3 years of brown....

redwhiteandblue

redwhiteandblue

New member
Ok, never ask too many questions here and I expect I'm going to get the usual, however I request that reason is given if you are going to say "they are brown because I have too high of nutrients, or they are pale because I don't have enough nutrients". Please don't just leave it at that, I can read other threads if I want to hear that.

may 2012 I started withe my first sps which I still have today. The system (180 gallon) was manually dosed, inconsistent, and very new. I ran an ATI sunpower. My frags shortly turned brown with a hint of color on the tips. I know this system was messed up. I fought algae, high phosphate (.25) and every other noob type issue. I know why things didn't look great in 2012. Towards the end of the year I deployed gfo and carbon.

Jan 2013 I bought 3 a I sols, got a little better at taking care of the essentials, sps started to grow fairly well, but still no color. Towards the end of 2013 I bought 4 t5s to supplement and bought 2 dosers to keep things stable. Color improved a little bit, growth still happened, minimal algae, but still brown sps. Dud ring the year I really hammered down on logging info, kept very stable parameters, and actually got the tank a little too clean, had some very very light sps and bleached some frags.

2014 kept up with the ai's and t5, rock solid params:
alk around 8-9 all year
calcium 400-425 all year
mag 1350-1400 all year

Tank went bare bottom, started to feel heavily, never gto much algae, p04 NEVER anything but 0.0 to 0.4ppm on hanna tried 3 different packs of solution. N03 never anything but zero via salifert (Recently I got a 0.2!!!!!) Still got brown corals. At this point, I figure it Has got to be my lighting.......

2015 jan.
sold my 180 to prepare for a move, downgraded to a rimless 80 gallon powered by 2 a I hydra 52s. Bare bottom, no gfo, no carbon, weekly 10 gallon w.c.....Some color improvement, defiantly better pe. But still brown sps, after 5 months in a new system. Heavy feeding, heavy skimming (200 gallon rating 8 inch skimmer full of dark nasties per week) a little algae on rock, red stringy algae thus time, never had it in the 180, and a little cyano. All in all it seems like a clean system. If I run 1/2 cup of gfo it seems like things start getting pale after a week or so.

May 2015.....
bought 2 250 w radiums as my final attempt at color. Hydra 52s are used for supplemental purposes only. If it was my lightino the whole time, I shall see in a month or so... parameter have been solid as all of 2014. No measurable phosphate or n03.

In conclusion.......what the heck is going on. I have sps colonies almost a foot wide, I can grow em, but can't keep a frag to keep its color to save my life. Am I nutrient rich, and if so why don't it show up in my N03 test. Or am I nutrient poor, and if so why do I have a little algae and clean my glass every few days. Any heLA appreciated. Thank you

20150515_170351_zpsyp0h2ocs.jpg
 
To note.....everything in the tank was at one time a 1 inch frag
the large colonies on left are a tyree blue matrix, and pink lemonade, also an Ora Miami orchid.
also have sunset, rainbow, chili pepper, and superman montis, green digi, purple monster, pavona, an some other random stuff. All growing.
 
Some questions below that will help narrow down what the issue might be...


1.) Are you montiporas colorful and just not your Acropora, or is it the same all around? Some shots of specific corals might help if you have them.

2.) Are you using a refractometer that has been calibrated with 35ppt solution?

3.) What skimmer? Some 200 gallon ratings are accurate, others are a joke...

4.) Have you verified your parameters with more than one test kit?

5.) Do you think you would be able to spot red bugs if you had them?

6.) What are you monitoring temp with and where are you at?

7.) 0 TDS RO/DI for water?

8.) Have you tried a frag recently and did it also brown out?

A couple things to keep in mind...

Once colonies brown out, they can be tough to color back up.

A Centropyge angel nipping at corals will only hurt color, so keep a close eye on the flame. In my experience most nip eventually.
 
I have the following questions:

1. Which brand of two part are you using?
2. Are you dosing any trace elements with the two part? If yes, which product?
3. Which brand of salt are you using?
4. How often and what % are your water changes?
5. Have you calibrated your refractometer?

It isnt your light. Even your old lights were fine. It isnt too high or too low nutrients. I've seen great colours in SPS with night NO3 and PO4 and the lower end too.

Answer to above will help to recommend a course of action.
 
Peter Eichler said:
Some questions below that will help narrow down what the issue might be...


1.) Are you montiporas colorful and just not your Acropora, or is it the same all around? Some shots of specific corals might help if you have them.

2.) Are you using a refractometer that has been calibrated with 35ppt solution?

3.) What skimmer? Some 200 gallon ratings are accurate, others are a joke...

