Coral turning brown

[Reefer_madness78]

What causes this coral to turn brown like this?

the lighter teal color is what it is supposed to be. Even the centers are darker. They were more peach colored before.

 

[Reefer5640]

What are you phosphates at? What kind of light and flow is it in? pH?

 

[Reefer_madness78]

What are you phosphates at? What kind of light and flow is it in? pH?

Phosphate 0.02 lights are kessil 360 and I acclimated. At peak color is 40 and intensity is 45. Ph is 8-8.3 i don't know how much flow it gets but its about 3 inches off sand bed. Lights are 9 inches above water line and coral is about 26 inches from light.
Parameters stay steady at
Temp 79
Sg 1.026
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10-20
Ca 350
Alk 8.4
Mg 1120

 

[JGT]

Phosphate 0.02 lights are kessil 360 and I acclimated. At peak color is 40 and intensity is 45. Ph is 8-8.3 i don't know how much flow it gets but its about 3 inches off sand bed. Lights are 9 inches above water line and coral is about 26 inches from light.
Parameters stay steady at
Temp 79
Sg 1.026
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10-20
Ca 350
Alk 8.4
Mg 1120

Params look fine. Looks green to me not brown. Centers are a bit brown. Can try raising a bit in the tank and see if it’s color improves.

 

[Reefer_madness78]

Params look fine. Looks green to me not brown. Centers are a bit brown. Can try raising a bit in the tank and see if it’s color improves.

It looks more like brown in person I guess but it is definitely darker. You can see the brighter lighter parts is what it's supposed to be. I will try to move it up some. How long should it take to show improvement after moving it up?

 

[Reefer5640]

I keep some of my favia in super low lite and they have tons of color. Could be a lack of light but could also be something else. Is that frag a new addition? Or did you recently jump your nitrates up that high or have they been up that high for a good while? The reason I ask is because I had some corals brown when I made a big jump in nitrates. Then they colored up really well. Or same issue if it’s a new addition and cane cram a rank different params, could just be a little shocked.

 

[JGT]

It looks more like brown in person I guess but it is definitely darker. You can see the brighter lighter parts is what it's supposed to be. I will try to move it up some. How long should it take to show improvement after moving it up?

Will take a couple weeks. Typically, brown=not enough light, bleach=too much light. If not change then look at other things like NO3/po4 levels.

 

[Reefer_madness78]

I keep some of my favia in super low lite and they have tons of color. Could be a lack of light but could also be something else. Is that frag a new addition? Or did you recently jump your nitrates up that high or have they been up that high for a good while? The reason I ask is because I had some corals brown when I made a big jump in nitrates. Then they colored up really well. Or same issue if it’s a new addition and cane cram a rank different params, could just be a little shocked.

I got it on September 11 and my nitrates have been between 10 and 20 for longer than that

 

[Silent]

Higher phosphate tends to grow more zoothanthelle browning out corals. I see you say yours is 0.02. Is that correct? Is algae consuming it so it appears it is that low on test kit? What are you checking it with?
Maybe it has nothing to do with phosphate, just throwing possibilities out there.

 

[Reefer_madness78]

Higher phosphate tends to grow more zoothanthelle browning out corals. I see you say yours is 0.02. Is that correct? Is algae consuming it so it appears it is that low on test kit? What are you checking it with?
Maybe it has nothing to do with phosphate, just throwing possibilities out there.

I test phosphate with red sea test but I had lfs test it with their hanna checker and it was 0.02