Need advice on supplements

[cjr579]

Just was wonding what supplements everyone else uses.
I have a 24 nano cube which has a few SPS some softies and a few zoos. It seems the coral's colors aren't as vibrant as they were when I bought them. I add two little fishes Kalk to my top-off, aragamilk twice a week. I also add 1 drop of lugol's solution every two weeks. All parameters look good. calcium ~ 425. I feed my coral maine snow a couple times a week.
Is there a supplement that is reccomended to enhance the colors?
My lighting is a 14k Phoenix 150w bulb (roughly 4 months old) and 2 18 watt actinic PC

 

[nikesb]

the first thing to figure out is what is causing the colors to become dull. some sps are harder than others and it could be simpl that reason theyre not coloring up. what are your test kits for phosphates and nitrates. you shouldnt need any supplement at all to enhance the colors. fish poo is more than enough to get vibrant colors. you can try amino acids but i would only recommend it in a ultra low nutrient tank. dosing amino acids in a non ULNS is going to lead to algea problems

 

[speg]

could try some different foods. Isn't marine snow basically more of a phyto supplement than a zooplankton supp?

 

[mrdc]

I don’t really have a supplement to recommend but I do have a word of caution while you are looking. When you are checking out new products, don’t take the product description as gospel. Meaning that every product will make themselves sound like they are worth their weight in gold and some of these products can be expensive. I think you are doing the right thing by asking what hobbyists recommend. I could have some a bunch of money in the past if I would have followed my own advice.

 

[inkman2004]

The first thing I would say is it may just be your lighting. I know that when I buy my coral it always looks duller at the lfs, when I get it home it looks alot more colorful. Every bulb is different. Also a problem may be that you are feeding them too much. Try giving them the marine snow once every 2 weeks ( if you can) I stopped feeding my corals because of this in the past. I had a local reefer that had been doing this for a long time and he told me that if you feed the corals they do not require the light as much. If they are not using the light for food then the photosynthetic organisms inside die off or at least are not as abundant thus not as much coloration. So if you have the light let it do the work for you. Hope this helps.

 

[cjr579]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think I'll try to hold off on adding any supplement and let my tank do its thing. I'll also stop feeding the marine snow soo much and let the light do the work fo me like inkman2004 suggested.