resons for sps browning

[Anonymous]

Turt, the water seems to be the last variable here. A TDS reading may not give the whole picture. Does your LFS carry filtered seawater?

 

[Sea Turtle]

hi. what about the new lamps? how long have you had them and did this start to happen after the new bulbs or was it happening all along? if you had old bulbs that have shifted color, and replaced them with new, high PAR lamps without acclimating the corals to them by using something like multiple window screens or something to gradually expose the coral to the new light, you could easily have stressed them, or bleached them.

i do not think that your sand bed is causing this issue.

I have had my bulbs for about 6 months now.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Turt, the water seems to be the last variable here. A TDS reading may not give the whole picture. Does your LFS carry filtered seawater?

I don;t believe that I can get any type of filtered sea water around here. And if I could I would have to sell my car to pay for it... I should be getting my new RO/DI filters this week in the mail. Let's hope that works...

 

[Sea Turtle]

Hello everyone.

It has been sometime now since I have posted in regards to the nutrient problem I have been having with my tank. Since then, I have been keeping up with my water changes (10% per week), vacuuming the sand each time, cutting back on the feedings (flakes rather than frozen), added refugium, and carbon. Since then I have seen an enourmous improvement in my corals and overall tank life. About 90% of the corals have come back completely and are now doing better then they ever have. The polyps are enourmouse and fully extended all the time. However, I am still having a problem getting the purples to come back completely. The coral seems to be doing well, full polyps but no purple. Only at the tips. Any idea as to what may be causing this?

 

[Sea Turtle]

All the corals are doing great. Color is back completly.

I just don;t understand. I have three purple corals that are in the tank and all three of them are not turning back to their purple color. I feel that I have removed all the nutrients completly. What else could be causing this? Do the purples take longer to come back?

 

[Anonymous]

Really good to hear that the color has come back, though unfortunately I don't have any insights on why the purple corals are lagging behind. Are they in the same part of the tank? Different types of coral or similar?

 

[Sea Turtle]

Really good to hear that the color has come back, though unfortunately I don't have any insights on why the purple corals are lagging behind. Are they in the same part of the tank? Different types of coral or similar?

yes, they are in the same tank. Tyree Purple Bonzi, ORA Purple plazma, and some other purple/blue acro that I am unsure of. They have their purple tips but not the body base. This is still a brownish color.

 

[Anonymous]

Odd. All I can suggest is continuing to observe if and when they change and sharing that. If there is something particular about purple acros, it would no doubt be of broader interest.

Of course, it might just be it's coincidence that the purple corals are the last to color up...

 

[Sea Turtle]

does strontium play a part in the coloration of purple in the reef tank?

 

[Anonymous]

I'm afraid that's going beyond my knowledge levels.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm kind of jumping in at the end of this thread, so I apologize if this has already been covered.

Sea Turtle: What kind of lighting do you have, and where are the supposed-to-be-purple corals placed? IME purple is easily overshadowed by any remaining brownness, so it's possible you just need to keep waiting and continue to keep lower NO3 and PO4.

And FWIW strontium is unlikely to be the culprit as it's more associated with growth than color.

 

[anerythroplastic]

Sorry, I don´t know about resons for sps browning.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I'm kind of jumping in at the end of this thread, so I apologize if this has already been covered.

Sea Turtle: What kind of lighting do you have, and where are the supposed-to-be-purple corals placed? IME purple is easily overshadowed by any remaining brownness, so it's possible you just need to keep waiting and continue to keep lower NO3 and PO4.

And FWIW strontium is unlikely to be the culprit as it's more associated with growth than color.

Thanks for the input. I have coralife lighting (2-150 watt MH with 2-98 watt blue actinics) and the corals are at the top third of the tank. I have the feeling that since this color is the most sensative, it will most likely take the longest to recover. Just my guess. Well, as most people say in this hoby, I guess all I can do it wait...