12G poor coloration

[madis]

Hi everyone

Hope you can give some suggestions.
I have 12G nanoreef going for 6 months for now.
And the problem is very poor coloration and fluorescence.
Tank parameters are:
12G
DIY skimmer
Flow: 15x
Lights: 4x24w power compact (3x6500K 1xblue(not actinic))
Ca: 450
kH: 12
Mg: 1100
9 Kg liverock
1" crushed coral sand
3 Kg lavarock (they use it in barbeque)

Livestock:
2 damsels, 1 clown, 3 hermits,snails, BTA, softies, shrooms, zoos

And again - the problem is bad coloration or no color at all.
The zoos when i got them were dark brown - now they are pale green or whitish.
The green nepthea is not green at all and so on.
Seems that shrooms dont like light at all.
When its dark they are wide opened, when i turn the lights on they try to hide...

Any suggestions ? Is it possible at all to catch good colors with PC or halides is the only way ?

Best regards

 

[Anonymous]

You'll need to do some bulb swapping IMO. Definatly trash the blue bulb, I don't know why they're still on the market. Get a true actinic, -03, or whatever they're calling them these days. Place this bulb in the very front for maximum flourescence.

If that's not enough then swap a 6500K for a 10,000K and place this bulb as the second from the front.


Still a very nice looking tank though!

 

[Anonymous]

What Guy said!

 

[smontanus]

What Guy said plus be patient. My tank was just starting to improve at 6 mo. Now at 8mo I'm finally starting to be very pleased. hellolights.com has a pretty good explanation of blue bulbs vs true actinics. I haven't actually checked it in a while though.

 

[madis]

Ok. Thanks.
Ill try this one.
But is this anyhow connected with low Mg level ?

 

[LA-Lawman]

your mg level does seem too low... you want it around the 1300 mark.. but your calcium and KH are good to go. i would say if you couldnt keep your Ca up and your Mg was 600, KH 6.... you would have problems then... your system seem pretty balanced...

just watch your bulbs as guy suggested. watch your water quality, and give the tank some time... remember you have an entire ecosystem in your tank. it took millions of years for mother nature to do it in the ocean.... your tank will come around.

be patient...

your tank looks good.