SPS colours loosing intensity

[snaza]

Hi guys,

Im having trouble with my SPS, blues always seem to fade to purple and loose intensity. Other colours such are green, yellow, red, purple seem ok. Pinks also loose a bit of intensity too. When i get new SPS fresh from the ocean the colours are amazing. how can i keep them that intense?

NO3 - undetectable
P04 - 0,04 on hanna
Calc - 420
alk - 8-9dkh

tank is 4x2x2 and lighting is 7 bulbs IC SLR retro.

thanks

Aaron

 

[acrodave]

any sps that come from the ocean and or are pink.. need real intense light

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

every wild caught coral i seen intro into a tank always seems to loose colour...as mentioned i can only imagine it is a lighting question...even though you already have a good blast of it..

 

[rihanssu]

how high is the lights off the tank? SLRs shoudl be less then 6inches off the tank

 

[snaza]

3-4inchs

 

[tthnow]

Whats SLR?

 

[DesigDiver]

don't forget that flow is also an important factor in sps coloration not just lighting...

 

[snaza]

SLR are the ice cap individual T5 reflectors

I have 2 tanks. main tank is about 80x flow and nano is about 250x flow. Polyps are moving heaps.

 

[JAG107]

From my experience wild caught SPS have had much worse colour loss than aquacultured frags, which all of mine have kept their brilliancy, whereas my wild colonies RTN'd eventually.