What casuse sps corals to lose their color. Mine seem to turn a brownish in color when in my tank. To be honest, this has been a problem for a long time with me. I am getting to the point where I feel like giving this hoby up because I just can't get my corals to look nice. I buy a beautiful colored coral put it in my tank and watch it lose its color over a month period to the point where it is complety browm. Some of the polyps keep their color but that's it. Also, the tips of the coral seem to be ok too. I take very well care of my tank and watch the water parameters closely. I have gotten to the point where I just don;t know what else to do. Does anyone have any ideas where I need to go from here?
resons for sps browning
- Thread starter Sea Turtle
- Start date
The only two things that have caused my SPS to darken in the past have been excess nutrients or lighting that is not strong enough. I think you lighting is good right? If they are known to be nicely colored SPS and you have them in good strong lighting then I would say it has to be excess nutrients. JME
Maybe check for phosphates??
Do you dose any iodine? I have been using loguls solution for about 8-9 months and am amazed at the colors. I had a green monti that was almost bleached white. It is now bright neon green. I add 2 drops of the iodine in my sump per day. It probably took about 3-4 months of dosing before I noticed any difference, so Its hard to tell if it was the Iodine or just the tank maturing.
Do you dose any iodine? I have been using loguls solution for about 8-9 months and am amazed at the colors. I had a green monti that was almost bleached white. It is now bright neon green. I add 2 drops of the iodine in my sump per day. It probably took about 3-4 months of dosing before I noticed any difference, so Its hard to tell if it was the Iodine or just the tank maturing.
I do add Lugol's solution about one per week. Maybe a drop or two. I am afraid to really add much more than that. Should this be something that I should be adding two drops per day in a 75 gallon tank? What size is your tank?iseeweed":bca1ohq0 said:
My tank is a 75g perfecto w/a homemade 20g sump. I have been adding 2 drops every day for around 8 months. About 2 weeks ago I tested for iodine(salifert) and it was the first time I could actually even detect it in my system. Still way below the parameters that salifert claims natural seawater is. According to some research I had done, Idodine is very critical for coloration and used up quite rapidly by coral and other inverts.
Are you feeding the coral? I used to feed reef chili every other day, but I only feed once every week(if that). I also found my PO4 levels took off from overfeeding and the corals(sps) were not very happy. I have a friend who insist on feeding his coral once a day and I tested his PO4 at .5ppm(.1 is considered critical) He can barely keep any sps alive but the lps seem to do ok.
Also, how often are you doing water changes, and what is your Salinity, CA, ALK, and MG levels??
Are you feeding the coral? I used to feed reef chili every other day, but I only feed once every week(if that). I also found my PO4 levels took off from overfeeding and the corals(sps) were not very happy. I have a friend who insist on feeding his coral once a day and I tested his PO4 at .5ppm(.1 is considered critical) He can barely keep any sps alive but the lps seem to do ok.
Also, how often are you doing water changes, and what is your Salinity, CA, ALK, and MG levels??
This seems to be the problem that I am having. My sps corals are having a difficult time and my lps seem fine. Alhought my zoanthid have been closed for almost two months now. My parameters are:
Ph: 8.0
dKH: 9.3
Ca: 465
Mg: 1350
Nitrate: 3 ppm
Temp: 80 degrees
Sal: 1.026
I have the same set up. 75 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. I really don't add much iodine at all.
Do you think that a lack of iodine could cause the zoanthids to close up?
Ph: 8.0
dKH: 9.3
Ca: 465
Mg: 1350
Nitrate: 3 ppm
Temp: 80 degrees
Sal: 1.026
I have the same set up. 75 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. I really don't add much iodine at all.
Do you think that a lack of iodine could cause the zoanthids to close up?
Your parameters look good. How often do you do water changes, and do you buffer the water to the same levels before changing? I would also check for PO4, salifert makes a good kit if you dont have one. Your symptoms sound like my friends, and his PO4 level was .5ppm. Do you run a phosban reactor? I forgot to mention that I use on of those, seems to work great. Other than that, the only thing I can think of is maybe your RO/DI water quality.
Yes, I use a phosban reactor and change it regularly. Also, I have a top of the line RO/DI unit with TDS meter on it. TDS is zero. I would like to get a PO4 test kit just to check but I have the phosban reactor and a refugium so I think it is ok. But I guess you never know.iseeweed":3l3ivggr said:
What about the zoas? Do you think that they could close up do to the lack of iodine?
As far as the zoas, I have no idea. I have never had any!(not sure why??)
If you have a phosban reactor and ref., I would guess PO4 is not an issue. Try some more iodine. I had a green monti that looked almost dead, and now it is huge and bright green. Most of my corals are full of color and I really don't have idea why other than I started dosing more iodine??
A few years ago I had a killer 37 tall tank that did great until about a year into it. All my corals became brown, but still growing. Eventually my clam closed up and the tank went down hill from there. I had a deep substrate bottom, and I think it just got so packed with "crap" it became toxic. I could not really vacuum the bottom because of all the stuff growing. Are you able to vacuum your bottom, or do you have lots of things in the substrate that can keep it clean? My current system is bare bottom, and I will never go back to a substrate or DSB again. It doesn't look as nice, but I know I can suck and skim all of the detrious out.