4.) Have you verified your parameters with more than one test kit?

5.) Do you think you would be able to spot red bugs if you had them?

6.) What are you monitoring temp with and where are you at?

7.) 0 TDS RO/DI for water?

8.) Have you tried a frag recently and did it also brown out?

A couple things to keep in mind...

Once colonies brown out, they can be tough to color back up.

A Centropyge angel nipping at corals will only hurt color, so keep a close eye on the flame. In my experience most nip eventually.
Click to expand...

1. My montipora have more color than my acros. Sunset looks great, rainbow just has green polyps, chili pepper could look better, but not terrible.

2.yes, I just ordered some new fluid to rule that one out, will also check via secondary source

3. It's a reef octopus xs 200. Sicce psk 1000 pump

4. Alkalinity has been verified via hanna, others have used 2 different date salient kits.

5. I have not seen any bugs of sort. Check often. But I could be missing them

6. Temp control via apex. Checked with thermometer periodically. Before halides, temp was 77.5 to 79. Now it goes from 77.5 to 81

7. 0 TDS, filters changed 1x yr

8. Last frags were in feb. Had a green slimer that browned out an regained color. Strawberry shortcake and blue milli browned and still brown

Never seen my angel nip. Had it since 2012. However I wouldn't rule it out. Thank you for the detailed response. I will work on photos today
 
sahin said:
I have the following questions:

1. Which brand of two part are you using?
2. Are you dosing any trace elements with the two part? If yes, which product?
3. Which brand of salt are you using?
4. How often and what % are your water changes?
5. Have you calibrated your refractometer?

It isnt your light. Even your old lights were fine. It isnt too high or too low nutrients. I've seen great colours in SPS with night NO3 and PO4 and the lower end too.

Answer to above will help to recommend a course of action.
Click to expand...
1. Brs two part. I was using drs foster and smith for 6 months

2. No

3. Been using sea chem the last 1.5 years, before that, Kent marine, red sea, and I o

4. Approximately 7 to 10% weekly

5. Yes, ordered new solution recently, waiting on arrival
 
Last edited:
I vote for better photos. I am looking but dont see it in the display picture. Are you shooting for Zeovit type color with the rare ausie and red sea colonies or are you keeping it real and looking for healthy and natural(ish) coral coloration.?
 
Mock said:
I vote for better photos. I am looking but dont see it in the display picture. Are you shooting for Zeovit type color with the rare ausie and red sea colonies or are you keeping it real and looking for healthy and natural(ish) coral coloration.?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily zeovit, but I know the coral I have are not the color they once were. I don't think it's terrible, but it's far from good. I have spent more time than I'd like to admit trying to figure this issue out. Not to mention spent a fortune also. I know I have all the basics covered, so I have to be missing something.....
 
redwhiteandblue said:
Could very well be. I clean the glass 1 to 2 times a week. It develops a haze every 2 to 3 days. I let it go a while before cleaning.
Click to expand...

Sorry if this was asked before...

How much are you feeding every day? I would agree that it looks more of a low nutrient situation. I had a similar situation with undetectable nitrates and phosphates. My corals looked pale and some of my older ones didn't have very robust growth. I started feeding more and supplementing aa and now things have started to improve considerably. My nitrates are still undetectable but my phosphates run from .009 to .02. Now that they are detectable on a Hanna phosphorus meter I have seen better growth and color.

I think most problems people have with SPS are from being afraid to feed like I was. Once I got over it and fed more things are doing a lot better.
 
I feed 2 frozen cubes of different food daily. Some days get pellet instead of food. Every once in a while I skip a feeding due to schedule. Also feed reef chili 1 to 3 times week
 
Very interested in knowing the answer as well.
I have the same problem. Corals just aren't colorful at all. There are colors in the corals but they are just not vibrant and not popping (can't think of better words). Corals are just growing and growing non stop but just doesn't color up. Red planet just isn't Red, more like tan color with very little red and green.
 
Amino acids heavy feedings of phytoplankton and a tiny bit of vodka like 1 ml a day.

You could by phols solution by kz zeofit.

I use fuel Amino acids. I turn all pumps off and spot feed reef chili and reef roids.
 
I also vote starving. On some acros it can be hard to tell the difference. Your Miami Orchid has more white than mine, and I am coming off high nitrates and phosphates and the orchid is a really rich good looking brown with bright tips. To me this is the clue that low nutrients might be the issue here since yours is mostly lighter in color.

You also maybe has a typo on phosphates? > 0.0 to 0.4ppm < Is this the low range meter? If so then that's really really low, if not then .4 is rather high.
 
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