What causes SPS to lighten or pale?

[rovster]

Some of my SPS have recently started to pale. Polyp extension is very good, a couple look downright bleached. As far as I know, the two main things that cause this is too much light, and low nutrients. My lights have not changed in over a year, only difference is I've moved to a bare bottom tank and nutrients are low. I've added some fish to increase import of nutrients.

Is there anything else that could cause this? I just don't want to overlook anything. Some of my acros look great, others are fading. Nothing is brown, and definitely nothing is dark brown.....been there before too. Thanks for any comments:wave:

 

[trueblackpercula]

Well I have the same problem and it was first caused by my radion intensity was too high so I lowered it. Then I still was getting light corals and found that my nitrate being at zero and my P04 is at 0.01 I needed to add nutrients. I just started this yesterday and it was recommend by a friend of mine to start adding oyster feast feast at 3mls every other day.

A it's funny as we try so hard to keep clean tanks and it now turns out they are to clean. I once had a bare bottom tank it looked great for the short while as everything was harder to keep balanced as there was never enough nutrients in the tank. So one day I add live sand ( not trying to convince you to add sand) and my sps had some amazing colors and my tank looked great. Until I had a tank crash and lost everything, but now my tank is back on track I hope and as soon as I get nutrients back into the tank I am sure things will be fine. I also have been making the mistake of using instant ocean salt mix and need to change this out for a more reef friendly salt I hope today when I got out lol

Good luck in what you do but I think the first step may be to lower your intensity of lighting and adding nutrients as bare bottom tanks sure need it.

 

[LoJack]

From the articles I've read on Nutrients test your nitrates and phosphates.

You want the low, but just barely detectable. Too clean, and you starve them … which is what I'd suspect with you recently going bare bottom.

Feed as much as possible without running into algae problems and they should spruce back up.

I'm currently going through the same thing. I was battling a bad case of dino's, so I was starving my tank of lights and nutrients … some of my corals have faded and have reduced polyp extension as a result.

I am now slowly increasing feeding back up again to a point where the corals are happy, but there isn't enough nutrients in the water to cause another dino outbreak, because boy were they a pain in the A$$ to get rid of.

 

[rovster]

Thanks, this is just a holding tank, hence no sand. That said, it might be several months before the bigger tank is up and running. I will be using sand in h big tank. My nitrate kit is reading really high but I suspect it's defective, there are only small patches of algae on frag plugs, none whatsoever on the rock, and I can go over a week without cleaning the glass. Phos read 0 last week, and 0.02 yesterday.

 

[CUNAReefer]

Thanks, this is just a holding tank, hence no sand. That said, it might be several months before the bigger tank is up and running. I will be using sand in h big tank. My nitrate kit is reading really high but I suspect it's defective, there are only small patches of algae on frag plugs, none whatsoever on the rock, and I can go over a week without cleaning the glass. Phos read 0 last week, and 0.02 yesterday.

Hi Rovster,

You've gotten some pretty good information above. A good rule of thumb is... you should have algae on your glass every two to three days. It should be a thin brown film. If your going a week without algae, its a good indicator of a tank that is to clean. Target phosphates betwen .01 and .03. Target nitrate of .2. The trick is to match your feeding with your filtration. Your going to need to test on a daily basis to find this balance, but when you do... stick with it. Over time, your stability will lead to steady growth and beautiful sps coloration.

On a related note, if your running low nutrients and your using carbon, you can cause your corals to become even paler. I use just enough to keep my water clear.

On a final note (for those that use bacteria/carbon dosing), you can get what appears to be a diatom bloom when you run your trates and phates at 0 for long periods of time. The "algae" (possibly bacterial driven) develops into long stringy brown patches. This will go away once your nutrient levels are elevated to the target params mentioned above.

Happy Holidays,
James

 

[ridetheducati]

Hi Rovster,

You've gotten some pretty good information above. A good rule of thumb is... you should have algae on your glass every two to three days. It should be a thin brown film. If your going a week without algae, its a good indicator of a tank that is to clean. Target phosphates betwen .01 and .03. Target nitrate of .2. The trick is to match your feeding with your filtration. Your going to need to test on a daily basis to find this balance, but when you do... stick with it. Over time, your stability will lead to steady growth and beautiful sps coloration.

