Meaning of browned sps ?

[AG1]

Hi guys !

Maybe it will be a stupid question but I still can not understand the meaning of browned sps.Does it mean that the color of polyps turn to brown or the skeleton color turn to brown.Because my green montipora digitata's polyps still look something between grey and green and the color of the skeleton is brown.But some parts of the skeleton is green.

Beside that ; my caliendrum's skeleton is very light in color.

I am really confused and need your help before going mad.

Since I changed the fixture to ATI sunpower 6X24W nothing changed about the coral's color.I request you to check the pictures and tell me what is the problem; lack of flow , too much flow , too much light , high nutrient - low nutrient etc... I am still not sure if it is high nutrient or low nutrient.But according to the test results everything seems fine ;

Salinity : 1,025 ( refractometer )
PH: 8 - 8,3 ( salifert )
ALK: 8,3 ( salifert )
Ca:420 (salifert )
MG: 1260 (salifert )
No3: 0 (salifert )
Phosphate : < 0,01 (tropic marine )
Potassium: higher than the color chart of Korallen zuht kalium test

* never miss the weekly water change ( %10 )

I request you to look at my album at the link below to see the situation of the corals ;

RSM 130 pictures by AG1RSM - Photobucket

Thanksss,

 

[dankent]

Your params look fine, you alk could be a little higher ... allthough i am not familiar with the salifert tests. With the API test kit i generally like to have my ALK at about 12

How old are your lights ... and where in the tank is the SPS thats browning out ? More commonly its a problem with Lack of light and spectrum that causes the browning out of sps.

So ... How old are your lights / have you kept the lens clean from salt build up. And need to know where in the tank they are ... near the side or center in the top or middle ...even bottom of the tank.

Also whats the temperature of your tank ? Day/Night
How is the flow in your tank ?
Any tank stress lately ?

 

[AG1]

Your params look fine, you alk could be a little higher ... allthough i am not familiar with the salifert tests ... anyway i dont think this is your problem ... How old are your lights ... and where in the tank is the SPS thats browning out ? More commonly its a problem with Lack of light and spectrum that causes the browning out of sps.

So ... How old are your lights / have you kept the lens clean from salt build up. And need to know where in the tank they are ... near the side or center in the top or middle ...even bottom of the tank.

Hi , thanks for your comments.I change my bulbs every 6 months and sometimes earlier.My current bulb combination is 3 Ati special , 2 Ati blue plus and 1 fiji purple.

Green digitata and caliendrum are located just below the circulation pumps on the left.they are located on a long ceramic rock.

Thanks,

 

[dankent]

Just looked at your tank thread nice setup !

 

[dankent]

From what i have been told myself I try to maintain Calc 450 and KH 10 ... mind you my alt is normally at about 12.

Do you feed the tank anything for your corals ? Amino acids/vitamins ?

 

[AG1]

Your params look fine, you alk could be a little higher ... allthough i am not familiar with the salifert tests. With the API test kit i generally like to have my ALK at about 12

How old are your lights ... and where in the tank is the SPS thats browning out ? More commonly its a problem with Lack of light and spectrum that causes the browning out of sps.

So ... How old are your lights / have you kept the lens clean from salt build up. And need to know where in the tank they are ... near the side or center in the top or middle ...even bottom of the tank.

Also whats the temperature of your tank ? Day/Night
How is the flow in your tank ?
Any tank stress lately ?

By the way , yes I clean the lens too often.The temp. is generally 25,5 C
I programmed the chiller at 26C and it starts heating at 25 and cooling at 27C

 

[AG1]

From what i have been told myself I try to maintain Calc 450 and KH 10 ... mind you my alt is normally at about 12.

Do you feed the tank anything for your corals ? Amino acids/vitamins ?

I dose 1 drop of zeovit sponge power in the morning and 1ml of Pohl's xtra just before the lights go off . ( daily )

Amino acid ( grotech Vitamino M ) is dosed by the dosing pump 1ml / day.

And inorder to get more colors I also add Brightwell CoralAmino for about two weeks at 1ml dosage which is alittle bit too high.

Zeovit Coral snow + zeobac once per week.

Grotech Nutramarine N everyday at 2,5ml dosage.

And I also add 1 drop zeovit iron concentrate ( for the greens )

Even though I feed the tank very very heavy I still can not get good colors.

That's why I wanted you all to look at the corals and tell me if it they seem to be in a high nutrient environment or low .

I just can not increase the NO3 even at 1ppm .It is always 0.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

AG1 - read this post...

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...-discussion/55873-bird-nest-coral-fading.html

 

[AG1]

AG1 - read this post...

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...-discussion/55873-bird-nest-coral-fading.html

Thanks I just read it.Mine is not a pink birdnest , it is green in color.Mine is a seriatopora caliendrum.Mine is getting lighter in color and if it is related on light then can I say that mine is getting too much light?

