Acro Color, am I too Impatient???

[HotRocks]

In what way? More of each? Less of one, more of the other? Can you elaborate a bit?

I struggle with this part of keeping SPS, because there isn't a solid answer. The above link says reduce N+P for yellow coloration. When my yellow corals (WWC Afterparty, Pink Floyd) dumped their yellow I had very low nutrients. They are very slowly coming back now that I have nutrients available. Then I have the BC Mr. Nuetron that has all the yellow and then some! It looks the same as the day it arrived, it is also growing well and the color hasn't changed one bit. It has been through the same conditions/changes that all of my other corals have been through. From undetectable N+P to now 5ppm N and .05ppm P. After reading some of the above posts it appears that I am just not patient enough. A negative change can affect the corals in a matter of days where it can take several months for the rebound once the proper correction is made.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

When’s the last time you sent out a triton test? Possibly a trace deficiency. But this is coming from a guy with a grey WD... lol

You too? My WD isn’t playing nice.

 

[Hemmdog]

You too? My WD isn’t playing nice.

It’s on the mend I think, it’s getting more greyish blue now, polyps are turning bright green from brown. I have hope, lol. I’ve been dosing more iodine and potassium than I was previously. I need to send out a triton test one of these days..

 

[LARedstickreefer]

It’s on the mend I think, it’s getting more greyish blue now, polyps are turning bright green from brown. I have hope, lol. I’ve been dosing more iodine and potassium than I was previously. I need to send out a triton test one of these days..

I have been suspecting a potassium issue too. Have a test and supplement arriving today.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Great discussion!

 

[JLynn]

Well I don't know if you follow the BRS videos, but according to their investigations, dosing amino acids, raising pH, and raising Cal/Alk/Mag all result in noticeable improvements to the coloration of most corals. Their results aren't definitive, of course! But it's something you could try (very, very, very slowly, in the case of raising parameters). Dosing amino acids is something you could try immediately.

 

[Cheche]

All your numbers look good .. and if it is only one acropora the you want to adjust the others my suffer.. I will said patience and ofc flow a lot of flow for acros ..

 

[HotRocks]

Well I don't know if you follow the BRS videos, but according to their investigations, dosing amino acids, raising pH, and raising Cal/Alk/Mag all result in noticeable improvements to the coloration of most corals. Their results aren't definitive, of course! But it's something you could try (very, very, very slowly, in the case of raising parameters). Dosing amino acids is something you could try immediately.

I have seen all of the BRS videos. For sure. I do have decent pH in the 8.2 range, I also have acropower. The last time I dosed I got some cyano flaring up so I'm a bit apt to go for it again. Might try a small dose and see if I can work my way up to recommend amount. Thank you for the insight!

 

[HotRocks]

All your numbers look good .. and if it is only one acropora the you want to adjust the others my suffer.. I will said patience and ofc flow a lot of flow for acros ..

Yes I'm blasting the flow, no problems there

 

[JLynn]

I have seen all of the BRS videos. For sure. I do have decent pH in the 8.2 range, I also have acropower. The last time I dosed I got some cyano flaring up so I'm a bit apt to go for it again. Might try a small dose and see if I can work my way up to recommend amount. Thank you for the insight!

Were you broadcast dosing? I looked at the Brightwell amino acid supplement after watching the video on it and their instructions recommend target feeding it. Maybe if you try that, more of the nutrients will go straight to corals instead of being available for algae to take advantage of? Not sure how fast a coral uptakes amino acids... could be total BS. But it's a tweak you could make to your approach with that. I totally sympathize with the fear of cyano - I'm dealing with it right now, and it's the worst! Anyways, good luck!

 

[HotRocks]

Were you broadcast dosing? I looked at the Brightwell amino acid supplement after watching the video on it and their instructions recommend target feeding it. Maybe if you try that, more of the nutrients will go straight to corals instead of being available for algae to take advantage of? Not sure how fast a coral uptakes amino acids... could be total crap. But it's a tweak you could make to your approach with that. I totally sympathize with the fear of cyano - I'm dealing with it right now, and it's the worst! Anyways, good luck!

Yes I just have my bottle of acro power hooked up to my GHL doser. I also thought maybe I should order the Brightwell product and give it a shot (After I watched the BRS Video). I test my ALK nightly so it wouldn't be any big deal to dose that product manually since it seems to be very concentrated.

I still rack my brain all the time on this type of thing because you read threads all the time where people have absolutely stunning SPS dom reefs and don't dose any additives etc. etc. This is largely why keeping SPS/Acros is such a challenge and I never really understood (and still don't) the patience factor until I dove into the world of keeping SPS.

