Coral Changing Colors

[hippo tang]

I bought a purple plating coral and it is showing signs of growth. It is now not purple anymore it is like a brown color. I have new mh bulbs. I do regular water changes. Why is it turning colors? Is there anything I can do because it very depressing when you buy a pretty purple piece and it changes to a crappy brown? I have this happen before to a mushroom what am I missing? Any info will help please!!!!!!!!!!:sad:

 

[Henry C]

I would check all of your parameters. Is it getting to much or not enough light?? Just a few suggestions...

 

[Troylee]

Sounds like po4 is high.... Start running gfo "rawaphos" if you're not and it should help...

 

[TopNotchCorals]

I bought a purple plating coral and it is showing signs of growth. It is now not purple anymore it is like a brown color. I have new mh bulbs. I do regular water changes. Why is it turning colors? Is there anything I can do because it very depressing when you buy a pretty purple piece and it changes to a crappy brown? I have this happen before to a mushroom what am I missing? Any info will help please!!!!!!!!!!:sad:

My first thought was "lighting" also but if browning out has happen to one of your shrooms too then like Troy said,PO4

 

[hippo tang]

My po4 is 0.1 . I run phosgard but maybe i should change to something else . I have never been able to get a po4 of 0.

 

[MimicOcto8]

What are ur bulbs? 10k 20k? What coral is it? Garf bonsai when fragged or moved to a new tank will turn completely brown for at least a month before it colors up again. Parameters are a must but I think its something else like lighting. I have two colonies one purple and one pink both have been brown for about 2months with perfect parameters and are now just starting to get their color back after I moved them. Good luck

 

[condor]

try using rowaphos as your po4 remover. it is more expensive than most but truly works the best

 

[Speg]

Hippo Tang is actually my brother so I'll try and post for him since he's a slow typer.

He has 14k metal halide bulbs and also 130w actinic bulbs. The metal halides are brand new, but the actinics are pretty old but I'm not personally sure exactly how old.

He recently had been having an issue with his alk and has been dosing to bring it up.

We're thinking of going to a LFS to get a second opinion on his phosphate tests. I personally think his algae has been going away slowly.

 

[hippo tang]

Thanks bro. My alk is in range now. And i will be changing to rowaphos. THANKS FOR EVERYONES HELP. Hope the color comes back.

 

[MimicOcto8]

Good luc@k there hippo. The 14k won't give the same color as 20k. Next time u buy bulbs get the 20k

 

[Speg]

Good luc@k there hippo. The 14k won't give the same color as 20k. Next time u buy bulbs get the 20k

I think we were going for more growth over color.

 

[hippo tang]

I have heard of this happening to some coral in some peoples tanks . I would like to know if they ( coral ) will get there color back and what could be causing it to happen.

 

[Battlecorals Verified Sponsor]

do you have any other sps in the tank? If so how are they looking? It's certainly not uncommon for new aquisitions to brown out a bit when they are first put in a tank.

Was it just a frag or more like a maricultured piece? If any other sps in the system look ok i would just give it some time. Maybe move it higher also.

 

[FaviaFreak]

If all your parameters are in line it could be as simple as moving it around in your tank to find it's "sweet spot" the area of lighting and flow that it likes the most, thing is you won't know if that's it's spot until you do see it start to color up a bit, which could take a month or more. If you bought it already nicely colored up and now it is going brown it could be caused from a pelethora of things, including tweaking your Dkh, P04 issues, or overall instabilty with one or more of your systems other parameters. If your not a 100% sure of the cause of the browning than make an effort to go all out in creating complete stability in your system and than it makes it easier to determine if it's the lighting or something else. Don't forget, parasites will cause acros to brown as well. Happy Reefing

 

[Speg]

The problem he has is with a monti I believe. He has a blue tort acro that is actually doing awesome in the tank; he has that in the highest position in the tank.

He texted me today asking why I don't have a phosphate problem.... I texted back:

"because I use Kent salt and I keep my bristleworms and I don't have a mandarin eating my pods"

 

[FaviaFreak]

Some monti's color up extremely well under moderate to low light, maybe he should move it down

 

[hippo tang]

I am going to move it to the bottom to see what happen but it is still growing. It is just a frag. I did buy roaphos and will be running it. thanks everyone for the info.

 

[smokenax]

+ on lowering it, my idaho grape monti is on the bottom of my tank and its dark purple.

 

[hippo tang]

I have ROWA now and am running it. I will move it to the bottom. It's growing great! Thanks for the advice.