SPS slowly turning brown.

[TonyOrlando]

Why are my new sps corals slowly turning brown. All parameters are"
Nitrate10
triet 0
phos 0
amonia 0
PH 8.3
calcium 410
alk 8 dkh
mag ?
salinity 1.025

 

[77railer]

Where do you have them in the tank? What lighting?

Lee

 

[Bebo77]

flow?

 

[TonyOrlando]

2x250watt with 2x39 watt T5. I have the corals at the top part of the tank and my light fixture hangs 8 inches above water. Its a 72 gallon BF tank. As far as flow, i have 2 koralia number 4. They each pump out 1200 gph. They are both aimed directly at sps corals.

 

[FoothillCorals]

I would keep your Alk higher, at least 9dkh. But that is probably not your problem. How are you measuring your PO4?

 

[TonyOrlando]

salifert test is what i use to test the PO4.

 

[Goodwood]

Are they AB bulbs, 14K?

 

[TonyOrlando]

Umm not sure, all i know is that they are Phoenix double ended 14k.

 

[aquarius77]

Nutrient issue or maybe just still adapting to their new enviroment.
Whats your temp like?

 

[TonyOrlando]

My temp is at 80. As far as nutrients, what would you suggest. All i do is a 15 gallon water change every 2 weeks and add calc, alk, and marine snow for corals.

 

[dmilne85]

sps like a stable enviornment, so stability could be an issue. not sure how you dose calcium/alk but if you are only dosing your tank every two weeks when you are doing water changes, the drop of alk and cal being raised fast could be stressing them out, and thus causing them to brown. i am no expert though, ive only had sps for about 1.5 yrs. and thats my expericence so far.

 

[TonyOrlando]

No, i do WCs every 2 weeks. As far as how i dose my calc and alk, i add 30 mil of each every other morning. could this be the cause?

 

[dmilne85]

oh ok, wasnt sure how you maintained your levels, but that seems like it would be fine to me as long as it was the right amount to keep it up to par. i dont see anything else that would be alarming to me, hopefully someone with alot more experience will chime in. also maybe check to see how much your ph swings at night time, that could also stress them out.... just another thought

 

[TonyOrlando]

ok, thanks. I hope i can figure this out. Also, i did notice over the last couple days that my devils hand coral(leather) shrinking up and loosing some color as well. I don't know if this would be a clue to what could be wrong or not.

 

[ReefWreak]

Goodness, you use 30ml of each 2 part per day? Are you measuring your levels? I've got a 120 full of acros and montis and pocillapora colonies and I use just a hair over 30ml per day to keep up wiht my levels.

My guess would be that you should get a better skimmer. I know they're expensive, but even though your levels test low, it's because they're being absorbed while you're measuring. A more powerful skimmer on that tank will lick out the nitrate/phosphate/ammonia before it can be absorbed by the coral. Corals tend to brown out when they've got excess zooxanthelle, which are stimulated by increased nutrient levels.

Also stop putting in Marine Snow. It's not really recommended by many serious SPS keepers or other aquarists in general. I don't know many people who suggest anything not frozen that doesn't have an expiration date on it.

 

[mile sq. reefer]

Though it can be done, and many people choose to do it, softies in an SPS system is not recommended. Devils hand may be one of the more toxic species toward stony corals.

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10471543#post10471543 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TonyOrlando
ok, thanks. I hope i can figure this out. Also, i did notice over the last couple days that my devils hand coral(leather) shrinking up and loosing some color as well. I don't know if this would be a clue to what could be wrong or not.

leather + acros = chemical warfare

 

[chromafi]

Move the corals up toward the light-
quit the marine snow, use DT oyster-
get a better skimmer-
Toss in some MJ1200's for added current

 

[chromafi]

get rid of the leather

 

[TonyOrlando]

Ok, sounds good. By the way I dose every other day 30ml of each part, not everyday. As far as my skimmer, it seems like it does a pretty good job. It feels up a cup of nasty brown skimmate once a week. Here is a list of all my corals, maybe besides the devils hand coral, i might have some others that will cause some chemical warfare with my sps's. I have green star polyps, sponge, devils hand leather, kenya tree, zoos, clam, torch coral, open brain coral, meat coral, frogspawn, and some mushrooms. None of these above corals listed are near the sps's. Thank you all so much for helping me out.