SPS colors in general seem pale....??

[110galreef]

most, but not all...

Params:
pH 8.00's -8.10's
CAL: 430
ALK 8.0
MG:1360
Nitrate: 0
PO4: .02-.03 hanna checker
salinity 34.5ppt
Temp stead 78-78.5

I have a few nice ones still that are very nice and even have a tyree setosa that has great pink/red coloring which I'd imagine would be harder to get good color. I have a green polyp birdsnest that has great color polyps too. I also seem to have quite a bit of growth tips, but not much base encrusting too overall on my frags

I had a green slimer that is somewhat fading, red planet (frag up high is very pale & small colony mid tank is just more of a dark purple now. I have a cali tort lg frag, that was real nice color that to has faded quite a bit. Many others in general are light brown bodies, but colored tips. I had a yellow acro too that was bright flourecent yellow & now is rather pale as well?

Overall polyp ext seems good, color ok.......so now what?

I have been skimming wet as well. Lights are a bit inadequete w/ a 2-250w MH fixture and 2 54w T-5's....., but all the sps are cenetered under the MH's & mid to top of the tank. will be upgrading to individual reflectors & SE 250w MH's & VHO's.....

Ideas?? I was running bio pellets for a few months & pulled them 2 weeks back to see if it would help and thus far no change.

Fish load moderate: 3 sm/med tangs, 2 clowns, 5 chromis, coral beauty, lawn mower blenny, firefish, w/ light feedings daily.
Run ROX .08 ~ 2cups swapped out 2-3 weeks. Decent random flow from CLS & OM 4 way as well.

 

[moo0o]

I would do ONE of two things: feed more or turn off the MH an hour earlier.

 

[110galreef]

really, too much light you think?

T-5' are on 12:30-10pm
MH's are on 2:30-9:15

 

[moo0o]

I think its either you feed too little or you're leaving your lights on for too long. Whats your photoperiod?

 

[110galreef]

just edited above...

you beat me to it

T-5' are on 12:30-10pm
MH's are on 2:30-9:15

 

[moo0o]

From my experience:

Pale corals =
too much light / nutrient poor water

Brown corals =
not enough light / nutrient rich water

Carbon doesn't need to be changed so often. I'm using the marineland black diamond carbon [200ml of it] and I've kept it in a filter bag in my sump for about 1-2 months now. When I do my water change, I notice the water leaving the tank is just as clear [no yellow coloration] as the water going out of the tank which leads me to believe its still working fine. I would suggest that you only change carbon maybe just once a month and see what happens.

I would feed a little more for 2 weeks and see what happens to your coral. However bleached corals tend to take awhile to recover. I'm a little concerned though about giving you this advice as it seems like you have browned out corals too! ZZZ. Are these corals less towards the center of the bulb?

 

[110galreef]

I do still have a bunch of frag 15 or so & a few colonies ~5 that I recieved pretty browned out in my DT They are lightening (less brown) up & tip at least coloring up. But they seem to have stalled. Had the frags now about 2 months.

I have a 40g frag tank, that has like 50 frags in it, under a single 250w MH for about 6 hrs a day. Most of these were once browned out quite a bit and are still a light brown, but most have colored tips........not all.

The browned out ones, many are in my DT pretty much under my MH's. Nothing is bleached, just fading or pale.

So does this change anything>.... haha...Ahhhh....

 

[110galreef]

test show low nutrients in water, flow is adequete, params are stable,.....
I have no algae issues, acrylic forms a light haze to clean every 4-5 days....

so maybe crappy bulbs? need to feed corals something other than fish food & poo?

 

[kurtkob]

test show low nutrients in water, flow is adequete, params are stable,.....
I have no algae issues, acrylic forms a light haze to clean every 4-5 days....

so maybe crappy bulbs? need to feed corals something other than fish food & poo?

I have the same problem as you, my sps are pale ... when you say feed more ... you mean rotifer, ciclopeeze, microplankton, artemia and things like this? or ... ???

 

[smtank]

From my experience:

Pale corals =
too much light / nutrient poor water

Brown corals =
not enough light / nutrient rich water

Carbon doesn't need to be changed so often. I'm using the marineland black diamond carbon [200ml of it] and I've kept it in a filter bag in my sump for about 1-2 months now. When I do my water change, I notice the water leaving the tank is just as clear [no yellow coloration] as the water going out of the tank which leads me to believe its still working fine. I would suggest that you only change carbon maybe just once a month and see what happens.

I would feed a little more for 2 weeks and see what happens to your coral. However bleached corals tend to take awhile to recover. I'm a little concerned though about giving you this advice as it seems like you have browned out corals too! ZZZ. Are these corals less towards the center of the bulb?

+1

And perhaps post an image of your sps.

 

[evsalty]

Have you looked for any pests like AEFW and Redbugs? Just a thought.

 

[javajaws]

I'm confused...do you or do you not have browned out corals or just pale ones or both? Do you have a FTS to share? Do you have a sand bed or are you BB? How long has it been since you changed your MH bulbs? Which bulbs are you running?

I'm leaning toward thinking you don't have enough polution...add more fish.

 

[110galreef]

Have you looked for any pests like AEFW and Redbugs? Just a thought.

Yeah, i will look closer, but don't see anything or anything that looks like bite marks too.

 

[110galreef]

I'm confused...do you or do you not have browned out corals or just pale ones or both? Do you have a FTS to share? Do you have a sand bed or are you BB? How long has it been since you changed your MH bulbs? Which bulbs are you running?

I'm leaning toward thinking you don't have enough polution...add more fish.

I seem to have both. Ones that I recieved that were nice colored, have seem to have faded. most but not all.

many that i aquired mostly browned out, seem to have gotten a lighter shade of brown, yet tips are starting to color up, but not super vivid. Seem to have stalled in coloring up.

The bulbs are only about 4 months old. The T-5 are probably about 8 mos old. I have a shallow sand bed. of only ~3/4" to cover the bottom of which i vac w/ WC's.

 

[110galreef]

Ok here are some that have pretty good color....or almost there. Hard to get good pics....point & shoot camera.

 

[110galreef]

here are a few that have fadded. The red planet frag in first pic is near top of tank & more faded, while the small red planet colony in 3rd pic is more dark purple/brownish and is mid level in tank.
The last pic is hard to see, but has faint color left and was a yellow with grenish hint.

 

[SPSEMPIRE]

running GFO?

 

[110galreef]

running GFO?

Nope. I am just running carbon. I want to see if simple wet skimming and WC's will keep nitrates and PO4 near 0 before add the GFO.

I was running bio pellets and Nitrates stayed at 0 & PO4 was avg like .02-.03. I pulled the biopellets 2 weeks ago as I though these may have had a bit to do w/ lack of color. But I don't think I was really ULNS based on some PO4 readings.

I will double check PO4 & nitrates in a few days & see if it has crept up or still the same. Also will do a 25g WC this weekend.

 

[SPSEMPIRE]

When I tried to run some np biopellets, my acros started to do the same thing. If that is the case in your situations, doing a couple of water changes like you mentioned will help out a whole lot.

 

[110galreef]

how long till they came back in color? It has been only 10 days since they were pulled? They were only in for about 2.5 months & I ran 1/2 the recomened amount. Also my params were good prior to adding them.
3-4 weeks? months??