why do my zoos and mushrooms loose their color?

[dano]

A few months ago i was given some blue mushrooms and a month or two before that I bought some zoo frags and they are all losing their coloring... the blue mushrooms are looking red and the zoos are looking brown. I have a 72 gallon with a sump and 4x54 watt T5 (two actinic and two daylight) and two 40 watt actinic fluorescent bulbs. Thanks. Dano

[Nitro Junkie]

What are your water param. ?

 

Lighting issue maybe? You have 4.1 watts per gallon on my 75 gallon I have 10.1 with no prob. growing sofites.

[Charlie97L]

A few months ago i was given some blue mushrooms and a month or two before that I bought some zoo frags and they are all losing their coloring... the blue mushrooms are looking red and the zoos are looking brown. I have a 72 gallon with a sump and 4x54 watt T5 (two actinic and two daylight) and two 40 watt actinic fluorescent bulbs. Thanks. Dano

 

do your t5s have individual reflectors?

 

also, what was the lighting in the tanks they came from. it's not uncommon IME for some coral to change colors in a new tank, but if the lighting is adequate, they should still be colorful.

 

water parameters? maintenance schedule?

[jamal]

what are your nutrient levels? nh4 no3 and the like.

[dano]

Thanks for the replies... no individual reflectors on lights, just the reflector in the orbit fixture... haven't checked parameteres in a long time... have beeen doing water changes fairly regularly (monthly) for someone who has sometimes gone a long time without doing one.

[Black Mammoth]

I suspect that there is something else going on besides the lighting. Mushrooms don't really care for a lot of light anyway.

[Charlie97L]

I suspect that there is something else going on besides the lighting. Mushrooms don't really care for a lot of light anyway.

 

me too.

 

however, to the OP, if you take zoanthids that are colored up under intense MH or overdriven T5s, as a lot of the really bright ones are, and put them in a lower light environment, they can fade. it doesnt' happen to every morph, but i've had it happen to me a few times.

 

coral colors can and do change. god, my fungia plate coral has been a different color in every tank it's been in.

 

anyway, what are your water readings? that will help us figure it out.

 

what size tank, and what filtration are you using?

[jason the filter freak]

I grow mushrooms under NO and they do alright.

[VicSkimmr]

What are your water param. ?

 

Lighting issue maybe? You have 4.1 watts per gallon on my 75 gallon I have 10.1 with no prob. growing sofites.

 

Since this involves mushrooms it probably isn't a lighting issue, but I'd like to point out that watts per gallon is a very poor measure of light output. For instance, I've only got 3.12 watts/gallon, but since I'm running a Tek fixture where my T5s have individual reflectors, I'm getting great color out of my SPS and have bleached almost every softy thats gone in the tank.

 

 

To the OP, I would guess you have a high amount of nutrients in the water, how about you give us a rundown on your equipment and what your parameters are. Are you having any algae problems?