On a related note, if your running low nutrients and your using carbon, you can cause your corals to become even paler. I use just enough to keep my water clear.

On a final note (for those that use bacteria/carbon dosing), you can get what appears to be a diatom bloom when you run your trates and phates at 0 for long periods of time. The "algae" (possibly bacterial driven) develops into long stringy brown patches. This will go away once your nutrient levels are elevated to the target params mentioned above.

Happy Holidays,
James

Nailed it. Hopefully, more will benefit.

 

[rovster]

Hi Rovster,

You've gotten some pretty good information above. A good rule of thumb is... you should have algae on your glass every two to three days. It should be a thin brown film. If your going a week without algae, its a good indicator of a tank that is to clean. Target phosphates betwen .01 and .03. Target nitrate of .2. The trick is to match your feeding with your filtration. Your going to need to test on a daily basis to find this balance, but when you do... stick with it. Over time, your stability will lead to steady growth and beautiful sps coloration.

On a related note, if your running low nutrients and your using carbon, you can cause your corals to become even paler. I use just enough to keep my water clear.

On a final note (for those that use bacteria/carbon dosing), you can get what appears to be a diatom bloom when you run your trates and phates at 0 for long periods of time. The "algae" (possibly bacterial driven) develops into long stringy brown patches. This will go away once your nutrient levels are elevated to the target params mentioned above.

Happy Holidays,
James

First off, thanks for the input. Been following you for some time now here, and plan on a smaller zeo build sometime down the road. I will definitely hit you up then. It's funny you mention the carbon, I was thinking about that this weekend. I've been running more than usual due to the tank transfer, I wanted to make sure I was covered if things got PO'd or stuff got stirred up. I will remove some of my carbon tonight. Was running 2 bags instead of one, one being ROX, which I know can be harsh on SPS. Good news is, all my new fish are settling nicely, looking forward to all the extra poop!:wildone:

 

[DavidinGA]

Hi Rovster,

You've gotten some pretty good information above. A good rule of thumb is... you should have algae on your glass every two to three days. It should be a thin brown film. If your going a week without algae, its a good indicator of a tank that is to clean. Target phosphates betwen .01 and .03. Target nitrate of .2. The trick is to match your feeding with your filtration. Your going to need to test on a daily basis to find this balance, but when you do... stick with it. Over time, your stability will lead to steady growth and beautiful sps coloration.

On a related note, if your running low nutrients and your using carbon, you can cause your corals to become even paler. I use just enough to keep my water clear.

On a final note (for those that use bacteria/carbon dosing), you can get what appears to be a diatom bloom when you run your trates and phates at 0 for long periods of time. The "algae" (possibly bacterial driven) develops into long stringy brown patches. This will go away once your nutrient levels are elevated to the target params mentioned above.

Happy Holidays,
James

Wow that's interesting looking back on my experience since I had that long stringy algae for a while when I had a tiny bio load and was running too clean (big skimmer, fuge, gfo, gac and super light feeding). I always wondered why I had it since I knew it couldn't be a p04 issue....

 

[blackthunda77]

had the same issue a couple months back. Was running too much GFO and carbon. Took those 2 offline for a while and the colors darkened back up.

 

[rovster]

Cool, already took the extra carbon offline. We'll see how things respond.

 

[Flexin5]

great info in this thread. i don't mean to hijack but i was about to post the same thing. i too am having pale sps.

i believe i'm running my tank way too clean. i bought all new test kits (well the important ones anyway)

i tested last night:

Ph: 7.8-8.0 (API)
Ammonia: 0ppm (API)
Nitrite:0ppm (API)
Nitrate:0ppm (Salifert)
Phosphates:0.00ppm (Hanna)
Alkalinity:7dkh (Salifert)
Calcium:440ppm(Salifert)
Salinity:1.025Magnesium:1300(red sea)

also i don't feed frozen, just flake soaked in garlic and about 5 drops of vitachem. also i'm running gfo and carbon but since the pale-ness and no sign of nitrate and phosphates i haven't changed it in about two months. i also clean my glass about once a week and even then it's not that bad.

i dose about 18mls of seachem fuel twice a week, other days i also feed a pinch of reef roids and the flake mix everyday. perhaps my 20 gallon (130gal total) waterchanges are too much? the only algee i have in the tank is on one rock that doesn't get much flow, like green slime algee, a tiny spot on the sand near that same rock (low flow area) and the top of two rocks in the refugium that have like a red slime algae?

