Sufficienet Lighting?

I have a standard 75 gallon tank, with an Aquaticlife 4 lamp T5HO fixture. Currently it's running with 2 each ATI Blue Plus, and Coral Plus bulbs. I've been wondering if I need additional actinic lighting. I have a rainbow trach coral that just isn't as vibrant as it was when I purchased it about 6 months ago. The coral still opens up daily as big as it did when purchased. Any ideas?

 

Possibly change out one coral plus for a blue plus.

 

2 Coral Plus and 2 Blue Plus are exactly what was being used on this tank:

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-of...ns-75-last-picture-81680-200.html#post1504134

Can you tell us about your tank? Lots of things can cause color loss or stunt growth- parameters (or swings), nutrient levels, flow, nearby corals, etc., etc. A pic may help, as well.

 

Holy cow, I forgot I had posted this. Sorry about the extremely late response. I have a pic of the coral and the results from my latest tests, I took them today.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - I had no color whatsoever, I ran the test twice, it's a new Salifert kit
Phosphate - 0 on test, have some gha started running phosban today
Alk - 7.5dKH
Mag - 1275
Salinity 1.025
PH - 8.29

I'm not sure what to think on the Nitrate test, I have a hard time thinking it would be undetectable, but I did go through a 160 gallon bucket of Instant Ocean in a little over a month with weekly 25% water changes.

 

what is the calcium?
Mag and ALk could be brought up slightly but params look good overall

 

Missed the calcium, it's at 425ppm. I dosed some Kent Tech M today to get the mag up some.

 

look good.

So the lights that MR Bill suggested and bump up the alk and mag in my opinion.

I like to keep my mag around 1350 and alk 9 but others may say differently

 

+1

Also, with GHA present, it's not uncommon for NO3 and PO4 to be undetectable as GHA absorbs both.

Concerning your coral, do you target-feed? Most LPS corals fair best when given a variety of meaty seafood (clam, squid, krill, zooplankton, etc., etc.).

 

I have only target fed the coral once or twice. My damn cleaner shrimp like to shove their claws in the corals mouth to get to the food, even after the opening has closed up. My wife loves those shrimp, but some things about them drive me nuts. The shrimp do get their share of meaty food when I feed. I guess I need to find a small strainer or something to cover the coral overnight after I feed it, that should take care of that problem.

 

That's what skunk cleaners do, unfortunately. Between that and the fact that their cleaning tendencies have no real impact on parasite control, and the fact that they're also known for killing other, more beneficial shrimp species, it's a wonder people continue to buy them for their reef tanks. Personally, I'll never own another one.

For those who choose to keep theirs, covering the coral at feeding time works fairly well. Target-feeding the shrimp first may also provide some benefit.