Coral metabolism vs. light par

[danny zubot]

I've switched bulbs recently in an attempt to try and get some color back into some of my more delicate acros. I was running a 400 watt 14K Aqua Connect, and now I'm trying an XM 20K. My thoughts were that I may have burnt the color right out of some of my acros with the previous bulb, and lowering the PAR by going to a 20K might be the answer.

While I'm waiting for the results on that, I want to pose a question. I've recently had to ramp up my dosing to the point where I'm debating buying a calcium reactor for my 55 gallon tank. I dose 50-60 ml of calcium chloride, 30 ml of mg, and 7 tspn of 2 part Kh buffer every day! Does this seem high to anyone? Going back to my theory about reducing PAR to help my corals, I'm wondering if it will also reduce their appetite? So I guess my question is this; Is a coral's metabolic rate directly related to the light intensity that it is exposed too?

Danny

[Myka]

I see it is a 55g cube, what size dimensions does that make? 24x24x22"? That's an awful large amount of light over that tank!! I would think that lower the PAR in your case may help. If that is the case, maybe you will want to consider selling the 400w, and changing to a 250w so you can pick a better bulb color (I dunno, maybe you like 20K, but I think it looks terrible), and save on electricity.

That doesn't sound like a huge amount of 2-part to me. If you plan to upgrade your dosing methods, I would suggest a dosing machine instead of a calcium reactor as the reactors are getting kind of out-dated. Dosers take up less room, are usually about the same price, and are easy to dial in.

I would imagine that increased PAR would increase photosynthesis (not necessarily growth), and would then need more nutrients. However, I'm only taking an educated guess here. I'm not sure.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by danny zubot

So I guess my question is this; Is a coral's metabolic rate directly related to the light intensity that it is exposed too?

Danny

nope.. kinda nothing to do with light.. Temp will however speed up or slow down the rate. All more light is going to do is make more food available from the algae... if the coral is already getting enought food more light will reduce the amout of algae in the coral making it more colorfull to a point. there is so much that is just as important if not more important than light, water flow being one of them.. but alk is required for the coral to be able to excreet Ca from its tissue to build more skeliton.. and so on..

I had a 400 watt 10K on a 55gal.. worked great.. it is all in how you aclimate the coral to the new light.. if you do bleach a coral they normaly will recover..

Steve

[danny zubot]

I understand the temperature side of things, and I understand the water flow thing. I always thought that more zooanthalea meant more color, isn't that where the corals color comes from? I don't think that my corals were getting enough nutrients before, because I only had one fish in my tank for a long time until recently. From what you are saying the coral would have relied more heavily on it's algea at that time, thus more reliant on light?

[BlueAbyss]

More zoothanthellae = browner corals. Corals have other pigments that are easily masked by the brown zoothanthellae, which is why corals under higher light tend to be more colorful. Nutrients will affect the color also (food for the zoothanthellae), as will feeding (food for the coral). If you have an ultra low nutrient system (like zeo), you need to feed your corals to get the most out of them... hence zeo's clam and coral food.

[danny zubot]

So then, how do I get the most out of my corals? For example, I have a Tri-color Nana that is mostly tan with very brown polyps, and has some purple in the tips. How would I get this coral to color up more? I usually feed the tank Reef Roids once a week in addition to the frozen brine shrimp the fish get every other day. Over all though, I would way my tank is on the lower side of nutrients because of my over sized skimmer, reactor and fuge. Should I raise up my light to decrease the zooanthallea population in the coral? Or feed the corals less to do the same thing? I addition to the main three additives, I also dose regularily these suppliments.

-Iodine
-Strontium/molebdenum
-Iron/manganese
-pottasium iodide
-amino acids (Reef plus)

[StirCrazy]

color is very tricky.. there is real color which you get under very intense lighting and low nutrients and there is fake color, which you get by mixing different color t5's

what I am getting at is if you take a color with true color out of the tank away from blue lights the coral is not brownish... it is the color you see in the tank. an example was my old tri colored blue milli.. it was purple, blue and light blue.. when I moved and we were unpacking it it looked the same in the air as it did under 10K lights.