I am going to try the phols xtra special to see if that helps.

 

[ridetheducati]

great info in this thread. i don't mean to hijack but i was about to post the same thing. i too am having pale sps.

i believe i'm running my tank way too clean. i bought all new test kits (well the important ones anyway)

i tested last night:

Ph: 7.8-8.0 (API)
Ammonia: 0ppm (API)
Nitrite:0ppm (API)
Nitrate:0ppm (Salifert)
Phosphates:0.00ppm (Hanna)
Alkalinity:7dkh (Salifert)
Calcium:440ppm(Salifert)
Salinity:1.025Magnesium:1300(red sea)

also i don't feed frozen, just flake soaked in garlic and about 5 drops of vitachem. also i'm running gfo and carbon but since the pale-ness and no sign of nitrate and phosphates i haven't changed it in about two months. i also clean my glass about once a week and even then it's not that bad.

i dose about 18mls of seachem fuel twice a week, other days i also feed a pinch of reef roids and the flake mix everyday. perhaps my 20 gallon (130gal total) waterchanges are too much? the only algee i have in the tank is on one rock that doesn't get much flow, like green slime algee, a tiny spot on the sand near that same rock (low flow area) and the top of two rocks in the refugium that have like a red slime algae?

I am going to try the phols xtra special to see if that helps.

The system needs food. There is a mad rush to get ULNS but everyone forgets to feed the system. Zero nitrates and phosphates means you need to feed the system more, not less.

 

[djberg]

Can someone post a pic of this brown stringy algae? My tests are all at 0 but I've also read there are two different types of phosphates and one od the two does not show up on the "cheaper" tests like api. I'm lost I have a boat load of stringy brown algae but ibalso have a good amount of long hair as well.

Thanks and sorry for the hijacking

 

[ridetheducati]

Can someone post a pic of this brown stringy algae? My tests are all at 0 but I've also read there are two different types of phosphates and one od the two does not show up on the "cheaper" tests like api. I'm lost I have a boat load of stringy brown algae but ibalso have a good amount of long hair as well.

Thanks and sorry for the hijacking

Google images for dinoflagellates. Hopefully, you dont have dinos, they are the worst. No need to test for phosphates when nuisance algae is present. Test for nitrates and phosphates when the system is clean. Also, get a Hanna phosphate checker, more accurate. Hair algae, dino, and cyano equates to elevated nitrates and phosphates.

 

[Touring]

Hi Rovster,

You've gotten some pretty good information above. A good rule of thumb is... you should have algae on your glass every two to three days. It should be a thin brown film. If your going a week without algae, its a good indicator of a tank that is to clean. Target phosphates betwen .01 and .03. Target nitrate of .2. The trick is to match your feeding with your filtration. Your going to need to test on a daily basis to find this balance, but when you do... stick with it. Over time, your stability will lead to steady growth and beautiful sps coloration.

On a related note, if your running low nutrients and your using carbon, you can cause your corals to become even paler. I use just enough to keep my water clear.

On a final note (for those that use bacteria/carbon dosing), you can get what appears to be a diatom bloom when you run your trates and phates at 0 for long periods of time. The "algae" (possibly bacterial driven) develops into long stringy brown patches. This will go away once your nutrient levels are elevated to the target params mentioned above.

