Green Hammer Fading Over the Past Few Months

[Steve2020]

A couple months ago my Green Hammer ( one of my first corals ) started to fade in color with less polyp extension after 3yrs of being in the tank. The only change I can think of is I removed my Donavan's Nitrate Destroyer and restarted my 30gal external refugium approx 5mo ago. I am having to dose PO4 to maintain a PO4 of 0.05-0.07ppm. NO3 was at 16.6ppm and brought it down slowly ( approx 1ppm/wk ) and is now very stable at 9.9-10ppm over the past month. I also dose 15ml of DIY NoPox for a 285gal total water volume which is a small amount but have been doing that for a few years. Yesterday I removed the Hammer and did a Coral RX dip for 5min and no bugs noticed. I ended up fragging the Hammer and did a iodine dip to each frag. My tank is strictly LPS and Softies with 10 other Euphyllia and many other corals in the tank that are doing just fine. Not sure what cause the fading but I will attempt to bring the frags up to health. Any thoughts on why the fading occurred after 3yrs? BTW, I did lower my light intensity a little when I gave away all my SPS corals approx 5mo ago but kept the same spectrum. Color was starting to get a little duller prior to intensity change.

1/28/2024 Parameters:
NO3: 10.0ppm
PO4: 0.05ppm ( measured prior to daily dose of 0.02-0.03ppm Trisodium Phosphate Solution daily ).
Alk: 8.4dKH
Cal: 450ppm
Mag: 1490ppm
Sal: 35.1ppm
Temp: 77.4F-78.0F

When purchased 2/3/2021

2/4/2022 lots of color

12/29/2022 & 1/2/2023 Left side of Hammer starting to fade a little.


Still shot from video taken a month ago 1/29/2024

Frags today after fragging yesterday.

 

[Lavey29]

Have you done a recent ICP test to check all major and minor elements?

 

[Steve2020]

Have you done a recent ICP test to check all major and minor elements?

ATI 2mo ago so not considered recent I guess. Strontium, Fluorine and Iodine came in at approx 1/2 recommended values. Manganese and Zinc undetected. No pollutants were detected. All other major and minor elements within the range ATI recommends. Whether their numbers are correct or not who knows. My 2 other Hammer's, 3 Wall Frogspawns and 5 Torches along with all other LPS and Softies are doing great and have been for quite a while. You can see the green Hammer on the far left with some pale heads.

 

[Steve2020]

Is it me or does it look like the frags to the left of the more colorful one on the right are getting more of their green color back? I just moved the rack to the left side of the tank and took the photos. Some of their color was back before the move. Same par levels. Is it possible that the colony needed to be thinned out? Possible shading was happening causing the fading color?

Photo on taken around 9am.

Photo taken at 1:15pm

 

[Lavey29]

ATI 2mo ago so not considered recent I guess. Strontium, Fluorine and Iodine came in at approx 1/2 recommended values. Manganese and Zinc undetected. No pollutants were detected. All other major and minor elements within the range ATI recommends. Whether their numbers are correct or not who knows. My 2 other Hammer's, 3 Wall Frogspawns and 5 Torches along with all other LPS and Softies are doing great and have been for quite a while. You can see the green Hammer on the far left with some pale heads.

I suspect your light changes then.

 

[Steve2020]

I suspect your light changes then.

Could be. What surprises me though is the intensity change I made when I got rid of my SPS only changed the par level where the Hammer was by 18 par ( 183 to 165 par ).
Question, how long does it normally take for Zooxanthellae to react to a light change whether it is a spectrum or intensity change? I am seeing what seems to be a pretty quick color change from a faded green , almost tan in color, to a darker olive green.

 

[Lavey29]

Could be. What surprises me though is the intensity change I made when I got rid of my SPS only changed the par level where the Hammer was by 18 par ( 183 to 165 par ).
Question, how long does it normally take for Zooxanthellae to react to a light change whether it is a spectrum or intensity change? I am seeing what seems to be a pretty quick color change from a faded green , almost tan in color, to a darker olive green.

I can only relate that question to my SPS corals. I've had some color up right away after shipping and placement in my tank. I've had others browned out taking weeks or months to color up.

I actually started a thread with similar questions to what you are asking many months back. I have the exact same corals placed mid tank. One on each end. Each one under its own light getting essentially the same par yet the coloration are completely opposite of each other. Same environment different coloration results. Growth is similar though. Corals acquired from same vendor also. I have no explanation for the difference.