War Farvia Bleeching.

I have a 5-6 month old War Favia frag in my tank. Tank is a 90G, with 4 T5's blazing overhead. He sits around 10 inches deep, and has since I placed him in the tank. He has grown slowly, but surely, and continues to do so. His feeders come out all day, and for the most part he seems healthy, but he is bleeching, significantly, and has been for a good amount of time. He has never had the great depth of color he had when I placed him in the tank initially.

Chem values are all almost perfect. Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, all zero. Zero phosphates. Cacium is right at around 420, Kh is a littttttle low at 6, but I'm doing a significant water change this evening and expect that to be corrected.
Water temp is a constant 78 degrees. Lights are a good few months old, at least 9-10, and will be getting replaced soon, but I can rule out new bulbs causing bleaching.

So what is causing my farvia to bleach out? His new growth areas are always bright crimson, just like he was when I got him, then in time, they bleach too. :-/

 

Correct the alk value and strive to prevent such a decline in the future or swings in alk.

Place the coral in an area with less intense lighting.

 

+1 to putting it lower in the tank. I was always advised by others to put them low in the tank.

I have my favias (reverse joker, aussie moon splatter, war coral, un-named light blue) at the bottom of my 46g bowfront with 4 ATI T5's and they are very colorful.

 

Definitely follow the advise given and it should color up. It probably won't be a fast grower based on my experience.

 

Thanks everyone. Right after I posted this I did remove it from it's LR and place it basically at the bottom of the tank, in a less intense area. I'm expecting it to take a while to see results. After this evenings water change, I'll be more diligent about keeping my alk in check. ;-)

 

So just an update.

I placed the war farvia way low in my tank, almost in the shade of a rock. It has taken a few weeks, but it is looking BEAUTIFUL. Totally gained back all of its color. I way cut back my lighting all together and every single one of my corals seems to have benefited from it. I way underestimated the power of 4 t5's.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

Been there done that, glad we could help you with your issue. Please post pics of the happy corals.