brain coral question

[aaromano]

I have this brain coral purple and green. When I first picked it up it had way more green in the mouth valleys now its only got green in the immediate mouth area and some have gone totally purple? Too much light or not enough? its about 2/3 of the way down ~ 15 inches from 4 X24W T5. Didn't notice as I'm sure the change happened over months and it only came to my attention when looking at old pic.


before

After

 

[reefer gladness]

It looks bleached in the 2nd pic, I would suspect alkalinity swings more than lighting as being the culprit. When was the last time you changed bulbs? The T5's will gradually shift over to the red end of the spectrum. Some bulbs should be replaced in as little as 6 months and if it's been longer than a year I would say it's time to replace.

 

[aaromano]

I change bulbs religiously every 6 months. Its a phone pic in the second one so the exposure isn't quite right it definitely isn't bleached I was too lazy to break out the SLR. Its mostly maroon with just hints of green around the mouths. I will try to get a better pic.

 

[aaromano]

Photo using a real camera

 

[whippetguy]

I can't explain what the color is doing but it looks very healthy to me. I usually keep my brains on the bottom of the tank.

 

[aaromano]

Could be the spectrum it was raised under was different? I know the LFS I picked it up from had it for a about a month under a 6 bulb T5 they use only 1 10K with 1 purple and 4 blue bulbs where I'm using the aquatic life 10K and their 420/460 combo two of each. Their fixtures are about two feet above surface of shallow frag tanks. Yeah its growing well but I was shocked at how much color had dropped out.