SPS Question

reeferdon · Apr 28, 2018

When SPS corals turn brown is it a sign it's dying?

Dr. Reef · Apr 28, 2018

It's first sign of some parameter being off.

DLuce510 · Apr 28, 2018

Typically a sign of higher No3 or low light, but ive also seen too high Iodine cause Acro's to brown. Good Luck!

Bpb · Apr 28, 2018

Lots of stuff can cause browning but it’s not always a sign of death. Most healthy colonies in the ocean are brown. Simply moving an acro can cause it to brown. Too low of light levels paired with too high of inorganic waste products (nitrate phosphate) can cause browning. Excessive red, yellow, and green wavelengths can cause browning. An errant parameter. And yes dying can be accompanied with it as well.

BantyRooster97 · Apr 28, 2018

pic? is it browning or getting pale in color? I recently have been dealing with elevated phosphate & before that high ALK. Some of my stick paled to point of being almost beige in color. Now that those have been slowly brought back in check I am getting color back in them.

reeferdon · Apr 28, 2018

I'll post pic when I get home.
It's only one acro that came unglued because of the snell. Once I glued it back it's turned brown.
My PO4 is 15ppm last i checked. Im working on rhat.

ycnibrc · Apr 29, 2018

reeferdon said:
I'll post pic when I get home.
It's only one acro that came unglued because of the snell. Once I glued it back it's turned brown.
My PO4 is 15ppm last i checked. Im working on rhat.

Are you say your phosphate is 15ppm or 0.15pmm?

reeferdon · Apr 30, 2018

Dr. Reef · Apr 30, 2018

That is high and could be the problem. Recommendation for phos is 0.01 to 0.03 with nitrates 0-5ppm and alk 7-8 dkh.

Coronus · Apr 30, 2018

To answer your question, no. It is absolutely not a sign of it dying.
It is a sign of other things. Low light, high nutrients, a sudden drop in alk, coral moved to another spot or system. But not dying.

Donsreef · May 4, 2018

Coronus said:
To answer your question, no. It is absolutely not a sign of it dying.
It is a sign of other things. Low light, high nutrients, a sudden drop in alk, coral moved to another spot or system. But not dying.

Huum only 3 have turn brown

jda · May 4, 2018

Everybody has a coral that is brown in their tank. Just one or two is no concern and chasing parameters to fix just one acro has historically caused more harm than good. For me, my brownie is Rogue Millepora, but after years, I might have found a breakthrough.

True Brown is an increase in zoox. Light brown is bleaching (bad). Usually, true brown will go green next, the transitional color for most zoox. Sometimes only the new growth will be colored "correctly" for years, but I have no idea why this is. This is not all that bad, but can be a sign of lots of nutrients for the dinos in the coral... basically a plethora of zoox. This does not usually kill coral on it's own, but if nutrients continue to rise, it can.

Getting light brown (bleaching) is not good. This can happen for a lot of reasons as discussed above. Do you know which one yours is?