Top Causes of Browning

FSOL

FSOL

New member
Hi everyone

What are the major causes of SPS browning in color? I have some SPS that are doing wonderful in the tank and growing crazy, but some turn brown (from lighter colors) and THEN start to slowly show color at the tips again.

The tank parameters are perfect. I'm not sure if too much light can cause browning. I ask this because I usually bring the SPS from the LFS and put it medium-high in the tank.

Thanks
 
KIP

amm, nitrite/ate = dead 0
po4 = 0

I have a 180g tank w/ 3 tunze 6100's hooked to a multicontroller + about 2700gph flow from my closed loop and return pumps. I have lotsssss of flow. The sandbed is always white w/out any debris floating around.
It just comes down to either too much flow or too much/too little lighting, and I'm not sure which of these causes browning. I bought a very nice white acro w/ beautiful purple tips and in a week it turned all brown, and now I see the tips are getting blue/purple again. Could it have been stress issue?
 
if you are buying wild colonies/frags... then it is very common for corals to brown.

i am not saying you do have po4... but it is very possible to have a po4 problem and get 0ppm on the test kit. test kits measure free po4 and your corals, algae, etc could be consuming the free po4 as fast as it is being produced and leave you with no po4 to be tested.

only reason i could see for bulbs to cause browning is if the bulb is old and needs replacing.... i have had colorful corals under 10k, 14, and 20k and various wattages.

in terms of lighting... could it be photoperiod?... usually the higher the K, the longer people run their halides.

just throwing out possibilities ... maybe we will hit something soon.
 
The bulbs are less than a month old, all of them. The corals that are browning (two of them so far) are aquacultures ones. Photoperiod is 8 hours for MH's and 12hrs for the VHO's. The bulbs are 14K Phoenix.
I've always wanted to get more accurate phosphate results. I use the salifert test kit and don't know what more advanced kits to use for PO4 measurement. I do see algae growth on the front glass of the tank and I get about a square foot of it in two days. Not sure if this is normal or is indication of high PO4.
I also have a clownfish that keeps stirring the sandbed up with its tail, and I'm assuming that's causing PO4 to rise at times w/out me noticing it.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8373117#post8373117 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kip
if you are buying wild colonies/frags... then it is very common for corals to brown.

i am not saying you do have po4... but it is very possible to have a po4 problem and get 0ppm on the test kit. test kits measure free po4 and your corals, algae, etc could be consuming the free po4 as fast as it is being produced and leave you with no po4 to be tested.
Click to expand...

this is very interesting...I didn't know that. I've always thought by looking at my tank that I had phosphates...but always tested 0...you convinced me to get a phosphate reactor...



Corals being starved is another reason they can be brown. I've been reading about this lately, the conclusion in my case is that I need more fish...how many fish do you have in your system ??
 
I have 14 fish and feed once a day. I also give phytoplankton and cyclopeeze and used to dose oyster eggs, but have stopped that lately. I plan to pick it up again.
 
FSOL... i am thinking you've excess nutrients... if you have algae in your tank, then you have po4.

testing... colorimeters are really good at testing po4 accurately, but once again only free po4. I think the merck kit somehow or another tests organic po4 (over my head). Or.. you can just use your eyes. :)

if you are going to start a po4 reducing regimen, do it slowly... reducing po4 too fast will bleach your corals. You dont truly want absolute zero po4, you want just a tad... but that "tad" is a very, very fine line.

good luck
 
KIP - if I have PO4, then why do only certain sps turn brown, and why do they start coming back in color?
I have a phosban reactor and I also use cheato in my fuge, and it grows like crazy. I also skim wet.

The only indication of algae is the one I see on the front glass, and it's started happening lately when my clown's acting crazy and blowing sand everywhere. Could he be exposing buried po4 from the sandbed to the water column?
 
what stonies are browning out on you? ... montis, seria, stylo, etc, etc do ok... acros... stags ok, but bushy and/or tabling ones dull out... particularly purples?

when i started running GFO, my chaeto slowed down to a near halt.

the stirring of the sandbed.... could be releasing organics

why do colors start to come back.... corals are miraculous at adaptation (within reason)... but you may find that they are always "starting to come back" and never quite get all the way back.

i dont think anybody will have the magic silver bullet for your problems... this is where the "advanced" part of stony keeping comes into play and just finding the right delicate balance for your system

have patience.. .keep trying... if you try something new... try it for a while (unless you see adverse results)... give things a chance to work.

its all about time... if you are impatient like me, you may get more enjoyment outta watching sand thru an hour glass than waiting on your tank to reach that perfect balance.

remember.. if it were easy... every house in america would have an elaborate, beautiful reef
 
I don't know the types of SPS, so I"ll snap some pics and post it here later today.

I'm still very happy w/ the tank. If two of my corals are turning brown, on the other hand 20 of them are doing wonderful, so the success ratio is quite good :)
 
well then.. i keep finding out more and more as we go here :)

two corals out of a bunch .... if the two corals are the newest... i wouldnt worry about a thing and just let them adjust (can take a coupla months especially if acros)
 
Most new corals that I added to my tank go thru an "adjustment period" when the corals either fade or get more towards brown. Sometimes it takes quite a while before their colors return. I've got a tri-color I've had for darn near a year and that thing is still brown.

I think my husbandry is pretty good. I change 20% every other week and I have little algae in the tank, feed well, use P04 remover and carbon etc. I think it takes a while for new sps get happy in a new environment.

Chris
 
my corals will brown for different reasons...

temp swings...

dirty water...

Flow on coral tips.. ( cant stop them from growing ) -- they grow into the path of the seios... and then the flesh blows off...

Tough problem to solve
 
burning out bulbs...

Change in photoperiod ( elect bill was 472 last mo )

SPS are all sorts of fun...

Keeping everything constant is the challenge, while the corals keep growing taking more and more calcium, stopping flow with thier growth..
 
cwegescheide quote

Most new corals that I added to my tank go thru an "adjustment period" when the corals either fade or get more towards brown. Sometimes it takes quite a while before their colors return.

Agree
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8375627#post8375627 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Frankysreef


Flow on coral tips.. ( cant stop them from growing ) -- they grow into the path of the seios... and then the flesh blows off...

Tough problem to solve
Click to expand...

Man I can't wait till I have those problems!!! :lol:
 
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