Rob_Reef_Keeper":i5c81wq8 said:
I'm all out of theories. Except, maybe your not staring at your tank enough. I stare at mine all the time. I'm not sure if its the secret to success though.
Lets review, You have a great lighting set up, A kalk reactor, a calcium reactor, a Ranco controller for stable temps, a tunze and OM for random flow, I forget your brand of skimmer, a good amount of LR and a bare bottom tank. YOu recently metioned that you were bringing your Mg. up. I would doubt that this is the one key to your pale colors. You have tried heavier feeding, added fish, etc., etc. There should be no reason for anything less than a nice colorful healthy tank.
I have a local friend that has near the same set up as you and I. He has a bare bottom tank as you do. He has always commented on how colorful my tank is. I was there the other day and was shocked at how pale all of his colors are. His green slimer is yellow, an emerald green acro frag he gave me is still emerald green in my tank and has turned light pastel green in his. He has red bugs on a couple colonies. I blame his coloration in part, on that. He has always had paler colors though. I mentioned this to the guy at the LFS who set this tank up. His thought was trace elements. I forget the exact two he mentioned. YOu have mentioned that you dont have red bugs and I doubt they would be affecting your whole tank if you did.
In short, Your corals are pale. Not bleaching. You mentioned a couple of your frags are growing. That to me is a sign that you have something close to the happy medium that will give you the tank you desire. I dont think that pale corals is a reason to give up. After I had my snow storm and did a 50% WC in 12 hours I did notice a big change in colors of my corals for the better. I think that your idea of increasing WC is a good idea. Try that for a while, see if it helps, if not stick with that and change something else in the routine too. You have a great list of equipment. It must be something in the weekly routine.
