drock59 Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 My macro growth has slow a bit and it appears to be a really really light color of green compared to the dark, rich color it should be. Everything in my tank has stayed relatively the same with no major changes. Any ideas on how to increase growth and/or color? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Light green could be a sign of many things. When my macr started turning light green and more diffuse (not dense growth), it was because there were not enough nutrients in the tank. Once I started getting more corals that I fed (frogspawn, candycane, hammer, etc.) and the nutrient load went up, the macro started turning dark green again. Another variable could be too much/little light. When I changed to differnt lights, my macro also spent some time adjusting and changed different shades of green. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
civicsit Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 +1 on what dsoz said. Probably just low nutrients. You should look at it as a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mbeef61 Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 i would take some out....mite free up some nutrients for the rest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drock59 Posted September 17, 2007 Author Share Posted September 17, 2007 Thanks for the replies. A couple of things......i have not changed the lighting within the last six months or so when I have seen great growth, so I am inclined to think lighting is not the cause. Also, I feed the same now as I have for years....AM and PM with no equipment change(big skimmer or something else) for about a year now. Not sure how my nutrients could be too low as all my corals are doing great, no fading or other signs of low nutrients. Ive been selling my macro for a long time now and it doesnt seem to matter if I pull a bunch/all of it out, it still does not darken up as of late. Any thoughts on other causes or remedies? I think ill start feeding some more but I dont think that is the culprit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Lighting might be needed to darken the color but thats just a guess.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 It still could be your lights. If they are getting to the end of their life, the spectrum starts to shift and their output decreases. Depending on the type (PC, MH, or T5) they have different lifespans. (I am not implying that you don't already know this.) Low nutrients are good for many corals. That is why we try to have 0 ppm phosphate and 0 ppm nitrate in our tanks as an ideal. Having macro loose color due to low nutrients would be considered good. Just make sure that the macro is not dying and releasing the nutrients back into the water. If it turns white, then it is bad. Light green is not bad. Is your macro chaeto or calurpa? If it is calurpa I would be woried that it may go sexual on you and crash your tank. If it is chaeto, there is no sexual phase to its life-cycle, so no wories about that. If it were me, I would not worry too much about light colored macro. Like I said before, when I had a very low bio-load mine was light green. Once I got more LPS that I like to feed (and some fish), my nutrient load went higher, and the chaeto returned to the dark green color. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drock59 Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 I find it curious that mine has changed color in a relatively short period of time with nothing else changing. I have chaeto and I am not worried about it going sexual. I doubt its my bulbs as they are fairly new. Mike, these bulbs were working fine for about a year, making nice dark green macro. Now, poo poo color....its weird. Ive been doing some reading and it seems like some folks dose Iron to help boost macro production. I need to look into this further, but does anyone have experience with Iron??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Popeil Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 what happened to that fertilizer i gave you...did that run out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drock59 Posted September 21, 2007 Author Share Posted September 21, 2007 yessir. I dont want to have to get in my car and drive to portland to show you the bottle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 Is your macro chaeto or calurpa? If it is calurpa I would be woried that it may go sexual on you and crash your tank. If it is chaeto, there is no sexual phase to its life-cycle, so no wories about that. Chaeto will go sexual. Instead of turning white and going into a spore stage the clumps break apart and leave little strands of chaeto everywhere. It is just as frustrating if not more so then when caulerpra goes IME. If the white on the ends of caulerpra are limited to the tips, then it can be a sign of growth, and does not necsessarily mean it is going sexual. Mike, these bulbs were working fine for about a year, making nice dark green macro. Now, poo poo color....its weird. Many bulbs last for about a year before they start to shift spectrums IME. I foyu stopped using fertalizer that may be the issue. There are several types of F2 you can use. I have had luck with using pure ammonia myself. I put the ammonia in a 10g tank with cycled crushed coral and then add the water when the ammonia has been converted to nitrates. It is a poor man's way. When I was a macro farmer, this was my method of choice, been out of the business for a bit (lack of space in apartment living), there are some good F2's out there. JME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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