one new frag turning brown

[Fishmommy]

Greetings!
I have one frag, I think it is a stag, that has turned kind of tan colored over the past week that I have had it. Everything else nearby has great colors.
It's polyps are extending, and the brown is not jelly, it's just coloration.

What should I change?

Alk 8
Cal 420
PH 8.1
Temp 79
Sal 35
Mag 1500+
Light is about 200 PAR

No softies or fish in the tank, and I am running carbon. I did just replace my GFO over the weekend so I had a phos drop from Phosporous ULR 10 to about 3. This is when the color change happened, but it could be a coincidence.

 

[xanthurum]

Nothing, most frags in my tank brown out for about a month as they get use to my lighting and water. Then they color back up and sometimes get nicer than when I purchased them. Brown is better than White.

 

[Fishmommy]

oh thank you!

 

[Reefvet]

Light is about 200 PAR

A stag grows well in 350-400 PAR. It'll survive on less but it probably won't really grow.

Do you have any idea how much light it was under when you bought it ?

Or what kind of light the colony it was fragged from was under ?

 

[Fishmommy]

it was under about 250 PAR, so this is somewhat lower light. I can move it up if you think it's needed.

 

[Reefvet]

Unless there were some other major changes in environment, like flow or alkalinity, it's browned out because it's light deprived.

I got a new stag a couple of weeks ago and it never skipped a beat going under 350 PAR and I know the colony it was fragged from was under about 300. The difference of 50 for a stag is significant when it's 50 less. It'll only love 50 more.

I've been to reefs where the stags are out of the water at low tide. That means they're under a heck of a lot of light when they're submerged.

 

[Fishmommy]

I will move it today after work then. Thanks.

 

[trueblackpercula]

How do you know for sure how much PAR you have? also 250 PAR is ok and you sps should not be browning. I would check into something else. I see you PO$ is very low do you have algea? also are you dosing any carbon? inaddtion to that can yo post a picture of it?

 

[Fishmommy]

I have a PAR meter.
I have some coralline and some chaeto, but no other algae. I run GFO.
I run an activated carbon reactor, but I do not dose carbon. I dose calcium and alk only so far, but am prepared to dose mag when it is needed.
I had not considered dosing vodka or other carbon sources, but could be talked into it

 

[roberto_lopes]

It's normal. As our firend said, better brown than white.

200PAR it's a little underpowered for my taste but some species go really well under this kind of light.

My Stags really shines on 500-600 PAR.