Struggling to get this Acro to color up :(

[Scoobysnack77]

I bought this coral back in may of last year and its an acropora rosaria. I can't for the life of me get it to color up the way live aquaria did before they mailed it to me.The before pic is purple and teal, when i got it it was dark green and has remained that color since I've had it. Ive kept my parameters where they need to be and I've never missed a weekly water change. Ill add the pics and what I'm running right now equipment and test wise as well as a couple of pic so you can see the before and after.I have a year old 75 gallon tank with a pair of 250watt metal halide fixtures with 20k bulbs. my ALK is 9.6,CAL 435, MAG 1400, nitrates 0ppm, phosphates 0ppm. Potassium 400. Im feeding my fish 3 times daily (4 small fish)and I'm target feeding my corals every other day with a homemade puree of oyster,clam,mussel and shrimp. i use a food processor to grind it all up to almost liquid before feeding. i also add phytoplankton to my tank every other day. i have a fuge with tons of chaeto growing in it and a tunze protein skimmer. i recently stopped using my carbon / gfo reactor because since I'm getting no phosphate and nitrate readings in my test results so i don't think i need it yet. for flow i have an mp40 and an mp10. where do you think I'm going wrong?

 

[Ssteve]

Try target feeding phytofeast nightly after lights out and cut back your photoperiod like an hour. I just swapped tanks and lights and had stuff bleach out, and did just that and colors are great now.

 

[souk]

Depending on your test kit, your nitrates and phosphate are too low. Fish poo is the only thing I feed my sps, sometimes I'll add a few drops of AA.

 

[barnett8]

Could it be the color temperature of your bulbs vs liveaquaria's? IIRC they use 20k's though...

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

Its because they, with every other vendor, use photoshop. You may never get the coral you bought to look like the picture. Very nice piece you have there.

 

[trueblackpercula]

First let me tell you it's an amazing piece. Second I don't know if it the angle but from the looks of your back glass it appears to have algea growing. This may or may not be masking your true Po4 and nitrate reading.

Also feeding your Sps in my book is always a good thing if done correctly with the correct foods. Also how much light are you giving as this acro from what I have seen likes lower the normal light. Try moving it downwards and feeding your spa more and see how that goes for now.
Michael

I also use the same food to feed my Sps as you do pappone is the best.

 

[honkit]

Is this coral of Fiji, Tonga or an Australian origin?

 

[Scoobysnack77]

I'm currently adding 2 tablespoons of live phytoplankton every other night. is that the same thing as phytofeast? and my metal halides are on 6 hours a day. should i still set my lights back to 5 hours a day?

 

[Scoobysnack77]

Could it be the color temperature of your bulbs vs liveaquaria's? IIRC they use 20k's though...

I'm using 20k bulbs like live aquaria was. but they did say they use 400 watt bulbs. but my tank is only a 75 gallon tank so i can't use more than a pair of 250 watt fixtures. if i use 400watt lights ill fry my tank

 

[Scoobysnack77]

Its because they, with every other vendor, use photoshop. You may never get the coral you bought to look like the picture. Very nice piece you have there.

thank you well i talked to mike from aquarium specialties and he said he had an acropora rosaria as well. he showed me a picture of it and it was teal and purple. so it has to be possible.

 

[Scoobysnack77]

First let me tell you it's an amazing piece. Second I don't know if it the angle but from the looks of your back glass it appears to have algea growing. This may or may not be masking your true Po4 and nitrate reading.

Also feeding your Sps in my book is always a good thing if done correctly with the correct foods. Also how much light are you giving as this acro from what I have seen likes lower the normal light. Try moving it downwards and feeding your spa more and see how that goes for now.
Michael

I also use the same food to feed my Sps as you do pappone is the best.

thank you i love this piece too and it definitely wasn't on the cheaper side . yes I've been battling hair algae lately but so far its getting better with my new kicking CUC. i think i need to buy a few more fish cuz i only have 4 relatively small fish in the tank. so i think the nitrates from the very little fish i have is getting sucked up by the algae in my tank and my huge full of cheato. i think I'm gonna try removing half of the chaeto from my fuge in addition to getting more fish so i can try to get my first nitrate and phosphate reading when i test

 

[Scoobysnack77]

Is this coral of Fiji, Tonga or an Australian origin?

