Whats the secret with purple Digi's ?

[Froggy]

Hello all, I have a standard 75 gallon mixed SPS/LPS reef and I just cannot get my purple digitata's to color up. The growth tips get purple but the rest is brownish. The rest of my SPS are coloring up i.e. pink mille, purple mille, Red caps, pink birdsnest. pink poccilipora etc.

Will only intense lighting give them the overall purple hue? I use 2 X 175 watt halides, 2 X 110 watt VHO's, and 2 X 55 watt PC's over the tank. I just switched the halides from 14 K's to 10 K's in December.

Tank specs :

Calcium 425 PPM ( Salifert )

Alkalinity 9.6 DKH ( Salifert )

Magnesium 1365 PPM ( Salifert )

Phosphate not reading on test kit ( Salifert )

Nitrate ( have not tested in some time )

39 gallon sump with a Euroreef CS 6-1 skimmer

Flow in tank is from a Mag 9.5 return, Seio 1100 and 2 maxi jet 1200's with nozzle cut off.

I guess it is possible that I have a type of Digi that is only a purple tipped variety. What do you think ? I have it high in the tank directly under the halides. would I be better off lowering it in the tank ? Any thoughts?

 

[JOSHUAB]

tagging, I'm in tyhe same boat as Froggy!!!

 

[Tabeaubi]

Maybe change out your 175's for 250-400 watters. I ran 175 for a while. Noticed a huge difference when I went to 400's.

 

[Brion~]

I've got purple digi too. THe branches and sides never really color up all that well. The Purple tip kind is normally the same as any other. A guy i know has a solid purple digi that only gets purple tips in my aquarium we've even traded off peices and they've both changed mine to purple tips his to solid purple.. only thing i know for sure that he does differently is run VHO's. Low nutrient will help bring those colors out as well. Good luck!

 

[jackson6745]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6521196#post6521196 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Brion~
. Low nutrient will help bring those colors out as well. Good luck!

This is key

 

[MiddletonMark]

I had best luck with color on the purple/brown digis when I beamed the heck out of it with light.

But as I preferred to have my highest-light areas reserved for Acropora ... I traded mine away.

 

[menard]

If you ever get a chance,place them under 10000 k 250 w. hqi or 400 w 10k or 14k mogul/ hqi.They need tons of light to stay that color.

 

[trueperc]

I second the ton of light for these I got had a purple digita and the only way it stay completely purple is to have it as the highest point right under my 400wat, I have a buddy that has it under his 250 and stil only brown with purple tips.

 

[Amphiprion]

If this is the case, then why have I seen "some" purple digitata maintain their coloration under VHO? I agree with the light, but how would it still come out under VHO.

 

[Froggy]

Thanks everyone for responding !! I have actually been pretty happy for the most part with the results I have gotten with the 175 watt halides ( although I just may not know what I am missing by not having 250's ). I guess I may not be able to color up the purple digi's like I would like under them though. The 175 watt halides may not be enough for them to color up. Even though I cannot get a phosphate reading on my test kit, I am sure they are there. I am not having any micro-algae issues but I keep pulling out macro's ( feather and grape calerpa sp. ? ) that grow from my live rock. I am sure my tank is not as nutrient poor as it really needs to be as I run a sand bed also.

Brion, very nice pic !!

 

[hollback]

My purple polyp digi stays nice and purple but it's about 12" under a 250w SE 14k Hamilton...

 

[Brion~]

Thanks But the color is still not as nice as i've seen.
Brion
PS. that pic was taken under 175's

Hollback... I'm pretty sure that one is a little different.. referred more so as German Blue polyps Digitata but lookin' good

 

[alten78]

does high light apply to all digis or just puple ones? I have an orange one that refuses to open unless its away from intense light