I mean If I have a sick fish on my hands, its easy, dose this, dose that, whatever and problem solved Who needs patience!!!

 

[JLynn]

Yes I just have my bottle of acro power hooked up to my GHL doser. I also thought maybe I should order the Brightwell product and give it a shot (After I watched the BRS Video). I test my ALK nightly so it wouldn't be any big deal to dose that product manually since it seems to be very concentrated.

I still rack my brain all the time on this type of thing because you read threads all the time where people have absolutely stunning SPS dom reefs and don't dose any additives etc. etc. This is largely why keeping SPS/Acros is such a challenge and I never really understood (and still don't) the patience factor until I dove into the world of keeping SPS.

I mean If I have a sick fish on my hands, its easy, dose this, dose that, whatever and problem solved Who needs patience!!!

Haha. Yeah, there's just so much we don't know about corals. Fish are definitely easier to deal with.

 

[Z3speed4me]

I’m starting to wonder if iron is my issue...

I receive some frags that look like a crayola box when placed in the tank only to just be pure green for me 3-4 months later. They grow well just I lose all the cool shades of red, orange, yellow...

I’d actually feel a lot better if they showed up looking boring and it took time to brighten up!!

 

[HotRocks]

Haha. Yeah, there's just so much we don't know about corals. Fish are definitely easier to deal with.

You definitely have that right

 

[Mal11224]

I think patience goes a long way. Each system is different from the rock scape, power heads, lighting and filtration. I think as a tank matures it becomes easier to keep acros as long as you find the right stability to keep them happy. When I had GHA in my tank, I noticed my acros paling and losing color and I figured it was because the GHA absorbed the nutrients before the corals can. It took a while but I got rid of it and resumed normalcy in my tank and everything started coloring up and looked great. I used brightwell aminos as well. I have a fudge and stopped using my reactor for gfo. Played with my flow a little. I think all of this had a part to play in getting my acros looking better. The lack of nutrients due to GHA might have been the biggest culprit.

I just think every tank is capable of producing great corals, just have to get the important things right (lighting, nutrients, flow, etc) at the same time. this is the hard part.

 

[HotRocks]

I think patience goes a long way. Each system is different from the rock scape, power heads, lighting and filtration. I think as a tank matures it becomes easier to keep acros as long as you find the right stability to keep them happy. When I had GHA in my tank, I noticed my acros paling and losing color and I figured it was because the GHA absorbed the nutrients before the corals can. It took a while but I got rid of it and resumed normalcy in my tank and everything started coloring up and looked great. I used brightwell aminos as well. I have a fudge and stopped using my reactor for gfo. Played with my flow a little. I think all of this had a part to play in getting my acros looking better. The lack of nutrients due to GHA might have been the biggest culprit.

I just think every tank is capable of producing great corals, just have to get the important things right (lighting, nutrients, flow, etc) at the same time. this is the hard part.

Many very valid points you make, I think my largest problem was trying to keep nutrients low. I also have seen huge improvements by cutting the fuge photoperiod way back and chucking the phosphate removal media.

Several of the OGs keep nutrients extremely high, now I don't know that that is the best for someone with a young tank looking for maximum growth with some good color along the way, but I've been wrong more than once!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Haha. Yeah, there's just so much we don't know about corals. Fish are definitely easier to deal with.

#truth

 

[BCSreef]

Many very valid points you make, I think my largest problem was trying to keep nutrients low. I also have seen huge improvements by cutting the fuge photoperiod way back and chucking the phosphate removal media.

Several of the OGs keep nutrients extremely high, now I don't know that that is the best for someone with a young tank looking for maximum growth with some good color along the way, but I've been wrong more than once!

I've been following and my experience is similar. Undetectable nitrate and dull colors. I always had phosphate at about 50-200 ppb. I started dosing NaNO3 and colors came back in a month or so.

 

[HotRocks]

I've been following and my experience is similar. Undetectable nitrate and dull colors. I always had phosphate at about 50-200 ppb. I started dosing NaNO3 and colors came back in a month or so.

Seems to be a pretty common occurrence.

 

[bhuyett]

I think you said you have a specific Acro that has been place in two area's of your tank. One up high and one down low? Which of the two has more color or any yellow pigmentation?

What I've noticed with my RD Tweety Bird, is that if you don't have enough light on it. It likes to turn Green, as soon as you put it back where it is getting +400PAR the yellow comes back and does well. However my Pink Lemonade seemed to like more of the 250-300 PAR range. But it didn't start to color up until it became a colony. Again that took time, and patience.