sps colour
- Thread starter wez
- Start date
MammothReefer
Active member
Shhh, I blame the transition from Canadian to American public school systems. Yup that's gotta be it. My bad grammar has nothing to do with the countless hour of NES I played in grade school.. Nope not at al....ooh look something shiny.
allsps40
New member
I know its English I was just being funny. I know it was no very funny but hey.
Alex T.
Active member
It's all good. No harm done right?
Back to the question from the OP though. I've found that while calcium and magnesium can fluctuate within the desired range, only alkalinity swings have the most negative impact on coral color and health.
This is of course assuming that one's nitrates and phosphates are already at almost undetectable levels
Back to the question from the OP though. I've found that while calcium and magnesium can fluctuate within the desired range, only alkalinity swings have the most negative impact on coral color and health.
This is of course assuming that one's nitrates and phosphates are already at almost undetectable levels
Allmost
New member
I speak immigrant so both are correct to me 
Besides stability, and good water po4 and no3, i'd have to say what the animal eats matters most on it's coloration. For example the bacteria in reef which are one of the food sources for sps consume certain elements and get eaten by sps, and sps colors up according to what they ate, I dose iron for bacteria to eat, which in turn get eaten by corals, and this has helped pop my greens, same goes for iodine and blues... ( guess iron for example makes certain proteins in bacteria, which can give off color of green when excited by lighting it ...)
Another good food source for corals is fish poop! So I feed my fish high protein foods, enriched with vitamins and ...
jME
Besides stability, and good water po4 and no3, i'd have to say what the animal eats matters most on it's coloration. For example the bacteria in reef which are one of the food sources for sps consume certain elements and get eaten by sps, and sps colors up according to what they ate, I dose iron for bacteria to eat, which in turn get eaten by corals, and this has helped pop my greens, same goes for iodine and blues... ( guess iron for example makes certain proteins in bacteria, which can give off color of green when excited by lighting it ...)
Another good food source for corals is fish poop! So I feed my fish high protein foods, enriched with vitamins and ...
jME
wez
New member
i actually added supplemental light to my 2x150 sunpod. It consisted of a retro fit t5 fixture with an actinic and fiji purple bulb and after two weeks they're already getting a much deeper color (colour). Thats what worked for mine
yeah i also just added 2 new actinic lamps recently, thanks for the tip.
Alex T.
Active member
A while back I really wanted my pink birdsnest and red tabling acro to "pop" so I removed my VHO actinic supplements to the 400 Watt Radiums that I run and installed 2 T5 ATI Blue Bulbs and 2 ATI Purple Plus bulbs. The reds popped but right afterward some of my greens started to suffer and then I got a bit of haor algae from the lighting switch. I went back to the VHO actinics and everything looks better again.
Supplementing halides is tricky. They're powerful bulbs and the added par from some of these high powered T5 bulbs may not be the wisest supplement to an already powerful full spectrum halide.
Halides, actinics and patience seem to work best IMO.
Supplementing halides is tricky. They're powerful bulbs and the added par from some of these high powered T5 bulbs may not be the wisest supplement to an already powerful full spectrum halide.
Halides, actinics and patience seem to work best IMO.
NeveroddoreveN
New member
To keep pernickety acros from turning grey, some zeo heads that add umph to their colours by dosing nitre (KNO3) lol
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
What is your current lighting? In my last tank, with 150w halide over a 28G tank, I had good growth, great polyp extension, but brown corals.
In my new tank which is almost double the size, and with 180watts of T5/LED (5x24watt T5 + 60watts Cree LED), I am getting colour that makes my tank look like its running on Zeovit!
To get the best colour out of your corals you need:
1. Stability of water chemistry (most important being Alk + Phosphates) I have invested in an automatic doser and dose two part Ca+Alk, and kalk as well.
2. Adequate lighting.
3. Adequate water flow.
4. Water clarity.
In 1, Alk needs to be very stable. Phosphates need to be very low. Some nitrates is quite fine. Ca + Mg should be around NSW levels and should not deviate or fluctuate too much.
In 4, if your water is yellowed slightly, the susbstances causing the yellowing will prevent some of the light reaching your corals. To counter yellowing either use carbon or an ozoniser. I run an Ozoniser every few days as required. I have noticed improved colouration within a few days of starting to use the Ozoniser. The water has a crystal clear appearance after running ozone for a couple of hours.
In my new tank which is almost double the size, and with 180watts of T5/LED (5x24watt T5 + 60watts Cree LED), I am getting colour that makes my tank look like its running on Zeovit!
To get the best colour out of your corals you need:
1. Stability of water chemistry (most important being Alk + Phosphates) I have invested in an automatic doser and dose two part Ca+Alk, and kalk as well.
2. Adequate lighting.
3. Adequate water flow.
4. Water clarity.
In 1, Alk needs to be very stable. Phosphates need to be very low. Some nitrates is quite fine. Ca + Mg should be around NSW levels and should not deviate or fluctuate too much.
In 4, if your water is yellowed slightly, the susbstances causing the yellowing will prevent some of the light reaching your corals. To counter yellowing either use carbon or an ozoniser. I run an Ozoniser every few days as required. I have noticed improved colouration within a few days of starting to use the Ozoniser. The water has a crystal clear appearance after running ozone for a couple of hours.
Last edited:
wez
New member
Last edited:
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
You have plenty of light. Work hard at getting your tank stable in terms of alk, ca etc. Make sure you carry out at least 10% weekly water changes. Stop messing inside the tank (if you are etc). Leave the tank alone so that the critter inside can adjust and get used to the environment. Also ensure that your phosphates are less than 0.03ppm etc. If you follow this, in a couple of months those corals should colour up.
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