Help please sps frags are losing color turning brown.

[Dp916]

Sorry guys need help. I have a bunch of frags that were colorful a week ago and now had turned brown . The only think I can remember is dosing nitrates. Because nitrates were reading 0 and phosphate were not detectable.
Param:
Cal 390
Alk 8.3-8.7
Mag 1280
Nitrates currently at 5
Phosphate at 0
Lighting
36” 4bulb t5 hybrid 2 radions xr15 g4 pro
Intensity currently set at 50 percent. I up it’s a week ago and colors definitely faded so I drop it.
No visible algae in the main tank.
Running filter sock, skimmer and fuge.
Tank is up for about 5 Months.
Also I there’s no coraline growth that I noticed. Even if I introduced rock that had some. Please any advice.

 

[Hemmdog]

Mag and calcium is low.

 

[ycnibrc]

Let me give a more scientific explanation regard brown coral. The zoozanthalee algae inside the Coral is brown ,anytime the Coral turn brown most likely they are starving and not enough food the reaction to it is produce more zoozanthalee to make more food through photosynthesis. That's lead to Coral turning brown. In the wild Coral feed constantly through photosynthesis and absorbing stuffs in the water. Most of our reef tank are too sterile and clean. If you look at the video of the wild reef the water is turbid and a lot of particle floating in the water which is food for the Coral to feed. For your tank try to feed the fish more preferable some type with liquid which the Coral can feed on it.

 

[Brandon Smith]

How long are your lights on? What all do you have for corals? I agree the mag and calcium are to low as well.

 

[melanotaenia]

They could be upset from the lighting change as well, I would watch them and see how they look over the next couple of weeks, and I echo what @ycnibrc said, that it is a good idea to feed heavily and try to keep NO3 and PO4 detectable. Try to get Calcium up to 420.

 

[UCF Alum]

Hey @Dp916
FWIW sir, I keep my SPS dominate tank at 30ish NO3 and roughly .1 PO4. WWC coral is close to the same.
I, like you, had nothing but trouble when I had parameters like yours. Dying SPS and browning out. My SPS is now encrusting like crazy and the colors are great.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Sorry guys need help. I have a bunch of frags that were colorful a week ago and now had turned brown . The only think I can remember is dosing nitrates. Because nitrates were reading 0 and phosphate were not detectable.
Param:
Cal 390
Alk 8.3-8.7
Mag 1280
Nitrates currently at 5
Phosphate at 0
Lighting
36” 4bulb t5 hybrid 2 radions xr15 g4 pro
Intensity currently set at 50 percent. I up it’s a week ago and colors definitely faded so I drop it.
No visible algae in the main tank.
Running filter sock, skimmer and fuge.
Tank is up for about 5 Months.
Also I there’s no coraline growth that I noticed. Even if I introduced rock that had some. Please any advice.

Turn your skimmer off and start feeding your fish or corals or both more. Sps frags need 0.08 or higher po4.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I keep my sps at 15-30 no3 and 0.15-0.25 po4 btw. My skimmer only runs for 12 hours a day and my stuff looks pretty good

 

[HB AL]

When I buy brown Acro frags from my lfs, I notice they are in dimly lit tanks compared to the tanks that have more light over them where the frags aren’t brown but colored up. I buy the brown ones cuz they are way cheaper and intrigued on what they might look like. Within a couple of weeks in my tank they start to show some true colors and a month in they completely color up and look nothing like they did when I first got them. I will take a couple pics of a couple of examples of the transformation just by giving them more light. These were all 1 0r 2 inch frags when I got them and brown to slightly very dark green, some I've had for almost a year and have been fragged on occasion, and the most recent have been around 2 months in my system. The light source are Kessil 360's and 160's.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

When I buy brown Acro frags from my lfs, I notice they are in dimly lit tanks compared to the tanks that have more light over them where the frags aren’t brown but colored up. I buy the brown ones cuz they are way cheaper and intrigued on what they might look like. Within a couple of weeks in my tank they start to show some true colors and a month in they completely color up and look nothing like they did when I first got them. I will take a couple pics of a couple of examples of the transformation just by giving them more light. These were all 1 0r 2 inch frags when I got them and brown to slightly very dark green, some I've had for almost a year and have been fragged on occasion, and the most recent have been around 2 months in my system. The light source are Kessil 360's and 160's.

Beautiful pieces. Do you have any advice for the OP? His/hers frags started colorful and are now brown

 

[Dp916]

Thanks for all the input guys!! I been trying to feed heavily the pst few days also, ordered neophos just Incase feeding don’t dent phosphate number to rise up. In regards to raising cal and mag, do you recommend doing two large water change 2 days in between with salt with higher cal and mag ( instant ocean) I’m afraid to increase my 2 part to raise cal because it would bring up alk also, and raising cal alone would drop alk. Please correct me if Iam wrong.

 

[jpas]

How old is the tank?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Thanks for all the input guys!! I been trying to feed heavily the pst few days also, ordered neophos just Incase feeding don’t dent phosphate number to rise up. In regards to raising cal and mag, do you recommend doing two large water change 2 days in between with salt with higher cal and mag ( instant ocean) I’m afraid to increase my 2 part to raise cal because it would bring up alk also, and raising cal alone would drop alk. Please correct me if Iam wrong.

Turn your skimmer off

8.5 alk is way too high for 0 no3 and 0 po4.
390 cal and 1200 mag are not causing your sps to slowly die. I know you said brown, but browning is a sign of stress which leads to dying. Turn your skimmer off if you want to save them.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

And feed a lot more

 

[Redfoxtang]

My corals did the same thing. How I fixed the issue is exactly what @Chaswood79 is saying. I turned the skimmer off and removed filters socks and got the water dirty as possible. Also increased feeding to raise N03 and P04 naturally.

 

[melanotaenia]

Thanks for all the input guys!! I been trying to feed heavily the pst few days also, ordered neophos just Incase feeding don’t dent phosphate number to rise up. In regards to raising cal and mag, do you recommend doing two large water change 2 days in between with salt with higher cal and mag ( instant ocean) I’m afraid to increase my 2 part to raise cal because it would bring up alk also, and raising cal alone would drop alk. Please correct me if Iam wrong.

You can use two part to raise your levels, just do it slowly (no more than 10% change over 24 hour period). I would advise doing this or using a salt mix with close to NSW parameters like Tropic Marin Pro if are going to do water changes; however, if you have low levels of PO4 and NO3 water changes will only remove and dilute levels further which is not what you want to do.

I would be in favor or raising levels of PO4 or NO3 with heavy feeding or changing skimmer habits, rather than adding chemicals.

 

[Dp916]

How old is the tank?

Tank is 5 months old

 

[jpas]

The tank might be a little young for SPS. Do you have any coralline growth?

 

[jda]

Although I do not think that N of 5 is too much trouble, raising it there quickly can be. Nitrate is a poison to all living creatures at different levels... so additions need to be slow.

I am a huge fan of massive throughput with lots of feeding and lots of export with residuals barely detectable. I keep mine at .005-.01P and .1N with heaving feeding and heavy skimming and cheato.

I am not a fan of adding nitrate or phosphate to the tank... this is a long rant of mine, usually, but the summary is that feeding more is better since the corals prefer to get nitrogen from ammonia/ammonium rather than nitrate which costs energy for a coral to process.

Throughput is more important than residual numbers, but throughput cannot be tested for nor is it as easy to understand.