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Washed out red color on my Acro's, any advice?


Matt LeBaron

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(edited)

For whatever reason my ORA Red Planet and Red/Pink Millepora have started looking really washed out the past month or so. I increased my vinegar dosing around that time to offset removing the biopellets that I planned to remove and have since done so. My initial thought was that it put my tank into the ULN realm, and the total lack of algae growth tended to support that theory but my other acros of other colors like green, and blue look great, or at least normal to what I am used to. My understanding of color loss due to ULN was that it was a universal change, not something that focused on the red corals. Growth is great, I've started focusing on keeping my alk up in the past 4 months or so and have begun to see fantastic growth from corals that previously showed little growth like my Orgeon Tort so I don't believe the issue is one of bad parameters. I dose Acropower every once in a while but to be honest it's a bit hap hazard.

 

My parameters are:

 

Calc:400 (Salifert Test)

Alk 10-11 (Still trying to dial in a steady level with my dosers so it shifts a bit as I manually dose) (Hanna checker)

P04: <0.1ppm (Hanna Checker)

Mag: 1500+ (Salifert Kit)

Ph: Around 8, moves around a bit as the day goes on

Temp: 78

Potassium: 460 (I have been dosing Postassium recently also but don't think that should affect the red) (Salifert Kit)

 

I guess I'm looking for any experiences anyone has had with a similar issue, any theories on what may be going on, or any recommendations. In another 3 or so weeks after it has been a month without the biopellets I do plan on reducing my vinegar dosing slowly to see if that helps but I do like the total lack of algae growth but not necessarily at the cost of how some of my acros look so hoping that someone may have a solution or idea.

 

Edit: Should have mentioned that I also have a red plating monti that looks fine, no clue why it's fine but the others are washing out a bit.

Edited by Matt LeBaron
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Best I can tell, different clades respond to different parameters. Just recently, my blue/purple acros started to brown out (with the exception of a Cali tort) while the rest looked great (and some colors got even better). The problem is, I cant directly link them to a change in lighting I made or to the increase in nitrates that also happened about the same time. 

 

Over the past year, nitrates have been barely detectable but after the move, they've been over 5ppm and with my last test, possibly as high as 25ppm (I havent been able to confirm the results with the same test as I ran out of reagents). Regardless, they're still over 4ppm.

 

The other change was to lighting; I replaced the two Coral+ I was using with Actinics but if I had to guess, I'd look to the nitrates as the issue I'm having. I've changed the lighting again too...

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everyone has success in different ways.  IMO your alk seems high.  I keep my alk close to 8 and have great growth and color.  I don't dose anything except 2 part. I do regular water changes.  Why are you dosing vinegar?  for Nitrates?  Have you changed your lighting recently?  I am pretty sure ULN can result in pale corals

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Lighting has not changed still LEDs, my alk was sitting around 8 and I was having alright growth but wanted to try and get more so I started raising my alk, honestly at around 12 I see insane growth but it's a pain to keep it at that level without pushing it higher to where it could do damage so I've targeted 10 as a good middle ground. Could the higher alk be causing the problem?

 

I dose vinegar to reduce Nitrate and PO4, which works well and requires less equipment than biopellets, which is why I finally decided to get rid of the pellets. Vinegar, vodka, biopellets, are all the same, source of carbon for bacteria.

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Alk could be too high for your nitrate level? I believe running high alk requires a bit more nitrate to support the growth rate.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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 I am pretty sure ULN can result in pale corals

 

This. 

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