Why isn't my hammer bright green like in the lfs?
 

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2874/9...f967cdffda.jpg

You can see it brown in the bottom leftish area. In the fish store these are bright green. They are under LED lights in the lfs but a single T5 fixture at home. Could the bulb need replacing? Replaced it in January so not even 6 months old yet.

sigh, my tank is bare...I want more...expensive hobby.

Oh and PS - Should i scrape the back wall? I have high nitrates right now (40ppm) and I'm trying to find the culprit as water changes aren't bringing it down much.

Lighting is your issue, you have a single T5 bulb that's probably a lower K rating. You need actinic or blue type of lighting to bring out florescent greens.

Also more light tends to bring out more intense coloration.

You also have high nitrates - high nutrient levels will make corals be more brown (typically).

And yes, scrape the back.

How old is your tank?

This tank is about 8 months old. Heh, it looks younger than that...

When I scrape the wall I'm assuming I would scrape up and take it out of the tank?

I think a bit stronger lighting than a single T5 would help. What colour bulb are you using? Also, the browning is far more likely caused by your nitrates. No coral likes nitrates that high. Having some in a LPS tank is fine, but not anywhere near that high. Bi-weekly water changes and a skimmer should keep nitrates down.

Nitrates at 40ppm although high, would not likely be the cause of the browing of that LPS coral. I have seen a number of tanks with LPS corals with nitrates 40ppm and higher that don't have issues like that with LPS.

SPS is a different story....

Your single light bulb is the biggest problem here.

Are your rocks old? Like did they come from an older tank? Your nitrite problem could be coming off your rocks. I have had this problem in the past.

These rocks were fresh tonga rocks. Had about 2-3 months of cycling before adding any livestock. The levels were all good at that point.

i like how you have your rocks placed, it looks good :smile:

+1