Coral colors fading--NOT bleaching. Why?

[bluwtr]

Hey all. I've noticed something going on with my corals that I just can't figure out. I have bought frags as well as mature pieces and after a week or two in my tank the color starts to fade. Mind you it's not bleaching, because 1) they still have color--just not intense and 2) my corals are growing very well. An example is I bought a frag of GARF Purple Bonsai two weeks ago and it has grown almost 1/8" since then.

Here is my tank info:
3 T5 ATI bulbs, Hagen Marine Glo--four months old. Generating 500 PAR at the surface and 200 on the bottom sides. Run blues for 10hrs/day and the whites about 7.5/day.

pH-8.1, Ca+-420, Alk-4.2meq/L, Mg+-1365, temp-83, SG-1.027

All of the bad stuff (NO3 etc) are undetectable.

I am really trying to figure out what is going on with this. I could understand if my corals where suffering and not growing, but mine aren't. It was suggested that it could be low iodine or other trace mineral/elements.

Really would appreciate any help or suggestions.

Thanks

[Buddy08]

move them around some, could possibly be lack of flow or to much flow. also, try spot feeding them. my favias lost some color till i started spot feeding them mysis shrimp at night when feeder tentacles were presented. try that and let us know, your water sounds spot on so that should be the issue... maybe too much lighting as well. move some corals down to the bottom and let them recover if the other methods listed above dont help, then slowly acclimate them and lift them up progressively over time so the lighting isnt to intense.

[bluwtr]

Thanks for the suggestions. All of the Acros came from Zack and he is running VHO's. My corals are all within a 12" strip side to side and no deeper than 3.5"s. As far as flow, I've been adjusting my PH's to try and maximize flow without blowing tissue. My Pocillopora is a good indicator because it is larger and I can watch it's polyps move. I seem to have pretty good random flows.

[Fishfood]

I'm going to say its the T5's. I've never been happy with the color of my acros under T5's. Zach gets better color with VHO than anyone I've seen. I tend to like the color MH give acros but the heat and juice is too much. I'm running 4 T5's on an icecap ballast and 2 on a Tek ballast. I still can't get the vibrant colors I've seen in Zack and Andy's tank. I've seen some good looking acros on line under T5 but honestly i've never seen any great looking(color wise) in person.

[bluwtr]

I wonder why that is? Spectrum is spectrum, so you would think that the source wouldn't matter, as long as good PAR is being generated. Interesting.

[Fishfood]

I don't know but years ago there were threads on rc about it. I haven't kept up with it recently but I know anything I get from andy or zach is going to look more pastel than the nice vibrant color that it gets in their tanks. I've always thought the best lights for coloring up acros were MH.

[AuroraDrvr]

I don't know but years ago there were threads on rc about it. I haven't kept up with it recently but I know anything I get from andy or zach is going to look more pastel than the nice vibrant color that it gets in their tanks. I've always thought the best lights for coloring up acros were MH.

I have a strong feeling it's your bulbs.

So far the majority of my SPS are the acro's you've given me (sans a few), and I've noticed a marked difference between coloration when I first got them, to what they are now. Just for instance, the Red Planet. It was rather pale with pink coralites when I got it. Now, it's mostly solid green, and since moving it up, it's starting to turn into a full red piece (like Red Planet should be).


Another thing to mention, is nutrients, or the lack thereof... I don't run a skimmer, and only do a 20% wc about once a month. I know alot of people who overskim their SPS system complain about dulled coloration. I couldn't be happier with the colors on mine.

[Fishfood]

So you wouldn't suggest ATI bulbs at all? I also have the one KZ bulb in there but ATI have been top of the market bulbs for years. I do skim, but don't get much. I also don't do water changes often. I'm lucky if I do a water change once every 2-3 months.

[bluwtr]

Well crap, I'm really confused now, especially after speaking with an owner of am online vendor this morning. He said they use MH for growth and T5's for color. Says the grow for 2-3 months under MH then switch to T5 for coloring before selling.

I guess I skim heavy, because I have to empty 1-2 times per week and it is stinking brown crap. Also do 10% WC every other week.

[Amphiprion]

T5s are definitely bright. They can grow corals just as well as MH, but they are tricky and do strange things. Lots of bluer lamps seems to be the most common recipe with the most success with T5s, especially when dealing with the more intense lamp brands. I hate windex-blue light, which is why I eventually shied away from T5s after running them for years in a more whitish configuration--which simply bleached everything. Even when they weren't bleaching, they were pastel-colored, which I didn't like either. Granted, nutrients were a big factor in my system in that they were sparse, which is what I was shooting for. I was feeding 5-6 cubes of frozen food toward the end, not counting coral foods and phytoplankton for filter feeders. Still wasn't enough to keep them looking better.

[AuroraDrvr]

So you wouldn't suggest ATI bulbs at all? I also have the one KZ bulb in there but ATI have been top of the market bulbs for years. I do skim, but don't get much. I also don't do water changes often. I'm lucky if I do a water change once every 2-3 months.

It's one of the few differences between our tanks that would cause color to become pale/dull. I don't see what else would make such a difference.

I'll grab some pics of the Red Planet and others just to show you what I mean.

[AuroraDrvr]

Here's the Red Planet. Not going to booger up this thread with more pics. But you get the idea. Excuse the algae. PO4 reactor has been offline for a week.

[bluwtr]

Last week I changed out one of the bulbs in my set up. I was running 4 ATI's, one of which was the Purple+. I removed it and added one of the Hagen Marine-Glo's that I had. While the tank is very blue (not my fav but I can live with it) the Acros seem to have more color now--may be my imagination, but the tissue that covers the skeleton seems darker now. Could also just be that the corals are getting more adjusted to my tank. Again, like I stated, however, I am getting really good growth, so I'm all for that. Thanks for all of the suggestions and advice. I'm going to feed a little more and see if that helps as well, plus I may move my WC schedule from every two weeks to every three--maybe. That scares me! LOL!

BTW, that is great color on that Red Planet. Going to be a beautiful piece.

[Buddy08]

that red planet is awesome!