Coral color

[butterfly_babe4200]

I have several different kinds of coral in my tank. I have Torch, hammer, frog spawn, bubble, 3 brains(one lobed green, one open green, and a semi open pink), some harry mushrooms, chocolate chip shrooms, a striped shroom, a unbrella shroom, a torro(?) shroom, "green" ricordia, new trees like things, Yellow devils hand frag, and some zoa's but my problem is that most entered the tank these wonderful colors pink and green and now most everything is a drab pinkish brown why?

[rickm]

It could be a couple of things. If they looked good when you first put them in and now not so good it's your water or lighting there not happy with. If there color was good in the tank where you bought them and when you put them in your tank there color was different then it's your light spectrum that is different than your LFS.In my case where I buy my corals there usually under 14k or 20k MH's. When I put them under my 10k's there color is usually off from the LFS's.

[Tom McKenna]

It could be the lights but it also could be the lack of nutrients or even a combo of both. Reef tanks take a daily dose of your time to make sure all is right but when all is right WOW are they worth it

[butterfly_babe4200]

They are happy and growing but the color is changing. I think it may be the lighting. I am working on getting better lighting. I want to be able to have clams but don't want to fry the shrooms what do you think?

[davejnz]

What kind oflighting do you have now?When corals brown,it can be a natural response to different lighting,elevated nutrients,or other reasons unexplained. levels.Xoozanthellae(symbiotic algae in corals)is kept in the tissue of the coral.The density of the zoox is controlled by the coral,it can expel it as well as let it multiply to form high densities in its tissue.Often,when corals are subljected to different lighting intensities(especially lower)they compensate by allowing their symbiotic algae to multiply.This algae is brown thus causing the coral to appear brownish.

[butterfly_babe4200]

WOW! Ok so it most be the lighting. I don't think its nutrients I test the tank about once a month and its only alittle high in Ca. I have 2X65 watt PC one 10K and one 50/50. I think. The bulbs have been causing me a headache They look the same and have no markings so I think that is what is on there.
My tank is a 55 gallon "48 long, "13 wide, "18 1/2 Tall. And I am looking to upgrade my lighting to Metal Halide, I want one oe the ones that does all three, Metal Halide, PC and LED(lunar). But what wattage and where am I going to get the best quality for a price a non-working college student can afford?

[rickm]

Without building it yourself there are far and few choices for a MH combo fixture to fit on a narrow tank like ours. I wish I had thought of it before hand or I would have gotten a wider tank setup. I paid a little more for my fixture but it's real nice and only 8" wide with no heat issues. It fits really well on my 55 and with the riser blocks I can slide it back to work in my tank. As you may know most fixtures are wider than the tank and believe me you don't want that.