• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

Purple Tipped Acros

NEWSALT

NEWSALT

I have a couple purple tipped acro frags in my 120g. I either got them from my LFS or fellow reefers. When the frags were in the fish store tanks or in the other people's tanks, the purple tips were very pronounced. In my tank I see little to no coloration on the tips. One frag has been in there 4 months, the other a month and the third, a week. I wouldn't expect anything from the one that's been in there a week, but I would have thought I would see some color on the others. I have two 250W XM 20k Metal Halides and two 110W Super Actinic VHO's. Is it my choice in lighting that's the problem or is it something else? Opinions please. My params:

Temp.: 78.5 deg. F
Alk: 9.0 dKH
Ca: 410
Mg: 1255
PO4: 0.1
NO3: <5 ppm
pH: 8.23
S.G.: 1.025


Thanks
 
I

IrradiatedReef

How old are your VHOs? VHO looses its intensity very quickly compared to normal fluorescent bulbs. Could be your antinics are nothing more then blue lights...

Also, 20k and antinics....that is a LOT of blue in your tank. Ever think about using some white <10k> in your tank for growth? If you do not like the 10k, try the 14k, its the MH version of a power compact 50/50.
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
With all that blue you should have plenty of color. There are 3 reasons why corals lose their color. Too little light, too much light, or excess nutrients in the water. If you're measuring .1 maybe the corals are soaking up some PO4. Do you see a green tint to dead skeletins? That would point to PO4. Do you have nusience algae growth in the tank?

Once you correct the problem it could take months to get them to color back up again. Good luck.
 
NEWSALT

NEWSALT

My VHO's are 3 months old. I had 14k's, but I just prefer the 20k's. I don't have any dead skeletons, but there is a green tint. I had some algea issues, but they seemed to have gotten better.
 
I

IrradiatedReef

Sorry, I misread. I was thinking growth not color, rather tired lately, baby is teething in a molar.... Phyl is right, with all the blue the color should be popping. I do not think it is the lighting, it is appropriate for the size tank.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top