pecman347 Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Hi everyone. So my BC 29 set up has been upgraded to include LED's, and they're using 7000k whites and Royal Blues. The ratio is about 3:1 for the colors, blue to white. They're both on dimmers and are set up to look about 14000k. They're all 3 watters. My problem is, the colors on the majority of my corals are fading. One of my acros has significantly bleached. My garf's purple bonsai is only purple at the tips, and a bali baddie i had is losing it's blue/teal on it. However, all the corals have nice PE and are eating whatever I feed them and are growing/encrusting well too. I'm feeding Coral Frenzy, reef roids, cyclopeeze, and mysis for the acans I have. Yes, my LPS have faded slightly too. I'm about to do a phospate test later, but I'm sure it's not too much of a problem since i'm using ro/di water to start with. Calcium is proper, and dosed as needed, as well as iodide and other trace elements like magnesium and what not. My speculation is this... I've got an Aquaripure on my tank, and also have a large patch of algae growing on the back of the tank. My nitrates are undetectable, and I've read posts on other forums where nitrate poor tanks were losing colors on corals. But I've also read on forums that LED's caused bleaching as well. IME i've had 10 watt led pieces that were on 100% and I never had a coral bleach... so I'm assuming it's nitrates. But I've been feeding the tank heavily too as well... Any input is greatly appreciated. For starters, I'm going to mow down that algae patch and do a nice water change to make whatever elements lacking in the water boost up a bit. All the critters in my tank are doing well... it's just my corals are losing color. Except the zoa garden I have, they're fine haha. I'll attach pictures later tonight. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Are they fading, or bleaching? What lights were you running previously? The stock biocube 29 lights are very weak, so my guess is that you're scorching the corals. Whenever you do a light change/upgrade, especially when increasing the lighting as the LEDs would on a biocube, you need to slowly acclimate the corals to the new light source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pecman347 Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 (edited) Oh, I had the LED's retrofitted before any sps were put in the tank. I had acans before, and they have gotten used to the higher lighting now. As in, they didn't inflate at all, but now they're inflating and extending tentacles for fooooooooood lol. But even though the acans are eating their colors are muted as well. My question is do you think that it's a LED problem or a nitrogen starvation problem? Perhaps the aquaripure and algae are stealing all the nitrates before the corals can use it? It's frustrating having rare corals in the tank start to lose color... my bleeding apple scoly frag was also a vibrant red/orange but dumbed down to a peachy red... weird... Edited November 28, 2011 by pecman347 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pecman347 Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 (edited) I've also heard that a lack of UV could be the culprit, but the only available UV LED's are those at UVA levels, which aren't used that well by corals (according to some). They say that the UV light is supposed to bring out the pigments that block out the UV light. And the shield guard over the led's might turn yellow from UV exposure too... so I'd rather not go the UV route. MH's produce UV so I guess we'll see... Edited November 28, 2011 by pecman347 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJones Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I am a bit confused by your time line. Can you lay out how long the tank has been set up, when you purchased the corals you are referring to, and when you outfitted the tank with LEDs. I would also like a little more info on the number of LEDs you are running, the type, and the power you are providing them (how many MA). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I'm a bit confused also. If I'm reading this right you had the tank with stock lights and the acans and the acans were doing well under the stock lights. Then you got the LEDs then you added the sps corals then you had the all the corals change color? My knee jerk reaction is the LEDs are a lot brighter than the stock lights were but what were the sps under? What colors changed Was it more or less brown (zoxanthelae) or more or less of the other pigments (nonfluorescing and fluorescing)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaJohn Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 if they led's are dimmable I would drop them to abour 40% and raise them 3-5% a week till you get to where you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pecman347 Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 Time line: August- Set up tank with stock lighting and brought acans from home in NY also had torches. End of August Early September - Retrofitted LED's and had them set at 30% Mid-end September - Got SPS Corals End of October - Got zoanthids and montis Now - Lighting about 60% on whites and 40% on blues. Colors seemed to have faded about mid october and has gotten worse slightly. It's not getting better that's for sure. The LPS are not as vibrant as before, but they're all fat and always extending polyps so they've adapted to the lighting. The SPS corals are also having good PE especially at night, and several are encrusting plugs. However, they seem to also have lost vibrance, and one has bleached. Or so it seems, under the blue lights you can still see a sheen of metallic green/blue, but under the whites it looks really bleached, while it has really good PE. I'll put up pics soon. Thanks for all teh input and sorry about the confusion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Based on your observation of the polyp extension and the timeline you've given if these were my corals I would leave the lighting setting where it is now until I saw some coloring up then gradually increase like AquaJohn suggested. If possible I would try to get light readings of the tank the SPS grew in and this tank just so I had some reference. With the polyp extension you're seeing I would rule out a water quality issue but would increase the size and/or frequency of water changes anyway. My reasoning for the increased water changes is corals pull nitrates phosphates and ammonia out of the water for thier zooxanthellae but if they've bleached out they will not be using as much which "might" cause some issues with algae (just being paranoid) I would resist the urge to lower the lighting though, the corals are all trying to adapt to the current levels and they just need time to adjust. This is a slow process (weeks to months) and bouncing the levels around I think would just add to the stress of adjusting. You should also expect different colors. Once they've settled in you can try moving them around to get the colors you had originally, having light readings will help with this (PAR is better but even a cheap lux meter will work ok). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pecman347 Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 Great! Thanks for the input! I'll leave the lighting as it is now then, and do a WC of 10% weekly to see where things go. Random topic.. my RO/DI unit was attached to my kitchen faucet with an adapter that has a little nozzle on it. However, the adapter keeps falling off. It's one of those where you pull a little knob and the water shoots out of the nozzle into the attached intake hose. I've used teflon tape with minimal success. Any suggestions? Is there another adapter that's supposed to be in between them? I could try and link it to my washer line, but then I'd have to find a y-adapter i believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaJohn Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 the Y adapter is at any hardware store for 5 bucks and you never have to mess with the kitchen sink again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJones Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 After reading your post, I would be hesitant to point the finger at the LEDs. The tank is only three months old. There could be a lot of other factors affecting coral coloration then just light. As others have said, I would just leave things alone for now. Give the inhabitants time to adjust to the lights and for the tank to mature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pecman347 Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 Sounds good, coralline has started to take hold on the lower rocks, lime green and purple, and the higher rocks are showing pink and red coralline. It's kinda pretty haha. Diatoms bloom and hair algae bloom happened maybe a month back and is wittling away, so maybe their "deaths" are making the water whacky too. Haha, my 20L in NY was nice, but I had to sell it all in order for my move to TX haha. Random cool update on my tank: I had 2 Juvie McCosker Wrasse, and one was definitely the "male" of the pair. After I took out my flame angel, who was king pin, my helfrichi firefish took dominance. During the initial bouts, my "male" mccosker jumped out of my tank when the lid was *cracked* open by popping the lid open. I got really freaked cuz I heard the bang and I see an orange glimmer on the floor. Lucky I was home! So I put him back in, and I notice... his coloration is FINALLY starting to take that of a male mccosker. He's doing great and is unfortunately flirting with my true perc.... and my other mccosker is getting fat, I'm assuming with eggs. We'll see how this story goes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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