Acropora corals lose color

[rxtayl7]

Not sure what I am doing wrong, not enough lighting, or water quality incorrect..? But all Acropora corals I put in my tank slowly lose there colors over a two week period. No other corals have lost color and I have checked my water quality and everything is exact except for the No3 (Nitrate). My tank is a 220 gallon, 30� deep one year old with Aqualight Pro HQI/Compact 3 10000°K Metal Halide 150 Watt, 4 96 watts actinic’s for a total of 834 Watts. AquaC 400 Skimmer, Hammerhead 5600 pump, no other filtration except for the live rock, and plants. Any help would be appreciated!!

I have the following in my tank:
Brain Coral (Trachy.) – Metallic, Monticaps Orange, Purple, Galaxea Green, Candy Cane Green, Hydnopora yellow, Acropora - Green , Acropora – Purple, Acropora – Blue, Acropora – Yellow, Acropora - Tri-color, Pocillopora Pink,Green, Stylophora ("Elk's Horn"), Tubastrea ("Sun Coral"), Galaxea, Porites, Merulina ("Ridge Coral"), Goniopora ("Flower Pot"), Seriatopora (Birds Nest) – Pink, Hammer (Euphyllia) - Green-tip, Montipora digitata - Branch - Green and Purple, Digutata – Yellow and Orange, Ricordea – Green, Ricordea – Purple, Ricordea - Lt. Purple, Finger Leather – Green, Polyps - Button – Green, Polyps - Button – Metallic, Polyps – Clove, Polyps - Sand – Green, Polyps - Sand – Pink, Polyps - Star - Big White
Polyps - Star – Green, Polyps - Star - Metallic
MUSHROOMS
Assorted Green, Blue, Bull's-eye,Carpet – Green, Elephant Ear – Green, Hairy – Green, Metallic, Neon, green, Pimple, Red, Super Red

[aiko670]

When you say your parameters are exact... What are you testing and with what test kits.

I'd be interested in.

Calcium
Alkalinity
Magnesium
PH
Nitrate

[Sullyman]

How old is the light?

[aiko670]

another good question

[Vamp1975]

I would also add PO4 to the test list.

I think the problem might be more lighting. A 30" deep tank with only 150w MH. How far off the tank are the lights? On a 30" deep tank I would have a minimum of 250's. JMO

[ppurcell]

3.8 watts per gallon seems pretty low for sps and 150's probably don't penetrate well beyond the top 18" or so.

Have you tried placing the acro's high in the tank where the light intensity is strongest?

[Vamp1975]

Originally posted by ppurcell
3.8 watts per gallon seems pretty low for sps and 150's probably don't penetrate well beyond the top 18" or so.

This was what I was getting at, even high in the tank it's still not enough light for SPS.

[rxtayl7]

So if money was no object what lighting would you buy for the setup I described? I have 4 test kits: Quick Dip 5 in 1, Seachem Ammonia, Seachem calcium, Red Sea Marine Lab kits.

Calcium 420
Alkalinity 2.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 30
PH 8.4

[jjjimmy]

With a 30" deep tank, I would probably recommend 400 watters. One for every 2 feet of length. Also do whatever you can to get those 'trates down. Do you have a refugium?

What kind of flow do you have in the tank? If it is just the return pump you will definately need to add more turnover to your tank. Maybe a wavebox or a couple of streams.

[glassbox-design]

I would suggest running some GFO. Odds are if you have trates, you have po4. Getting the trates down such be your #1 goal. Secondly would be more flow. Streams, wavebox, or maxi-mods would help.

As for your lighting and lighting in general. Watts per gallon should not be used as a rule. we have come a long way in this hobby and that rule is...well not a rule at all.

If you place a coral 6in directly under a MH it doesnt matter what size tank the coral is in...it is still 6in directly under a MH. Many people suggest 150 MH's for smaller nanos. They do work great...then think of your lighting area to keep SPS as if it were a small nano. The "placement zone" for them is near the top and under the halides.

WTS, If you want to keep high light demanding corals lower in your tank, then yes you should look into 400 watters.

If money were no object I'd go with a Sifiligoi unit, MH+T5

e+f

[mm949]

if u want color....increase watts and kelvin...10k is good for growth but not color.....try placing acro directly under actinic for a few days and watch for pigment......