Fake color (which you can get under any lighting just couldn't resist the dig at t5's ) is when you have a coral that is a beautiful blue and then you pull it out and it is brownish with maybe a hint of blue.. fake colors are a reflectance color where the coral adsorbs light and reflects it out as a different or similar color. different types of coral will flores with different colors depending on the pigmentation they have developed and a few other factors. so you could shine a 14K bulb on 6 corals that look brown in the sunlight but one might floress green another few blue, one red ect... most T5 set up are using combos of different bulbs to maximize this effect which I call fake color. also anyone who uses heavy blue MH lights is using this also.

the tanks look nice but I personally like a tank of true color and accordingly use a 10K light with just a hint of actinic to give me a icy white look instead of blue.. but to be successful with this type of tank you need to find nicer specimen corals and be very picky with water quality/lighting/water flow ect..



Steve

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

color is very tricky.. there is real color which you get under very intense lighting and low nutrients and there is fake color, which you get by mixing different color t5's

what I am getting at is if you take a color with true color out of the tank away from blue lights the coral is not brownish... it is the color you see in the tank. an example was my old tri colored blue milli.. it was purple, blue and light blue.. when I moved and we were unpacking it it looked the same in the air as it did under 10K lights.

Fake color (which you can get under any lighting just couldn't resist the dig at t5's ) is when you have a coral that is a beautiful blue and then you pull it out and it is brownish with maybe a hint of blue.. fake colors are a reflectance color where the coral adsorbs light and reflects it out as a different or similar color. different types of coral will flores with different colors depending on the pigmentation they have developed and a few other factors. so you could shine a 14K bulb on 6 corals that look brown in the sunlight but one might floress green another few blue, one red ect... most T5 set up are using combos of different bulbs to maximize this effect which I call fake color. also anyone who uses heavy blue MH lights is using this also.

the tanks look nice but I personally like a tank of true color and accordingly use a 10K light with just a hint of actinic to give me a icy white look instead of blue.. but to be successful with this type of tank you need to find nicer specimen corals and be very picky with water quality/lighting/water flow ect..



Steve

Steve, I know you're partially jesting with the comments on T5s but thought I would post a link to some pics of corals grown under T5s but photographed (at the end of the document) out of the water and no longer under T5s to show that the color is "true" to some extent especially as it relates to purple pigments:

http://archiv.korallenriff.de/Lichttest/T5-1.pdf

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

nope.. kinda nothing to do with light.. Temp will however speed up or slow down the rate. All more light is going to do is make more food available from the algae... if the coral is already getting enought food more light will reduce the amout of algae in the coral making it more colorfull to a point.

.

Steve

I have to disagree with this statement...the availability of light has everything to do with the health of a coral (as do water parameters and flow)... all sps do not have the same lighting requirements and need to be placed accordingly.

Danny, have you seen the recent pics of that nana piece I got from you a while back? I assume the one you are talking about is the same colony?

My guess would be something else with your water parameters...not saying there is anything "wrong" with your water...perhaps just lacking in something

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Canadian

Steve, I know you're partially jesting with the comments on T5s but thought I would post a link to some pics of corals grown under T5s but photographed (at the end of the document) out of the water and no longer under T5s to show that the color is "true" to some extent especially as it relates to purple pigments:

http://archiv.korallenriff.de/Lichttest/T5-1.pdf

yes I was jesting a lot.. I did forget to mention you can get true color out of any lighting also but it is not as common under lower intensity lights like VHO, PC, T5, ect.. this is where the being extremely picky and selective with your corals comes in.

I do have one problem with that link you posted.. it is a fauna marine add. they didn't show out of tank photos before the test only after, so we have no idea on the quality of the corals before the test so I can not look at that pdf and consider the whole thing valid. plus if thee is one thing I have learned in the last 8 years is to take any advertisment with a grain of salt.. do they want to sell there products... you bet so if they can make there product look a bit better will they... you bet.. now I have nothing against Fauna marine personaly (thought I better make that clear) I am going to be buying there proflux, and I wish they would staert putting out some nice colored MH bulbs.. like maybe a true 12000K color temp 250 watt SE

Steve