By the way, the situation is same for the millepora , if you have checked my album you will see that it is also light green in color.When I got it , it was darker green.So does the montipora.It was also green but now the color is very strange.Not green and not totally grey.I just can't find a color to describe

And there is a picture which shows a montipora cap ( or another ID , not sure , talking about the plate one ) it was also dark green and now looks very light green.

By the way , thank you guys for your kind helps.I hope that I will solve the problem with your helps.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

I really know very little about this subject... maybe Allen or someone else can help, that link was just one that helped me learn a bit...

Sure someone can tell you more...

 

[Reefmack]

AG1 - you might get some good opinions on your corals colors in the Aquarium Corals subforum:

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/aquarium-corals/

In my experience corals often brown out if not getting enough light, but there may be other reasons. Usually too much light causes them to bleach out, losing color. If you're still getting good polyp extension, and they look healthy, the color is probably related to the intensity of the lighting.

 

[BigAl07]

Normally I'd guess it was the "spectrum" of light but honestly those bulbs should give very good color to your coral. Those are excellent bulbs.

I'm at a loss because I don't see a water parameter that just stands out and since it's not across the whole tank nothing is terribly wrong (yet).

I believe if this were my tank I'd add some carbon in a media bag for a couple of weeks and just sit back and observe.

GREAT looking tank

 

[AG1]

AG1 - you might get some good opinions on your corals colors in the Aquarium Corals subforum:

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/aquarium-corals/

In my experience corals often brown out if not getting enough light, but there may be other reasons. Usually too much light causes them to bleach out, losing color. If you're still getting good polyp extension, and they look healthy, the color is probably related to the intensity of the lighting.

Thank you very much.Yes , there is no problem with the polyp extension, they just seem light to me.Did you check the pictures ? do they seem light to you as well or do they seem browned ?When the coral browned , does it mean the polyps , skeleton or both?

Thanks,,

 

[AG1]

Normally I'd guess it was the "spectrum" of light but honestly those bulbs should give very good color to your coral. Those are excellent bulbs.

I'm at a loss because I don't see a water parameter that just stands out and since it's not across the whole tank nothing is terribly wrong (yet).

I believe if this were my tank I'd add some carbon in a media bag for a couple of weeks and just sit back and observe.

GREAT looking tank

Hi , thank you very much .

I used to add chemi pure elite + purigen before but then I removed them just to increase the NO3 to see if the problem was " 0 " nitrate causing them to bleach.Unfortunately , nothing changed yet.

By the way , how do they looked to you ? light in color or browned etc...I can't figure out if the problem is nutrient related or not .

For Seriatopora Caliendrum the problem can be too much light maybe but how about the green digitata .It's color is also very strange and as far as I know they do well under intense light .

 

[Reefmack]

Thank you very much.Yes , there is no problem with the polyp extension, they just seem light to me.Did you check the pictures ? do they seem light to you as well or do they seem browned ?When the coral browned , does it mean the polyps , skeleton or both?

Thanks,,

I'm not really sure which pictures to look at in your Photobucket gallery- any chance you could post a couple individual pictures?

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ay-post-pics-photobucket-nanoreefing4fun.html

 

[BigAl07]

They don't look bad at all. I've got a couple of SPS that "browned" but they weren't very bright & colorful to begin with. They've slowly gotten browner and browner over time and now they look pretty good. Either the brown looks more healthy or I got used to it LOL!

 

[AG1]

This one is a Seriatopora Caliendrum , as you can see it is very light in color.The position of it is just under the circulation pumps.

Here is the green digitata , it was green in color when I purchased it but now seems very strange in color even though I changed the fixture to ATI 6x 24w

This millepora was also darker in color and it is loacted in the middle of the tank so not getting to much light like the others

Another montipora , this was also darker like the other and it is located at the middle

General look to figure out where they are located

Thanksss,

 

[Reefmack]

Other than color they all look very healthy to me. I have a small S. caliendrum that has grown in the weeks that I've had it. I can't find a recent picture, but this is it when first put in the tank, and it still has the bright green color. Did yours look like this?

Keep in mind that I have 96W of T5 + a 150W MH lamp. I suppose that might be why mine still looks the same?

 

[BigAl07]

What major changes have you done lately?

Did you just recently replace/upgrade bulbs or fixture?

It's possible they are getting more light and they are "self regulating" their symbiotic algae to compensate for more light energy entering their cells.

How long have they been getting lighter in color?

Are you sure about your NO3 levels?

Any other "stressor" in the system that you can think of? Temp spikes, SG swings anything that would introduce wide-spread stress to the tank.

 

[AG1]

Other than color they all look very healthy to me. I have a small S. caliendrum that has grown in the weeks that I've had it. I can't find a recent picture, but this is it when first put in the tank, and it still has the bright green color. Did yours look like this?

Keep in mind that I have 96W of T5 + a 150W MH lamp. I suppose that might be why mine still looks the same?

Yes , this is exactly what mine looked like when I purchased it So do you say that even 6X24w is not enough light for the sps types in RSM