How fish stocking affects coral coloration

[Lynxor]

Morning everyone, just wondering, how's everyone's fish stock looking. I've seen a lot of people, like me, who struggle with getting those colors right, but still manage to get decent growth going.

Honestly, my colors are pretty bad - only my green slimer's looking good, everything else is either pale or brown. The purples and blues are especially weak.

I'm feeding my crew (2 clowns, 2 bangai cardinals, a foxface rabbit, and a purple dottyback in a 75-gallon tank) 2-3 times a day with a mix of mysis, rods reef, a few different flakes (think it's formula 1) and pellets. I'm gonna try to mix it up a bit more soon. Not running a ton of carbon or gfo, just a cup of carbon and a quarter cup of gfo.

Planning to add some more fish, but just curious, how's everyone else's tank looking?

[Guppyish]

I've got a 175 bow front setup - full reef tank, 14 fish in there. Regal Angel, Blue Faced Girdle Angel, and a few tangs - Yellow, Blue Hippo, and a Blonde Naso. I've also got 1 Male and 3 Female Lyrtail Anthias, a Flame Angel, Melanarus Wrasse, 6 line Wrasse, 1 Chromis, and a Dottyback.

[Vitala]

I think it's worth looking at your nutrient levels, rather than just focusing on stock. You can have a tank that's vastly over or under stocked, but if your N and P levels are off, it's gonna cause issues. What are your current nitrate and phosphate levels at?

[Lynxor]

My N levels are around 10, don't have reliable testing for P so I don't bother. Took the carbon and GFO offline yesterday, like I mentioned, I don't use a lot of it anyway.

[dirtbox]

I'm curious, got a photo of your reef setup?

[Lynxor]

I'll grab some pics later when I get home, this is all I have on my phone for now.

Here's my supposed green milli from about 6 months ago -

Fast forward to last week -

Cell phone pics, gotta love 'em

[cora]

I'd look into testing for phosphate, it might be elevated.