How Do You Keep Vibrant Colors in Your Pastel Polyps?

[Wy Renegade]

I made a mistake....when I said low nutrients, I meant very low NO3 and PO4.

I have noticed high amounts of either will surely brown/dull out vibrant colored polyps.

I feed the tank very heavily and have lottsa fish poop for my tank size. I run a probiotic system to keep up with the waste. I am getting colors like I have never seen before in my polyps using this method.

I guess I should have said- I run a fairly high nutrient, but very clean tank to get vibrant reds/pinks.

Probably should know, but can you explain what you mean by probiotic system?

[MUCHO REEF]

When I got em in October;


This is in April;


I'll have to try and get a current picture of em know. The full gold center is back, and just a hint of pink in the skirts, but not the full color like when I got em.

I think pink and blue polyps are the hardest colors to maintain. The pinks can wash out or morph into a completely different color as you have experienced. Blues can turn very dark or lighten to a muted gray color. Looking at your pictures, what you experienced was light shock. There was an elevation change or a lighting change or shift which was too rapid or too intense. Seen it many times. There could have been a mass exodus of zooxanthallae which resulted in loss of pink coloration. With blues and pinks I always make note of every single parameter possible from the previous system they were in.

I've always felt that lighting, height of the tank, type of lighting source and previous placement dictates placement levels and light acclimation is a must with any polyps when the lighting scheme differs from the previous owners.

Pretty polyp you have though.



Mucho Reef

[Sir Patrick]

Scopus tang- Pro biotic links. Great read and great info!!

Pro-biotic reefing

very cool one- a ton of info!-

Live Chat Probiotic Reefing 12-06-09


Hope I didnt derail- feel free to bump either link!

[Sir Patrick]

Here is what has happened with my pinks and reds in my tank- (gotta get back on topic right?? and who doesnt like a cool pic in a cool thread like this??)

Before- when I just added them to the tank, under lees par, and at the bottom of my tank-




after- About 2 months or so-

[Sir Patrick]

Before- added same day as above polyps-





And after- pic taken again, same day as above polyps-

[Sir Patrick]

Notice the growth, in both pics??

Yeah- that growth came out of a tank with very low NO3 and PO4. Commonly called a low nutrient system. I just feed heavily (but thats a topic unto itself that will be visited soon)