Lighting question - great SPS growth but too green

[redsfan]

My SPS are looking very green compared to the tank that I got them from and pictures online. All are growing great and have been in the tank over 3 months. ORA Chips, Tricolor Valida, Surf and Turf, Turquiose Stag, all look similar in color and at different levels in the tank. I also have a wild white Millipora that turned more yellow/tan in color.

Tank is 135g with three Phoenix 14000k that run for 5 hours total, each is staggered by 30 min. Also have 2 ATI T5 Actinic and 2 ATI Superblue that run for 12 hours.

I assumes this is a lighting issue. What is the solution?

[jda]

Green is a transitional color. Brown is stress, then greenish and then to true color.

How old is your tank? If it is less than a year, then you are going to get so-so results with SPS until you have coraline and pods everywhere and sponges growing all over the backside of the rocks.

If your tank is mature, then I would guess nutrients or you just need to wait a bit longer and they might have gotten stressed too much in the move.

As long as you have those Phoenix 14k driven by M80 (250W) or M81 (150W) ballasts, then you have one of the best-of-breed lights and you cannot really get better. I would run them more like 8-10 hours, but this should not matter.

[redsfan]

Green is a transitional color. Brown is stress, then greenish and then to true color.

How old is your tank? If it is less than a year, then you are going to get so-so results with SPS until you have coraline and pods everywhere and sponges growing all over the backside of the rocks.

If your tank is mature, then I would guess nutrients or you just need to wait a bit longer and they might have gotten stressed too much in the move.

As long as you have those Phoenix 14k driven by M80 (250W) or M81 (150W) ballasts, then you have one of the best-of-breed lights and you cannot really get better. I would run them more like 8-10 hours, but this should not matter.

Thank you for the advice! Tank is 16 months old, pods/sponges/coralline are doing well. My parameters look good and are extremely stable. (Ca Rx, ATO, no algae issues) I've cranked up my MH(250W) to 7 hrs per day, hoping to see some results.

How long does a stressed coral take to get to it's true color?

[jda]

It depends on how stressed they were and how healthy beforehand.

For example, I won't buy acropora frags under LED that have to be shipped anymore - it takes too many months for them to recover whereas T5 or MH frags are good to go in a week or two.