Losing color in my corals

[Sea Turtle]

I know, we've been down this road before. I just am so frustrated with this! I have stabalized everything in my tank. Everything is going great and looking healthy. Only problem is deep colors like purple and blue can't seem to hold their color. They turn brown with a hint of their blue/purple coloring. Takes about 1 week. I can;t think of what it could be. Here are a few things that are teasing my mind:

1. My RO/DI unit might not be cleaning the water as well as I would like it to be. It is relatively brand new. What happens to corals if they do not have 99.99% clean water? Could this result in a loss of color?

2. I have been using Lugio's solution. Very small doses, about 1 drop per week. Could I be having some ill effect on them with the iodine? Again, I have about 100 gallons of water with only 1 drop per week. I really don't think I am overdoing this, but maybe.

3. Wrong lighting. I have 10,000K with blue actinic suplimental lighting and am plannig on changing to 14,000K next week. I can't imagine that this is it either becasue they look good once they go into the tank under the light and then over a week in time it;s brownish!!!

What do you think? I need to solve this problem soon. It is really bothering me. I see an awsome colored coral, buy it and it loses all its color over about a week. :x

I am going to buy a meter that will test the ppm (quality of the RO/DI water) next week. Also, I will be putting 14k lights in next week.

Help me with this one, please!!!! What do you think? Have you heard or seen this problem before?

 

[iseeweed]

I don't think you are overdosing Logio's solution at all. I have a 75g w/20g sump. I have been dosing 2 drops a day for the last couple months. I have been noticing a color improvement over the last month or so. I am currently using 2, 14k de pendants.
I don't know what corals you have, but are you feeding them with anything? Dt's, reef chili?
As far as the lighting, I had a 37g tank a few years ago with a 10k 250w de. The corals grew great but they all kinda got a pale brown color. I switched to a 20k bulb and the colors improved, but the growth rate slowed down.

 

[Sea Turtle]

I do add a vitamin suplement to the water. Also I add phytoplakton once a week. I am feeling that it could be the RO/DI unit not performing efficiently as it should be... Just a thought though. I have also heard that 20k light slow growth. That;s why I am going with 14k.

This doesnt solve the problem though.

 

[Ben1]

Generally speaking when SPS go brown its nutrients. Are you running gac and gfo?

 

[Anonymous]

Tell us about the corals. Are they wild caught? Colonies? Frags? Some corals can shift more than others - and what Ben says!


Oooo its my Friday and I am a posting madman!

 

[kgross]

Another question for you, how much total light do you have? Brown can also mean they are not getting enough light.

Kim

 

[Sea Turtle]

Generally speaking when SPS go brown its nutrients. Are you running gac and gfo?

I'm sorry, I am not familiar with these abreviation (gac/gfo) would you mind explaining them to me?

 

[Sea Turtle]

Tell us about the corals. Are they wild caught? Colonies? Frags? Some corals can shift more than others - and what Ben says!

They are mostly frags. Some from my friend that has a well developed tank that bring them to me and some are from the LFS and some are from ORA. Yes, I have one colony.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Another question for you, how much total light do you have? Brown can also mean they are not getting enough light.

Kim

This is understandable but I think I'm okay in this department. I have a 75 gallon tank with a coralife lighting system. It has 2 x 150watt metal halides 10k and 2 x 98 blue actinic lights. It comes out to about 6.6watts per gallon.

 

[Anonymous]

Generally speaking when SPS go brown its nutrients. Are you running gac and gfo?

I'm sorry, I am not familiar with these abreviation (gac/gfo) would you mind explaining them to me?

GAC-Granular Activated Carbon=Carbon
GFO-Granular Ferric Oxide=PO4 remover

 

[Anonymous]

Another question for you, how much total light do you have? Brown can also mean they are not getting enough light.

Kim

This is understandable but I think I'm okay in this department. I have a 75 gallon tank with a coralife lighting system. It has 2 x 150watt metal halides 10k and 2 x 98 blue actinic lights. It comes out to about 6.6watts per gallon.

Your lighting is fine.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Generally speaking when SPS go brown its nutrients. Are you running gac and gfo?

I'm sorry, I am not familiar with these abreviation (gac/gfo) would you mind explaining them to me?

GAC-Granular Activated Carbon=Carbon
GFO-Granular Ferric Oxide=PO4 remover

Yes, I use GFO. I have a TLF Phosban reactor. No GAC.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Does anyone think that it could be the RO/DI unit. In other words, quality of the water it is producing? What are symptoms of this?

 

[Anonymous]

If you're worried about the quality of water being produced by your RO/DI unit, you might be best getting a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter, which will give you a better idea what percentage of crap is being removed.

 

[kgross]

Another question for you, how much total light do you have? Brown can also mean they are not getting enough light.

Kim

This is understandable but I think I'm okay in this department. I have a 75 gallon tank with a coralife lighting system. It has 2 x 150watt metal halides 10k and 2 x 98 blue actinic lights. It comes out to about 6.6watts per gallon.

How deep into the tank are the sps corals that are browing. It could still be a lighting issue. 150 watt bulbs is not a lot for a 75 gallon tank.

Kim

 

[Anonymous]

there should be enough iodine in your fish's poop to keep all/any coral/polyp happy-there's usually enough in any salt mix to replenish what gets sucked up w/a 10-20% weekly/biweekly water change

i highly doubt that ANYONE has ever had an issue w/inverts of any kind that was strictly an iodine issue, with no other contributing factors

 

[Anonymous]

Does anyone think that it could be the RO/DI unit. In other words, quality of the water it is producing? What are symptoms of this?

It could very well be the RO/DI. A TDS meter will tell you if your stuff needs changing. Over feeding will cause this as well.

 

[Anonymous]

Generally speaking when SPS go brown its nutrients. Are you running gac and gfo?

I'm sorry, I am not familiar with these abreviation (gac/gfo) would you mind explaining them to me?

GAC-Granular Activated Carbon=Carbon
GFO-Granular Ferric Oxide=PO4 remover

Yes, I use GFO. I have a TLF Phosban reactor. No GAC.

GAC is not required and GFO is great for lowering PO4 and silicates.

 

[Anonymous]

Another question for you, how much total light do you have? Brown can also mean they are not getting enough light.

Kim

This is understandable but I think I'm okay in this department. I have a 75 gallon tank with a coralife lighting system. It has 2 x 150watt metal halides 10k and 2 x 98 blue actinic lights. It comes out to about 6.6watts per gallon.

How deep into the tank are the sps corals that are browing. It could still be a lighting issue. 150 watt bulbs is not a lot for a 75 gallon tank.

Kim

2x150 watt DE bulbs are more than adequate for a 75 gallon tank.

 

[Sea Turtle]

If you're worried about the quality of water being produced by your RO/DI unit, you might be best getting a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter, which will give you a better idea what percentage of crap is being removed.

I'm going to get one of these and set it up next week sometime. I really don't hope that this is the problem because my unit is very new and that could mean it's not working correctly. Although, it would be nice to find out what the problem is.