[Rod Buehler]

I agree with eric (and jjjimmy).With a 30" tank, I would look into 400s.
And watts per gallon is completely usless and one of my biggest peeves in this hobby I can set an acro on a corner step of a swimming pool under a 175W. If the lamp is close enough, and if the coral is close to the surface, It can do great with .00000062 WPG. On the other hand I can put a frag in a dixie cup with a 60 watt incadescent.. Its a helluvalotta WPG but it aint gunna grow acros.

[glassbox-design]

Haha, well said Rod.

[rxtayl7]

Hey Rod are you ready to sell the Green Moni on the rock with the three red anemones? If so I can pick up today??

[ppurcell]

The observation regarding Watts per gallon wasn't the only point in the posts. Rods analogy is thorough but I don't see it as being contradictory to what was pointed out in the other posts. WPG is a datapoint, as are spectrum, age, bulb, type, brand, and placement.

If you want flexibility on where you place you can place your sps corals, then you will need higher intensity over more of the tanks area, both vertically and horizontally, having areas which have varying degrees of intensity will provide lighting conditions which different animals may favor.

I didn't see a reply regarding the placement of the effected corals in relation to the lights.

[rxtayl7]

I thought the lightening was the problem but after spending $1,000 on a light a year ago I did not what to change, but I think I have to. To answer other question about the tank I have a refugium about 40 gallons I don’t have live rock in today but in the process of adding rack with plant material. Also adding a second skimmer to the mix to reduce the nitrates, I think I have to many fish (Kids :>). The flow is about 4600 gallons per hour so I guess I am turning the tank over 18-20 per hour. I guess the next question would be who would like to buy or trade my old light or just take my money?

[Rkthepainter]

just the name of the game....spend spend spend then spend some more, then a new better item comes out and spend some more, then after you lose a coral, or a fish spend some more, water change, well spend some more, new powerhead spend some more ,lights arent good enough spend some more, then you when you start thinking this is the best hobby ever, spend some more, then a seller on here hypes up their stuff ,spend some more, electric bill came in spend some more, fish need to eat again spend some more, corals need them additives spend some more, someone on here figures out they are tired of spending , then well you have to spend some more . oh you bought a 55 spend some more, i need a 180, spend some more, well i need a bigger filter. spend some more, my small but pricey skimmer no longer works spend some more. this is a never and i mean never ending hobby of you guessed it spending money... get used to it. fish need to be eatin, or left in the ocean. this hobby is fueled by greed. scum bags in 3rd world countries takin live stock out for pennies a day, then when you go to a reef shop you pay top dollar. keep on spending......cause it aint getting cheaper. just ask puffer punk, she'll tell ya.

[Sullyman]

I guess some of us see the rewards of our efforts and expenses, sorry you didn't.
You can sell your lights and upgrade or just not keep acros. No need for drama.

[cayars]

I'm not so sure this is a light issue. Yes I agree more would be better but the acros won't loose color that fast under 175 MHs in 2 weeks. You could add an extra hour or two of "lights on" to help with this.

I think the nitrates are a factor and since no phosphate test was run my guess would be there is excess phosphates and from my observations acros will go white with high phosphates in the tank in this type of time period.

No question, nitrates need to come way down but I think the first thing that needs to be checked is phosphates. Then when both of these are known the proper way to reduce nitrates or nitrates/phosphates can be put in action.

I just helped someone with this same situation I just described and what I did when I noticed the high phosphates was to move the acros to a QT tank. We put standard PCs directly on the 10 gal tank. The lights were 48" long but all I had available I wasn't using so the stuck out a little bit.

The acros were pure white by the time I was asked to help. Within 2 or 3 days of 14 hour lights on the tips were turning back to color and within a week it was clear they were going to be ok long term since they were recovering.

The display tank had phosphate in the 2 range. It's now down to 0.5 (still to high IMHO) but we just moved the acros back to see what will happen. If they start to loose color we know how to get them back on the road to recover while the phosphates in the display tank are further tackled.

Just a little more food for though although I don't know if this applies to you or not without the PO4 readings.

Carlo

[RobTop]

I saw major color up when I got my alk from 2-4. I used baking soda over a 3 week pieriod and the color and grwoth in that time from was great.