Happy Holidays,
James

Thank you for this, some good information. i never get algae on my glass.... guess i need to feed more

 

[rovster]

Thought I would post some photos. These are quick snapshots, so white balance and even focus might be off, but it should be enough to give you an idea. Just to throw this out there, I've been in the hobby for 2 years, and have had SPS from bleached to turd brown, so I kind of know what it looks like. IMHO, most if not all of these corals look either starved or bleached. The light over these corals has not changed, and has actually decreased because the depth of the corals has increased going from the biocube to the 30 gallon holding tank. Also keep in mind I am currently doing weekly dips for AEFW, which is going very well. It is not the dips, because I have a large Hammer colony that is looking rather pale latetly, and my Pocci and birdsnests corals look good, but also rather pale. Most of my Zoas are looking rather PO'd as well.

Here we go. First up is my bonsai. It started as the little nub you see on top, and was starting to show upgrowth when I transferred. This coral was turd brown when going into the 30 gal. It is now fully blue, with a hint of paleness. I lost a big part of the base when I broke down the other tank.




Second is my green slimer, that looks electric, but in the last week has gone from super electric to a little pale, but still looks great IMHO. Also started as a nub.....




This mille was the hardest hit from the AEFW. It was looking RAGGED! Its coming back but is paling quite a bit....




Another mille frag that was hit hard by the AEFW that is almost fully recovered in terms of dead areas. polyp extension is coming back slowly. Red planet on the left looks totally bleached. Both are very pale and look starved....




More to come.....

 

[rovster]

Don't know what these are, they were given to me as freebies. The one in front was literally an 1/8 of an inch and is basing out. It was a nice green with some florescence, but again looking pale. The one in the back looks happy. THe dead area was where it was touching my mille.....



THis guy looks totally bleached, although some of the polyps are starting to grow...





I will comment, you will see some algae on the frag plugs. I only have algae in my tank on frag plugs and dead areas of corals. No algae on the rocks other than a little diatom from some new base rock in there. But the base rock was cured for over a year and was acid treated and was testing close to 0 phos like 6 months ago.


More to come.....

 

[ReefCowboy]

Great to see this topic up. I also have noticed a lighter color on my colonies, and havent changed light over about 7 months. I have a heavily stocked sps 80 gal tank with two fish that i feed lightly. Recently(past 2 months) i replaced my cone skimmer rated for a 150 gal tank to another rated to 300+ gal tank due to a great deal. I also have been replacing rox .08 carbon every two weeks, so i think my nutrients have been really low. I havent checked my nitrate levels, but my po4 is almost undetectable. Should i maybe start increasing with aminos maybe? Here is a pic of the tank

 

[rovster]

Hawkins on the right (started as a fresh cut little nubs, been basing for the past few months), and a couple of nubs from a JTC minicolony that decided to RTN on me a few months ago. I snipped the very tips, and they are kinds growing back. Good polyp extension. Some algae on there, again only on plugs and dead areas...




Only had this for a coupld of months. Is basing out very well. Polyps are usually out, must have upset it when moved for pic. This one usually has nice purple tips and a glowing base. not seen in pics, but its there.....



Green bird. Fragged it yesterday, still recovering. Grew this out from a 2 branck nub.....


Ponape still looks decent.....




Bird of Paradise, also grown from a 1/4" nub. Looking pale lately....



Here is a FTS. You can see my ghetto Biocube hood on there. Should be selling that off soon. I have a Halide I will be hanging over the tank as a temp light.




Most of my montis are also pale. I apologize the white balance on these pics is just aweful. I can take some better color corrected pics if needed, but you should get the idea.

I added 4 nano fish (3 chromis, possum wrasse) and an anthias to add to my pair of clowns and blenny. Hoping the added crap in the water will help. I also got a Zeo nano pack (CV, Pohls, LPS Amino, SP) that I plan on using. I want to give it a week or 2 to see if the added fish helps, if not I will start dosing the zeo stuff. My clean up crew is also very limited, 2 hermits, 2 turbos, and maybe 4 astreas.

Hoping you guys confirm what I think is happeneing, and that is the corals are starving. I have lowered the intensity of my LEDs as well, much lower than I had them when they were in the nano, and some of these corals were just 2 inches below the surface and looking a lot better than they are now.

 

[rovster]

Here is a pic of my frag loaded nano from a little while back. All of these corals made the transfer, and as you can see, many have grown substantially.