Acro Help

[sailfin]

All of my SPS are doing great, but the Acro's all tend to turn brown. My montipora's retain their coloration. I am running dual 175 watt 10K's on my 75g. Is that the problem? Has anyone else experienced the same issues? Please advise. Also let me know if you need any more tank info.

 

[murph145]

they turn brown huh.... i know lots of times acros will be brown at the LFS due to shipping since they had a lack of proper lighting for a time they lose there coloration....
how deep is your tank ?? where are the acros placed in the tank??
do u have any other type of supplemental lighting some actinics vho or pc?
i think it would be good to put on som actinics too....
i run 2 250W 20K DE HQI bulbs on my 100G reef with 200W of 10K PC seems to be ok.... i think u need to add more to your lighting and you should get there colors back

 

[sailfin]

I think it is 18" deep. The acros are up top right under the lighting. No other lighting is on the tank. Can't afford anymore right now. I tried 14K, but it was a lot darker than the 10K's.

 

[murph145]

hmmm... your tank is pleanty shallow and your acros are up high....
i really think it has to do with having no actinic supplementation i know 10K's are very yellow and the corals might use that light and turn a different color.... all corals look different under different lighting.... i noticed at my LFS they had a acro frag tank one side with a 20K bulb the other with a 10K bulb they said by accident but they dont change it.... anyways the acros on the 10K side were all pretty much a brown color and the 20K side had all the blues pinks yellows greens and such all looking very vibrant....

 

[sailfin]

Thanks, Murph145.
Anybody else??

 

[reefnut]

It's quite normal for "wild" collected acros to turn brown after they are placed in an aquarium. The conditions with in an aquarium is often quite different than the ocean's they are collected from. Most of the time if the tank's conditions are good they will regain color in time, like a few months or more. The 10k bulbs can also make the "appearance" of a coral, pretty plain IMO. Although I do not think adding actinic's would make a big difference on the actual coral color, I do think the appearance of the corals would be better.
Basically everything in the tank can have an effect on the acro's color. Lighting and alkalinity level being the most discussed but nutrient levels, available food, etc can all have an effect.

 

[tizzo]

And current. I recently added a couple more powerheads to my tank and my efflo has since gotten his purple/blue edges. His edges have never been blue before. spots here and there, but now it's almost complete and the only thing I changed was the direction and amount of current. That is one of a million possibilities anyway.

 

[sailfin]

Thanks guys. I have been busy this weekend rearranging my tank so I can clean the coralline algae of the front glass. Anyway, I haven't had a chance to check the boards. Good stuff here and a few more things to try in addition to the 20K bulbs.