Green birdsnest, not so green

[Doberman13]

I got this birdsnest from another member and in his tank the colony is super green. Over time mine has turned into more of a pinkish brown. The new growth is very green. What other causes of this besides high nitrates and phosphates?

Temp:78
Salinity: 1.025
Ph:7.85
Alk: 8.2
Cal: 450
Mag: 1320
Nitrates (API reef test kit): 0-5ppm

I know I need to get a better nitrate test kit and a phosphate test kit

 

[jcook54]

I've got a bunch of these frags and have had the color fade twice for two different reasons. The first was light. They like quite a bit more light that one would think. They can grow like crazy in lower light levels so you'd think everything fine. When there's insufficient light, the green will start to fade and the "base" or lower half of the polyp will turn more clear. With good lighting, the green is a little brighter but the bottom section of the polyp will be a really dark color and make the green really pop. The second time I had a tank wide green bird's nest fade was instability in alkalinity.

 

[hzheng33]

Light. When my birdsnest is lower in the tank, it looks green. When it’s higher it’s neon green. Pic doesn’t do the birdsnest justice

 

[Doberman13]

I think it could possibly be too much light. My regular forest fire Digi and my seasons greetings Monti are at the same height of the tank and they are growing great.

I don't like the spectrum of my current light so I will be picking up a black box this week to test out. Whenever I look at a coral that is dark red in another tank and get it into my tank the colors are more of a pink or orange. I think there is not enough red light spectrum for my taste.

 

[hzheng33]

Stop by anytime if you want to see my two birdsnest for reference

 

[Mom2Many]

Over the years, reasons mine have went brown is phosphates, swings in alk and light.