Struggling to get this Acro to color up :(

[Thales]

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?

You coral looks fine. I think trying to get it to look like it did in a picture is an unattainable goal because not only is the light in your tank not the same as where it came from, not only do corals color up differently in different systems, but different camera's can have different looking results.

 

[Scoobysnack77]

Are you dosing any trace elements? And what type of salt are you using?

im dosing kalk, alk,cal,aminos and potassium. i just started adding a very small dose or iron and strontium to see if that changes anything.my salt is reef chrystals. its been awhile since i checked back with everyone. this specimen is growing and has full polyp extension at night so i know its living. just can't get those colors to show with halides. so i have switched to T5's. 6bulb ati sun power with a 3blue plus, 1 aqua blue special, purple plus and a coral plus. all my sps are growing rapidly and the colors are sweet. but this stubborn rosaria is still greenish brown. not sure what else to try

 

[Scoobysnack77]

You coral looks fine. I think trying to get it to look like it did in a picture is an unattainable goal because not only is the light in your tank not the same as where it came from, not only do corals color up differently in different systems, but different camera's can have different looking results.

i agree. but at live aquaria they have 400 watt reef brite bulbs on light tracks over their corals. i have the same 20k bulbs they do but just less wattage due to a smaller tank. i have 2 ,250watt fixtures over a 75 gallon tank is as much as i can go without frying my tank. after many months nothing changed. i mean the coral they have in the photo is on the lighter side, mine is dark . i think there is a lot of zooxanthellae in the tissue from the higher nitrates i used to have back when i first got it. now my nitrates are undetectable and all of my other corals that turned brownish green have shed off the brownish tint and are showing their brilliant rainbow colors. maybe this one needs a bit more time. i was going to try zeospur2 to see if that lightens it up a bit but that stuff scares me :/

 

[greengeco82]

Not even close to true when referring to directly overhead MH.

Proof? ..... lol

 

[Piper27]

Proof? ..... lol

Tons of people run there mh bulbs for 5 or 6 hours a day only... I saw no dramatic difference running them at 5.5 hours compared to 9. Except my electric bill.

 

[fishguy597]

When I ran mh I started out at 8hrs a day. I had better colors at 6 hrs. There was a thread about this a few years ago. The zoo can only absorb so much before it gets saturated and you spin your wheels.

Live aquaria has a pretty mature system and sounds like yours is pretty young. Give it some time. Corals can take forever to recover.

 

[DogueDeBordeaux]

Well Jason fox told me the lights I have already is overkill. He said I'm frying them so I moved the fixtures up to 14inches over my tank

Did raising your lights help with any coloration in your sps?