If you have a phosban reactor and ref., I would guess PO4 is not an issue. Try some more iodine. I had a green monti that looked almost dead, and now it is huge and bright green. Most of my corals are full of color and I really don't have idea why other than I started dosing more iodine??
A few years ago I had a killer 37 tall tank that did great until about a year into it. All my corals became brown, but still growing. Eventually my clam closed up and the tank went down hill from there. I had a deep substrate bottom, and I think it just got so packed with "crap" it became toxic. I could not really vacuum the bottom because of all the stuff growing. Are you able to vacuum your bottom, or do you have lots of things in the substrate that can keep it clean? My current system is bare bottom, and I will never go back to a substrate or DSB again. It doesn't look as nice, but I know I can suck and skim all of the detrious out.
Yes, I have about 2 to 3 inches of sand. I do have critters that clean the sand up though. I was thinking that I might do a 50% water change this weekend. I also have begun to add 2 drops of Lugols per day. I put 2 in last night and 2 this morning. I am hoping that this will work. As far as the zoanthids, I have no idea !!! :x :x :x I feel as if I am getting to the point where I just am not going to be able to have zoas in my tank at all, ever. I really hate this hoby sometimes. I have tried everything under the sun, every test, you name it to try to get those zoanthids to open. They just won't. I still feel that that it could be the astarina stars. I am constantly picking them off the zoas. I clean the whole tank of them and one week later it's like someone dumped them all back in the tank again.
Anyway, I will conitnue with the Lugol's solution. 2 drops per day.
Anyway, I will conitnue with the Lugol's solution. 2 drops per day.
Sea Turtle":ckc14c2c said:Yes, I have about 2 to 3 inches of sand. I do have critters that clean the sand up though. I was thinking that I might do a 50% water change this weekend. I also have begun to add 2 drops of Lugols per day. I put 2 in last night and 2 this morning. I am hoping that this will work. As far as the zoanthids, I have no idea !!! :x :x :x I feel as if I am getting to the point where I just am not going to be able to have zoas in my tank at all, ever. I really hate this hoby sometimes. I have tried everything under the sun, every test, you name it to try to get those zoanthids to open. They just won't. I still feel that that it could be the astarina stars. I am constantly picking them off the zoas. I clean the whole tank of them and one week later it's like someone dumped them all back in the tank again.
Anyway, I will conitnue with the Lugol's solution. 2 drops per day.
When you do the water change, are you buffering the water to the same parameters of the tank water? I do a 15% change every other week. I have to add 5oz of CA, and 12oz of MG(two part solution w/crystal sea marine mix salt) in 15g of water just to get the same levels of the existing tank water. If you do a water change with water that is not at the same levels, you are effectively shocking the whole system,
Maybe they are not asternia, but stars that resemble them. I would look at them at night by flashlight to see if you have nudibranchs eating your zoas. Iodine is necessary in varying quantities depending on the invert. It is usually added to the water by daily feedings, but more is usually necessary through supplements. It is removed by carbon and protein skimming, as well as your inverts.
What lights are you keeping your corals under? How old are the bulbs
Raise your pH to 8.2-8.4 thats more normal range there as well. Without knowing the lights anything else is speculation. Don't add things if you are doing regular water changes. There is probably little to no need for lugols.
Raise your pH to 8.2-8.4 thats more normal range there as well. Without knowing the lights anything else is speculation. Don't add things if you are doing regular water changes. There is probably little to no need for lugols.
I have a colalife light with 2 150w MH just recently replaced with Phoenix 14k double ended bulbs and 2 98w blue actinic bulbs.
I have been doing 15% water changes recently about every 5 days and last night. I have been adding 2 drops of the lugols each day as well. I figure that I probably don't need it but it's worth giving a try.
Also, my PH is at 7.7 this morning. How would you recomend brining up the ph to 8.3-8.5 safely?
I have been doing 15% water changes recently about every 5 days and last night. I have been adding 2 drops of the lugols each day as well. I figure that I probably don't need it but it's worth giving a try.
Also, my PH is at 7.7 this morning. How would you recomend brining up the ph to 8.3-8.5 safely?
est pH throuhout the day. Your pH may be 7.7 in the morning and rise to 8.1 during the day. If you raise the pH to 8.1 in the morning it may rise to 8.5 during the daylight period. I would adjust your pH when the lights are on as not to raise it too high. After doing that you can drip your kalkwasser at night and that will help keep the pH up during night time hours.
I really dont think it has anything to do with the pH. The lighting isnt the strongest but should still be fine as long as we are not talking sps at the bottom or sides away from the light. Have you tried moving the browning SPS into more light? If thats not the case I am going to stick with excess nutrients, be it N03, P04 or DOM. Do you run carbon? GFO is good stuff, but have you tested your P04? I have seen plenty of sps issues in the past and browning has always been either lighting or nutrient problems. W/C can't hurt unless the RO/DI water isnt right. Anyhow I would make sure they are getting enough light and if that doesnt help I would continue the W/C's and get my P04 tested.
Best of luck.
Best of luck.
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