Birdsnest coral - Growth & Polyp extension but brown?

[meverha1]

Title almost says it all...

Picked up a Purple birdsnest coral from my LFS and it browned almost the minute it was removed from their tank.

In my tank there's fully polyp extension and growth but the body of the coral still looks brown. Polyps have a hint of purple on the ends. Seems healthy otherwise.

My levels are good. pH could be a bit higher and NO3 could be a bit lower but both are being actively worked on.

Every other coral I have seems fine. Thoughts?

 

[markalot]

Title almost says it all...

Picked up a Purple birdsnest coral from my LFS and it browned almost the minute it was removed from their tank.

In my tank there's fully polyp extension and growth but the body of the coral still looks brown. Polyps have a hint of purple on the ends. Seems healthy otherwise.

My levels are good. pH could be a bit higher and NO3 could be a bit lower but both are being actively worked on.

Every other coral I have seems fine. Thoughts?

Well the warning signs are in your post.

Don't ever work on PH, unless you meant to type KH. Adjusting PH will spike KH and do a lot of harm to most SPS.

Spot checking levels to see if they are ok is good, but to grow SPS you really need consistency. if KH is 8.0 today it should be 8.0 tomorrow, etc. etc. KH is probably the most critical number for the health of SPS.

Other than that, since you didn't post exact numbers, lighting, and tank history there's not a lot to go on.

 

[HuskerBioProf]

This is interesting for me, because I have the opposite. I have an ORA Green Birdsnest that is growing very fast with full polyp extension, but it turned really pale on me. It is so light green it is almost white. I have had almost 0 nitrates for the entire time I have had the coral and now have 0.03 phosphates. Alk is on the high end as well. My birdsnest is also in a little high of light. I have since moved it down a pinch. I think I could also use a bit more "food" in my tank, so I started dosing Acropower until I get more fish.

What lights are you running? I suspect that higher lights (promoting higher metabolism) require more "nutrients" and vice versa. If your lights aren't bright enough and/or your Alk is a little low, you might have too high of NO3. In contrast, if your lights are bright and you have high Alk, you also need a little more NO3. Have you tested phosphate and Alk?

 

[meverha1]

A few more details...

Tank: Biocube
Lights StevesLeds Retrofit: 14,000 with Bluefish controller. Peak mid-day Blues 75%, Whites 45%. It's a natural bell curve on both sides from there.

Placement: Higher in the tank, about 7 inches from the waterline. Plenty of flow as it's in front of my MP10

Ca is steady at 500
KH hovers around 10, which I've heard is fine for my Ca levels
Mg is a bit low at 1200 but working on it by dosing Red Sea Reef Foundation Mg

Small maintenance dose of Red Sea ABC+ powder daily (3 mg) keeps everything in line, except for the Mg, but I suspect that will change once I get it to a proper level.

Like I said before, Nitrates a bit high but I'm working on bringing them down with water changes and vodka dosing. I have not yet tested Phosphates.

I've got a CUC, clownfish, firefish, and cleaner shrimp who is growing like a weed (2nd molting today).

Other corals are a mix of soft and LPS and they all seem to be doing fine with the exception of my Duncan but it's new so I'm not too worried.

 

[markalot]

Why even test Calcium would be my comment.

I might suspect the spectrum is wrong with the LED's, or they are actually too bright unless you measured PAR. Perhaps drop whites to 25% and see if things improve. It should color up fine under LED but they can be a pain to fine tune.

I would run a much lower KH, like 7 or 8, and dose two part or Kalk based on Alk reading only to keep it stable. Calcium will fall in line as long as you are using Kalk or a balanced 2 part system.

 

[meverha1]

Why even test Calcium would be my comment.

I might suspect the spectrum is wrong with the LED's, or they are actually too bright unless you measured PAR. Perhaps drop whites to 25% and see if things improve. It should color up fine under LED but they can be a pain to fine tune.

I would run a much lower KH, like 7 or 8, and dose two part or Kalk based on Alk reading only to keep it stable. Calcium will fall in line as long as you are using Kalk or a balanced 2 part system.

I'm mix up the lighting levels a bit. I've heard that corals tend to like blue light more than white, is that true?

Also, Feeding-wise I do the following:

Reef Roids/Reef Chili cocktail 3 times a week.
Marine Snow Twice a week
Reef Fuel two times a week

I'm somewhat new to the hobby so I've never really figure out the best time to feed corals. Is it when lights are off or should I be doing it during the day?

 

[markalot]

I'm mix up the lighting levels a bit. I've heard that corals tend to like blue light more than white, is that true?

Also, Feeding-wise I do the following:

Reef Roids/Reef Chili cocktail 3 times a week.
Marine Snow Twice a week
Reef Fuel two times a week

I'm somewhat new to the hobby so I've never really figure out the best time to feed corals. Is it when lights are off or should I be doing it during the day?

Well, as someone who is coming out of 2 years of mostly brown I can only relate what I learned and hope you learn faster.

SLOW DOWN

Stop changing ANYTHING. Use a PAR meter if you can rent or buy one, set the lights, and do not touch if you want to keep SPS. Lock in KH where you decide it's best and keep it there.

Do not feed or dose anything unless you have too, I have learned to put a small dusting of Reef Roids once or twice a week into an older 150 and that does fine. In a newer tank your export is going to be a lot worse yet the water will tend to get too clean between feedings so just little pinches daily would be better then 3 times a week, but only if the corals actually need it.

I would stop Reef Fuel and anything else besides two part and small regular water changes and get a feel for the tank, then tweak slowly if problems arise.

Different tanks will behave differently so no advice is going to work for everyone.

 

[HuskerBioProf]

Here is a picture to show you what I was talking about with my birdsnest. Turned really pale but also has been one of the fastest growers in the tank. I have had a few Alk fluctuations and a phosphate spike that I attribute to a new tank. As stuff is getting more stable, I hope the color comes back. I know it is a different angle and the first picture is more close up, but hopefully you can see that there is quite a bit of growth for just a month. The loss of color and branch thickening is pretty obvious.

08/12/16:

09/16/16:

 

[Jim Z.]

pH and Lights

pH and Lights

Blue light has more energy than you standard LED's and will excite some pigments to become florescent. You can bump up the blues up slowly over a couple of weeks. I built a full spectrum LED lighting system and the violets and blues provide most of the colors observed in my corals. The white, red, and green channels provide balance to the entire spectrum. I adjusted it once at startup with intensity and have never changed it since then. pH is one of the most misunderstood reef tank parameters and daily changes in pH occur based on photosynthetic rates and CO2 content of the seawater solution. Mark has a valid point concerning pH and other parameters. Go painfully slow or we may have to file a restraining order (LOL) if you try to speed things up.....................................Jim