Australian

 

[Scoobysnack77]

First let me tell you it's an amazing piece. Second I don't know if it the angle but from the looks of your back glass it appears to have algea growing. This may or may not be masking your true Po4 and nitrate reading.

Also feeding your Sps in my book is always a good thing if done correctly with the correct foods. Also how much light are you giving as this acro from what I have seen likes lower the normal light. Try moving it downwards and feeding your spa more and see how that goes for now.
Michael

I also use the same food to feed my Sps as you do pappone is the best.

my 250watt metal halides are on 6 hours a day. 20k bulbs

 

[brad_G]

I'm in the same situation but I'm afraid if I add fish and feed more my ha will take off! I also just upgraded my cuc a few weeks back and they are making headway but I sure would hate to set em back 6 months by fueling algae growth. Do you have any plan to limit algae?

 

[Scoobysnack77]

I'm in the same situation but I'm afraid if I add fish and feed more my ha will take off! I also just upgraded my cuc a few weeks back and they are making headway but I sure would hate to set em back 6 months by fueling algae growth. Do you have any plan to limit algae?

Well the algae isn't really out of control . i can remove most of it myself and i don't want to do that because my 4 new emerald crabs and 16 scarlett leg hermits are mowing through it. i also wanna leave a small amout for the kole tang i wanna get to eat if it desires. i have a carbon/ GFO reactor that i stopped using for the time being. but if algae comes back ill just bring it back online i guess.

 

[honkit]

Australian

South Pacific SPS corals are more finicky than their Indonesian cousins.

This piece needs high light (place at or near the top) in the bluer spectrum (which you already have), stable water parameters, clean water and strong random flow the usual stuff except this needs to be bumped a notch or two higher compared to if you are keeping Indonesian sps corals.

Give it around 3-4 weeks ensuring the above are met and let us know of any improvements.

 

[Scoobysnack77]

South Pacific SPS corals are more finicky than their Indonesian cousins.

This piece needs high light (place at or near the top) in the bluer spectrum (which you already have), stable water parameters, clean water and strong random flow the usual stuff except this needs to be bumped a notch or two higher compared to if you are keeping Indonesian sps corals.

Give it around 3-4 weeks ensuring the above are met and let us know of any improvements.

I have moved it to the highest spot in the tank and its getting good flow. i do weekly water changes of 10%. i skipped my water change this week and removed half the chaeto out of my fuge to see if i can get a nitrate and phosphate reading. so far since I've had my tank I've never have either of them show up in my tests. if that doesn't work I'm gonna try to add a couple more fish. I'm currently feeding the 4 fish i have 3 times a day to try to get more waste out of them. my gut feeling is that there isn't enough nutrient getting to my corals due to pesky hair algae. but by CUC has been reinforced and doing a great job keeping the HA under control. u think I'm missing strontium or some thing like that ya think? i have a dosing pump keeping my alk,cal and mag in range. and that has been successful so far with using B-ionic dosing fluid. it has all the uncommon stuff like boron, iron , strontium ect ect. but there might not be enough. I'm just brainstorming cuz i want my corals to be happy and not pale like most of my SPS have become

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

It very well can be lack of nutrient. my tank had 0 nitrate for the first year until I moved it. after the move nitrate went to 0.5 and I saw corals that were always pale color up in 2 weeks.

NO³ @ 0

NO³ @ 0.5

 

[Scoobysnack77]

Thank u Pete . I'm buying a few more fish this week to get a bit more nitrate production. This is exactly what is goin on with my corals

 

[Scoobysnack77]

How to you all feel about trying reef snow? Live aquaria said to try it before buying new fish.