pale colours sps

chef · #1 08-01-2013, 04:59 PM

Wicked weather here in Whistler.Anyways, I recently got back into sps and bought a bunch of frags. They all started off beautiful but have lost the intense color. I dialed my illumina down to 40%. My alk is at 9, ca is 500. No detectable phosphates or nitrates. dosing a splash of mb7 everynight and started 5 drops of amino acid . reef is a 93g cube. 250 ml of biopellets. Thoughts? cheers

Aquattro · #2 08-01-2013, 04:59 PM

Would drop alk a little, and Ca a lot.

chef · #3 08-01-2013, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Would drop alk a little, and Ca a lot.

Really? and that would affect the colors?

Aquattro · #4 08-01-2013, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chef

Really? and that would affect the colors?

possibly, perhaps as a secondary factor. Ca never needs to be anywhere near 500.
If they've just moved into new lighting, that could do it. If they were in substantially less light, mild bleaching over a couple of weeks could result.

Different water as well. Not good or bad, but just significantly different
could throw them off for a while

chef · #5 08-01-2013, 05:28 PM

Thanks Brad, I guess patience will work. I have good PE so not overly worried.
Hope to see you at Richs for the swap!!!!

Proteus · #6 08-01-2013, 05:31 PM

Yeah +1 what brad said.

And just wait a couple weeks. Fresh cut frags seem to loose color IMO. And lighting and water from other tank.

Some pieces could take a month to color up. My red planet went yellow after tank transfer. Grows like a weed but still waiting to regain its glory and its been 4 months

Seth81 · #7 08-01-2013, 05:39 PM

I am not sure why you would dial down your lighitng, especially LED. I have found that SPS coloration improves with specifically more UV light, I doubled the UV LED's in my tank, and color improvment is significant.

fresh · #8 08-01-2013, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Would drop alk a little, and Ca a lot.

Out of curiosity, why drop alk? Isn't alk supposed to be around that number? My alk is at 10 and I have always kept it at 10.

I completely agree on dropping Ca to around 400 or a bit higher.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

kien · #9 08-01-2013, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fresh

Out of curiosity, why drop alk? Isn't alk supposed to be around that number? My alk is at 10 and I have always kept it at 10.

I completely agree on dropping Ca to around 400 or a bit higher.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

When you run a probiotic system like Biopellets it is recommend to keep your alk lower, around 7-8 is ideal. Of course, you can run alk higher if you want, but again, that is typically not recommended.

Aquattro · #10 08-01-2013, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kien

When you run a probiotic system like Biopellets it is recommend to keep your alk lower, around 7-8 is ideal. Of course, you can run alk higher if you want, but again, that is typically not recommended.

Zactly!