Humilis turned brown...

[jmaneyapanda]

I dont have experience with humilis per se, but I can comment that many corals I had that I accepted would be brown forever launched into ridiculous colors when I fired up my ozone. Whether it was better water clarity or the antiseptic nature of the ozone, my SPS started turning some ridiculous colors.

 

[SDguy]

Actually the one piece of equipment I would really like to add to my tank. Unfortunately, I have no way to run my skimmer outflow over carbon, so I don't see it happening for this particular setup.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

It certrainly has its tradeoffs. For example, I cant keep some LPS that "like" dirtier water- ie- micromussa, acanthastrea, etc. It just fades away in my tank (likely due to lack of organics). On the other hand, the best feeling in the world is to have a fellow reefer donate a frag to you, and have them over a month or two later, look right at the frag, and ask you where you got it, because it has colored so intensely, they never thought it possible.

I thought the ame thing about my skimmer, but I found a way. My skimmer just unloaded into a bulkhead into my sump. I put a street ell on the bulkhead and plumbed it to the surface of the sump water (to minimize and back pressure). Here I have a focused output which I just lay a small bag of carbon over. To be honest, I dont think there is much, if any, that escapes my skimmer via this route, but I do it to be safe. I did need to adjust the output gate valve to compensate for the minimal backpressure, but I love the looks with ozone- the water appears nonexistant, and the SPS are ridiculous.

 

[SDguy]

Hey, that sounds very interesting. Do you have a thread about it, or perhaps just some pics you could PM me? Thanks.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

i will try to take some pics, it is at the back of the sump, so i'll see what i can do. Its pretty straightforward if your skimmer is plumbed through a bulkhead. Whatever size bulkhead you have, go to HD or Lowes and get a PVC 90 degree street ell. This wilkl slip into the bulkhead and point the turn up. Cut a small section of PVC to run this line just slightly over the water level in the sump. Place small bag of carbon over the pipe. The water will floow through the carbon on its way out the put. You could probably even maneuver the carbon into the pipe if you wanted.

As I mentioned, this will restrict flow a little, so adjust the floow of your skimmer accordingly. The 90 degre turn and the carbon resistance will slow the water a little.

 

[SDguy]

Thanks for the info jmaneyapanda. Even if I don't end up using ozone, it's a great place to use carbon for those of us without a media section in our sump.

Just wanted to update on the two humilis colonies. The one under the phoenix bulb (newer bulb) is definitely keeping some blue color (the one on the right in my first pic). The really dark brown one was under my older hammy bulb. It has gotten even darker brown, but is showing definite growth buds off the main branches. It has become very flourescent green under the moon light. So all in all, I can't complain much as they seem to be doing well. I put brand new phoenix bulbs on today, so we'll see if there are any changes.

 

[Serioussnaps]

Give it some time. All of your params look to be good though i dont recall you mentioning nitrates. If they are in line with the rest of your params i would rule them out. I think patience and TLC is what your new additions need. In 2-3 months they will be color right up. Also, the reason for the browning......I bet they are WILD colonies. Reaction to the new environment and stress....nothing you could have done about it except give them time and the proper environment and it seems like you got a great handle on the environment and you just need to give em some time. Ozone is just gonna give you one more thing to worry about.