DOWN WITH BROWN CORALS ???

andyscandy · Mar 26, 2016

Well my sps are BROWN. I don't think it's lighting because I've got ecotech RadionG3s and a orbit marine pro . I do feed my tank heavy but I don't think that'll turn my sps brown? Anybody thats got an idea please let me know. I've got hundreds of $worth of nice sps but they don't even look like all that . So Ima lil DOWN WITH BROWN SPS. thanks
Andy

esolo16 · Mar 26, 2016

Brown corals are usually attributed to low lighting or high nutrients. What are you running your radions at? What size tank? What are your nitrates and phosphates?

dodgerblew · Mar 26, 2016

Are these new frags and been in your system for a while? Are they wild, mariculture or aquacultured? Are they brown but encrusting, growing? Do corals have polyp extension? And as asked above, what re your parameters like no3, po4, Alk, Ca etc?

andyscandy · Mar 26, 2016

esolo16 said:
Brown corals are usually attributed to low lighting or high nutrients. What are you running your radions at? What size tank? What are your nitrates and phosphates?

Well my phosphates and nitrates are rite at 0. And the radions are turned up pretty high. My tank is a 150 tall and I've got 9 or 10 fish so I feed it pretty heavy. So I'm thinking I may need to cut back on the food. I normally put some reefroids or something extra in with their food for the corals so maybe I just need to cut back on that a lil bit? But I don't think it's the lighting . Oh my radions are on bout 12hrs a day . Could it be that it's to much light?

XocyrusX · Mar 26, 2016

I had a 150 tall with Radions and battled the same problem. I added 4 retro T5 and it got better. Yes nutrients can do this but in my case the T5s helped. Any pics?

dodgerblew · Mar 26, 2016

What's your Alk at? Also asked about origin of brown corals and how long you've had in your system. Are they cut frags (aquacultured), mariculture colonies or wild pieces? I've had corals come to me tan and brown and it took a while for them to acclimatize to my tank and color up

andyscandy · Mar 26, 2016

dodgerblew · Mar 26, 2016

Looks good, just brown.

Kershaw · Mar 26, 2016

To much light normally bleaches. The bases of my montis where brown. So I turned up lighting and now they are incredibley colorfull. Also like others said nutrients.

esolo16 · Mar 26, 2016

The zoas look like they are reaching but some do that regardless of light. What are the tank dimensions? How many radions and how far apart are they? What does turned up pretty high mean? Where are the corals located in the tank?

esolo16 · Mar 26, 2016

Also, what are you using to test for nitrates and phosphates?

James605 · Mar 27, 2016

I would say nitrates. I just bought this tank and it just has 2 radion pro on it as well.

andyscandy · Mar 27, 2016

The tank is a 150 tall the dems are 18.5"wide 72"long and 29"deep . I got 3 radions bout 10"off the water and split up equally across the tank . I got some DIY T5S that has 4 lamps but only 48"long and will be adding them on soon . I'm not sure if I should put actinic only or split it up with 50/50too. But I'm thinking it needs more actinic since the radions are at 85%. And not real sure that's what they are set at cause I don't have WiFi out here and w w hen trying to set manually with the touch buttons I've messed them up and just unplugged them back in and they reset to the factory settings I think ? Also most of my acroes are very thick compared to when I see them in other tanks . So I'm thinking it may be that I'm feeding it to much. .....thanks my fellow reefer peeps for all yr inputs . Seems u can alway learn even more and more every day when it comes to reef tanks and with places like this it makes it so much more knowledge. So thanks to reef to reef as well.
Andy

andyscandy · Mar 27, 2016

The tank is a 150 tall the dems are 18.5"wide 72"long and 29"deep . I got 3 radions bout 10"off the water and split up equally across the tank . I got some DIY T5S that has 4 lamps but only 48"long and will be adding them on soon . I'm not sure if I should put actinic only or split it up with 50/50too. But I'm thinking it needs more actinic since the radions are at 85%. And not real sure that's what they are set at cause I don't have WiFi out here and w w hen trying to set manually with the touch buttons I've messed them up and just unplugged them back in and they reset to the factory settings I think ? Also most of my acroes are very thick compared to when I see them in other tanks . So I'm thinking it may be that I'm feeding it to much. .....thanks my fellow reefer peeps for all yr inputs . Seems u can alway learn even more and more every day when it comes to reef tanks and with places like this it makes it so much more knowledge. So thanks to reef to reef as well.
Andy

esolo16 · Mar 28, 2016

Yes, I believe you probably have enough light. What test kits are you using?

Sabellafella · Mar 28, 2016

Sps can brown out for 100s of reasons, if they are all browning out and located in different areas of the tank- it would be from water chemistry along with them maybe being maricultured. From what ive experiences when my lights are up to par, is when my p04 rises(and stays for a long period of time) my acros start to turn brown. When my n03 rises over 15-20, my acros get darker in color.

andyscandy · Mar 30, 2016

Thanks man I'll check that out .

Squamosa · Mar 30, 2016

Sabellafella said:
Sps can brown out for 100s of reasons, if they are all browning out and located in different areas of the tank- it would be from water chemistry along with them maybe being maricultured. From what ive experiences when my lights are up to par, is when my p04 rises(and stays for a long period of time) my acros start to turn brown. When my n03 rises over 15-20, my acros get darker in color.

+1
Check your test kits!