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why are my corals alwayes turning brown

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Megan&Jason View Drop Down
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    Posted: February 27 2009 at 2:42pm
it seems every thing i have in my tank turns brown my condi i just got some purple acro  red and blue milli they are groing and doinr fine but turn brown

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CrimsRayne View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CrimsRayne Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 2:49pm
It is probably that there is something in your tank they either don't like or aren't used to.
 
What are your tank specs?  How long has the tank been running?
What lighting are you putting them under? 
How old are the bulbs? 
Where are you putting the frags compared to the lights?
Did you acclimate the frags?
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Megan&Jason View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Megan&Jason Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 3:01pm
all my levels are good
running for over 2 years
6 months ago i replaced my bulbs t0 20k just got new 22k last week but put a 14k over my sps to see if it helps
i have bought whole colinies and are high and low
yes i acclimated
it takes a month or twoto start turning colors

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Megan&Jason Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 3:07pm
is it cus the 20k /22k hqi
is the 14k better for color
and is there something i can add to my tank to help

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CrimsRayne Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 3:15pm
My guess is that it is the new lighting. 
I just put new bulbs on my 210g and they are supposed to be 14k, but they look like they aren't even 10k.  It takes a while for them to burn in the color.
In the meantime, my corals are looking a little bland when the MH are on, but great under the actinics.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ryan Thompson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 5:21pm
I call this MH syndrome. This is the reason I personally do not like MH. The corals rarely keep their great color IME. So I promote using T5's for coloration.


This guy had MH but couldn't get good color. He switched to T5 and loves the coloration. It could also be casued from filtration. Do you have a skimmer? What kind? Do you dose anything?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote drysea Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 5:53pm
Brown generally indicates there is a lot of zooanthellae. They are really good at getting nutrients out of nutreint poor water and if there is too much they can grow really thick and overpower the color pigments. Also many of the pretty colors everyone is after are protective pigments. More shortwave spectrum (high energy) light brings those colors out. I have run MHs for years and never had a problem with coloration not sure I'd agree with the T5 comments. I would like to know more about the theory though. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ryan Thompson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 6:55pm
If you read through that article he states his opinion of why T5 is the better choice in lighting.

My theory is based upon tanks I have seen. I just have never seen a MH tank compare with a well lit T5 tank. Granted in both cases I believe you must use the best of the best though. You can't go buy the Current USA T5 stuff and have it compare with the ATI or Geisemann products. And you certainly can not get something off ebay for cheap and expect it to keep up with the good stuff.

MH creates shadows more than T5's do. Therefore tissue penetration and better penetration overall is found using T5. Now I don't have any scientific evidence, again this is all my belief. I let my eyes decide for themselves what I like more. To each his own...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Megan&Jason Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 7:10pm
first of my tank is a 90g with 200+pounds of rock
my light is a aqau medic 2x250 watt hqi with 2 54w t5 acnics
this is a reacuring problem i have had since i started salt 2+ years a go
i have what i like to think of as a good fitration system
30 gallon sump with 3 chambers a nice fuge packed with macro algeas and pods
my skimmer is a off brand but just like the euro reef rated for 250g
i had a asm g2 skimmer in there first but smithched it over to my 150 fowlr 
personly i think this one workes better
what is this zooanthellae. and how can i fix it


Edited by Megan&Jason - February 27 2009 at 9:03pm

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sculpin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 8:56pm
Ya know I'm glad you posted this because I've herd of coral switching zooanthellae and changing their color and was wondering what that would be like.

To my understanding (and please correct me if I'm wrong), zooanthellea are a perfectly natural and necessary part of photosynthetic coral. They are symbiotic algae that live inside coral and benefit from the coral and the coral benefit from them. The zooanthellea is what gives coral their color, otherwise many would just be white (and die).

My guess is, your intense lighting is causing the corals to either pack in a bunch of zooanthellae (what drysea siad) or adopt a more tolerable zooanthellae to it's environment and both would probably change the color. I have almost the exact same lighting as you but over a 235 and I have not experience this kind of issue. 

I would like to know what a pro thinks though... Adam... Mike... Mark... anyone?


Sculpin


Edited by Sculpin - February 27 2009 at 9:06pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Megan&Jason Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 9:06pm
thank you for the post i two would like to hear from a pro
? maybe i should rais the lights

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote drysea Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 9:11pm
Zooanthellae are photosynthetic microbes that live in the tissues of the corals. Coral gets much of their nutrition from these little guys. Zooanthellae are what actually use all the fancy lighting we provide. The are a dinoflagellets which are a special "algae". They use more blue light where traditional algae favor a more yellow light. This is due to differences in the type of chlorophyll (light catching pigment) used by the difffernt algae. If your corals bleach they are sheding all the zoooanthellae and when they are brown you have lots of zooanthellae, it doesn't mean your corals are unhealthy. Zooanthellae are highly specialized, what is pretty in one tank isn't in the next. Sometimes an "ugly" coral will color up once it is in a new tank, and the opossite is also true. I have had corals go brown when they first went in by tank then over the course of months they colored up and took of. I atribute that to a zooanthellae swap peroid. I don't know that to be the case but it makes some sense.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Megan&Jason Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 9:42pm
i have noticed with the hammer and frogspawn i get it seemes to look better in my tank than the one i got it from but  sps is oppisite

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dustponds10 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 27 2009 at 10:14pm
You know alot of the time I have found that when I frag a coral or when I get a frag from some one else it typically turns brown and some of them have taked as long a 6 months to color up. I didnt read the whole thread but this could be the case as well.  I hope you figure out what is going on. 
120
ASM G-3
T-5 lighting
130 frag system
T-5 lighting
asm G-1x
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Megan&Jason Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2009 at 6:14pm
any expert wanting to chime in

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cl2ysta1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2009 at 6:42pm
brown is almost always a sign of too many nutrients in the water.
 
it could also be insufficient lighting. I can always tell when it's time to change our bulbs because my favorite purple rim monti will start to turn brown. usually after a week under new bulbs it goes right back


Edited by cl2ysta1 - February 28 2009 at 6:45pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cl2ysta1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2009 at 6:48pm
you stated your filtration what about tank maintenance.. how often do you do water changes? if you dont do you dose elements? when you say all levels are fine.. what is your mag, alk, calcium?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Megan&Jason Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 28 2009 at 8:38pm
i dose alk and calcium
i do a 15 gallon water change 2-3 times a month
i add 3 gallons of ro water daily do to evaporation
tomorrow i will do some tests and post the results
 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cl2ysta1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 01 2009 at 8:11pm
any results?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CrimsRayne Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 01 2009 at 8:18pm
Originally posted by cl2ysta1 cl2ysta1 wrote:

brown is almost always a sign of too many nutrients in the water.
 
Too many???
Why is that a bad thing?
"What we know from this hobby is too hard to share with the people who just want to look and not get wet." -Rioreefer

"The Puffer Girl"

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