Fading LPS color

[StevenSeas]

I have been having some issues with my LPS (green tongue, open red trachy, orange lobo, red acan, but my teal trumpets are fine) fading color, these are my possible reasons I have thought of.

I changed out my 1 yr old 4 HO T5 bulbs for 72 watts of cree LEDs on my 20 gallon tank. They looked great and very colorful for the first few days then they started fading.

Increased my flow from 2x 150 gph returns, 1 koralia nano, and 1 koralia 1, by trading out the nano for a koralia evo 750 so and increase in 510 gph.

Started protien skimming recently, though they were fading some before

have done a little more frequent water changes, but used the rest of my oceanic bucket of salt and was getting a milky residue at the bottom of the bucket. I picked some tropic marin up and will be using it for atleast the next 50 gallons.

My thoughts are that maybe the water cleared up a lil more with skimming and water changes and with me running my LEDs on full caused them to start fading. If this is the case what should I do? if its not any help as to what it could be?

[Europhyllia]

how's your alk?

[StevenSeas]

i actually dont know, ill take a sample in to work and test it today and get back with it. as of now nitrates=0 and pH=8.2 ill test the others in a bit

[justahobby]

IME LPS prefer dimmer lighting and really shine best under more blue hues..

[Big_Pun]

it may be the LEDs are a lil too power full considering the t5 bulbs where old. also since I've been running LEDs on my pico I noticed the color isn't that great in my coral I get growth but some seem to fade like my green/purple rim cap

[ramsey]

IME LPS prefer dimmer lighting and really shine best under more blue hues..

+1 If I put my LPS or zoas/palys too high, they fade. It doesn't actually hurt them and they continue to grow, they just start looking a little less colorful.

[StevenSeas]

So any ideas how to fix this? should i wire in another pot to my dimmer circuit to be able to dim them more? if I did that would I be able to acclimated them to LEDs and get them too look just as colorful?

[Jarob]

+1 on the LEDs!! Thats a HUGE jump from 1+ year old T5s to new LEDS, you should def. dim them a ton! The others may be contributing factors as well but the lights for sure.

[txg8gxp]

I vote light too, I can get my acan's to change colors just my moving them around the tank alittle.

[dipan]

If dimming is not easy in your setup, either raise the fixture or put some screens between the LEFs and tank. Remove a screen once in a while, like every couple weeks and watch the coral response. This is a good use for a PAR meter. If you had measurements before, you could add screens under the LEDs til you have similar PAR levels.

[StevenSeas]

Dipan- what kind of screen just regular window screen? I might be able to wire in another pot.

[txg8gxp]

Do you not have the dimming circuit hooked up yet?

[joelb]

i think if you just leave them alone and your water levels are ok, they will fade because of the shock but as long as you keep the water changes up and keep levels right, they will come back and with even better colors than you had before. good luck

[StevenSeas]

No I had the dimming circuit hooked up but I was thinking that with a second pot in line I can dim them further

[dipan]

LED's are known to cause bleaching of corals, especially when turned up super bright (like we all want to do from the get go). Unfortunately that's a big change in PAR, and just like every other parameter in your tank, you should strive to keep it stable in the usable range for your corals. You can certainly try to turn it up slowly. Use a window screen with some nylon window mesh in there, cover the tank, and use as many layers as it takes to decrease the intensity of the light for now to what you think it may have been before. Or if you can wire that pot in there to adjust dimming (not as easy as it sounds), then go that route. If it will take you some time to do that, the window screens are an easy cheap alternative. At least that's what I would do! :)

[dipan]

What drivers are you using and what is your dimming circuit comprised of?