Red Dragon Acropora
 

Hey all.

I have a piece of Red Dragon Acro that keeps losing it colour. I have had it for about 5 months, it is growing, but just seems to be very light in colour. It is currently sitting about 27 inches below the T5's but it has been moved around a couple times. First in was 12 inches below the T5's then about a month later it was moved down about 8 inches. 2 months later I moved it down to where it currently is.

Aquarium (running for approximately 10 months):

90 gallon with 20 gallon sump.
6, 54w T5 bulbs (ATI bulbs)
SWC 160 skimmer, with light bio load
BRS single media reactor running with Seachem PhosGaurd

Just stopped using C Balance two part additive and switched to a calcium reactor, but colour was bad before the switch.


Water Parameters:
Salinity : 1.025
PH: 7.9 - 8.1
Alk : 7
Calcium : 440
Nitrates : undetectable
Phosphates : undetectable
Mag : ?

I was feeding my corals with Coral Frenzy and Koral Color (brightwells) every third day, but have stopped doing so in the last month. Again they colour was fading even when feeding my corals.

https://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a...D550/ry%3D400/

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

My guess would be not enough nutrients, coral is probably starving. Try acropower or something?

But lets wait for some of the sps pro's to chime in first :P

What do the rest of your sps look like ? Are they all pale ?

Looks and sounds like ULNS to me.

looks bleached to me.

Which test kits are you using to test nitrate and phosphate? What do the other Acros look like? It looks bleached to me, not starving.

I have mine very close to a 400w MH, I wouldn't keep moving it lower :)

Agreed, but right now it has hardly any zooxanthellae to protect it from the lights, so moving it up right now would roast it. Don't you think?

50/50 really. I've moved bleached pieces up high without issue, and with issues. I would at least start moving it closer. Maybe go halfway back up and leave it alone for 3 months, see what it does.

I have a piece of bonsai coral that did the same thing. It was up closer to the top, about 12 inches from the lights. Moved it down to about 18 inches down and the colour has returned on the new growth. My Valida was high up as well colour was drab on it as well. Moved it down and it seems to be colouring up too. I also had some hammer coral on the bottom of my aquarium turn white and moved them into a large cave under my live rock (out of the direct light). They coloured up after a month.

I do have several sps coral high in my aquarium, red planet, cali tort, purple pocci, green elkhorn, blue tip - green slimmer, orange & forest fire digi, purple cross and lots of different montis. They all seem to very well. I also have some others that have good colour, but the growth isn't great. These include, pink lemonade, pearl berry, Hawkins coral.

If my lights are too intense, should I move them up? They are currently 6 inches above the water. What height should I move them to?

And thanks everyone. Really appreciate the help!