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How fish stocking affects coral coloration

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 3:03 pm
by 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?

Re: How fish stocking affects coral coloration

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 4:26 pm
by 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.

Re: How fish stocking affects coral coloration

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 5:13 pm
by 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?

Re: How fish stocking affects coral coloration

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 7:11 pm
by 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.

Re: How fish stocking affects coral coloration

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 8:35 pm
by dirtbox
I'm curious, got a photo of your reef setup?

Re: How fish stocking affects coral coloration

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 8:58 pm
by 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

Re: How fish stocking affects coral coloration

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 9:53 pm
by cora
I'd look into testing for phosphate, it might be elevated.