple from the brown is usually is. then i stopped adding the coral vite stuff and it browned up a bit. now i am back adding it and will see if it colors back up

Tim

 

[dwillingm]

I have been doing 20% water changes every 2 weeks with IO. This week I am swithcing to TMP (i will use 50% IO and 50% TMP for about a month to adapt slowly to the new salt).

Would weekly 10% water changes with this better brand of salt be an equivalent substitute for using Coral-Vite? I am trying to stick to the rule of dont add it if you dont test for it.

 

[fishdoc11]

I would get the salinity straightened out and see what happens. It's very common for frags to brown out during the stress of shipping and for them to take several weeks to start to get their color back. JMO but I don't think feeding that much is necessary. I don't feed anything particularly for the corals FWIW. Maybe cut back to twice a week.
JMO, Chris

 

[zapata41]

yeah i dont really add anything i cant test for but i did try this for the heck of it and havent noticed anythign bad yet. i dont know if the new salt will help any as i have used oceanic for a while now but did give IO a try and saw no diference what so ever.

most of the corals that i see changes in have been in the tank for 6-12mo so acclimation is ruled out

Tim

 

[kozmo02]

we were running 4 XM 10k's in LA3 minis over our 180 and the coral colors were faded out I think the lighting was just too intense, cut the lighting back to 7 hours and the results were tremendous, the colors have changed dramatically and we are even considering going down to 6 hours as well. The XM 10k's are VERY powerful especially in LA3's.

 

[zapata41]

yeah la3's do are great job for reflecting stuff. i run two of the full size ones with 20k 400w bulbs over my 180 with a 7hr photoperiod, was 6 hrs but i upped it today

Tim

 

[carib]

Change from 20k XM to 10k XM is huge.I will cut photoperiod into1/2,and slowly bring up[month] I have to agree with Chris
1-salinity straightened 2-If those are new additions give some time[very common ] If you're changing salt please test your new mixture before adding to your tank.TMPro is very high KH/ca.,,Go easy on any kind of change.

 

[zapata41]

and also dont change a bunch of stuff at once, you will have some problems then. also instead of dropping the photoperiod in 1/2 when switching lights, acclimate them the right was and add a few layers of window screen ontop of the tank, then remove a layer like once a week. this is the best method since shortening the period just give them a blast of light for a little while while the screen actually reduces the amount of light they get and slowly inscreases it.

Tim

 

[dwillingm]

I am not familiar with LA3. Is that a reflector?

What is a good photoperiod for a single 400 watt XM bulb over a 95 gallon corner tank? It sounds like maybe the 10 hours i have been running my 20k is too long.

Once the coral is acclimated to the new 10k, should i use a shorter photoperiod then I would use with the 20k?

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[dwillingm]

When people refer to coral as "fading out" from too much light, Is this something different then the corals turning brown?

 

[samsfishnchips]

dwillingm,

LA3 is a reflector, luminarc

brown is brown

"fading out" example,

coral is deep blue, "fading out" means is now sky blue or less

sam

 

[Amphiprion]

When a particular system runs incredibly low on various needed nutrients, extra photoperiod is deleterious. Any photosythetic organism reaches a saturation point for a given amount of nutrients--it wont help to drive photosythesis beyond this point. The consequent oxidative damage is what causes the lightening of colors, etc. So if you have incredibly low nutrients, a shorter photoperiod MAY be useful.

 

[G-money]

Re: Shorter photoperiod = better SPS color?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7359392#post7359392 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dwillingm
On one hand, this makes sense if the zooxanthellea is at such a high concentration that it is masking the color. There is evidence that this coloration is produced by the coral to protect it from UV radiation, like a sunscreen. These two ideas sort of conflict with each other. Im interested in what everyone thinks about this, and any experiences people have had with bringing colors out in SPS through adjusting the photoperiod.

Lower photoperiod won't decrease zoox numbers. It will likely increase them. The MAA's (the sunscreen you're referring to) are thought to be produced by zoox then translocated to the coral. They are largely transparent. Symbionts (zoox) are responsible for most all of the color you see in a coral - which is why a coral turns white when it bleaches and the zoox leave. Keep in mind that any given coral can have multiple different types of symbionts in it at any given time - though it seems that the brown ones seem to be the best at multiplying . It could indeed be that the colors are produced by zoox under a certain range of lighting conditions - less makes them brown and more decreases the zoox numbers to the point where the coral looks light pastel. Not all color is zoox, thugh. But ask yourself why a Tubastrea (nonphotosynthetic) won't pale or intensify regardless of the light it's in - at least IME.

Simply putting a coral in a different system can completely alter the proportions and populations of zoox in the coral to the extent where a beautiful coral can go brown in your tank - and never "turn back".

Basically, it's not as simple as the amount of light it's getting.

 

[elephen]

What about nutrients you CANT detect?