The tan coral problem

[Lobster]

Just found this forum, what a great idea. Even better, its full of people I recognize from other forums that I thought were gone for good. So this is where theyve been hiding!

Anyway, I am currently experiencing a problem I think a lot of new BB'ers are having - very washed out, pale, lightly-colored or tan coral. I've been fighting this a while now, and to be honest most of the advice we get regarding it seems just way off base, so I humbly appeal to the experts. I have to be doing something wrong and its driving me nuts!

First, about my tank: 50G total system volume, Deltec APF600 skimmer, 2000GPH+ flow, Alk 3.2meq/L, 420ppm Ca, 1340ppm Mg, 80-82F, 150W DE 10K, pH 7.9-8.1. PO4/NO3 undetectable via salifert. SG is 1.026 and I use Instant Ocean salt. Rock was cooked for seven months per SeanT's instructions.

This affects all six types of millepora/prostrata I have, poccis, stylos, and misc. acropora. Seriatopora seem least affected. Oddly enough, my simple montis are the worst! Purple and green digitata are very light tan and grow very slowly. Caps are also washed out but do at least grow.

It almost seems that the corals have no pigmentation to be seen beneath the zoox layer. When I feed my tank, I see my stylophora consume cyclopeeze and the orange color is very prominently visible through its tissue. This leads me to believe it is not the zoox layer blocking color.

It is definitely not bleaching, nor high-nutrient browning. They seem perfectly healthy other than a lack of color, and growth is good in all but the m. digitata and m. capricornis.

I do not believe this problem is high-nutrients (I've seen that before!). Is it low nutrients? Possibly, but I cannot feed any heavier. Perhaps some nutrient required for pigment development is missing? Or maybe some stimulus that spurs pigmentation is missing? I would blame lack of light but I have kept coral under less light in other tanks with great growth and color (especially digis). I've thought perhaps my 10% bi-weekly water changes are not enough to replenish some trace element that the salt is already deficient in to begin with, but I'm leary of switching salts just yet. I've tried moving corals around (higher light, lower light, more flow, less flow, etc). I've tried shortening the photoperiod. Could it be a potassium deficiency? Is my pH just too low? My home is high in CO2, but I am working on raising the pH via kalk.

So frustrating! I've been in the hobby for over ten years now, and this is a new one for me. I'm sure there is just some aspect of BB that I am doing wrong here, but I cant spot it.

[Leonardo's Reef]

Sorry, no answers (yet), but I have some questions. What is your bioload at the moment? How many, and how many times do you feed? What do you feed?

Hope the answers to this question will bring us closer to the source of this problem.

Leonardo

[Lobster]

Originally Posted by Leonardo's Reef

Sorry, no answers (yet), but I have some questions. What is your bioload at the moment? How many, and how many times do you feed? What do you feed?

Right I should have mentioned that! I have a pair of small clownfish, a chalk bass, blue chromis, and a small yellow tang. I've had these about a month now, prior to this I was fishless (so definitely I started with zero nutrients and had a deficiency there).

I feed enriched brine shrimp, mysis, cyclopeeze, and formula-two daily before lights on. Occasionally I dump an extra dose of cyclopeeze and brine shrimp again at night. The tang also gets selco-soaked nori. After reading many of Borneman's articles on coral nutrition, I have ordered some golden pearls in various sizes from 0 microns up to 300 microns, but have not received them yet.

At least weekly, I put a filter sock on my sump drain and siphon out detritus from the display. I remove the filter after the water clears, usually an hour or two.

[Little Luey]

Hey Lobster, Welcome to TRT!

I also have brown SPS, I will be adding more fish to my tank to see if that helps, I only have a small yellow tang in my 55gal. So, today a freind of mine is going to Phoenix and he'll ge me some fish.

[Leonardo's Reef]

Lobster, fist welcome to TRT ofcourse

I think the lack of coulour has something to do with your low bioload. Do you notice any improvement since you introduced the fish?
IME corals change colour very slow (not if they turn brown), so maybe it is a matter of time when the coulours are showing up.

Maybe amino-acids will help, but I don't have experience with that.

Leonardo

[panic]

I think it has something to do with the clarity of your water. More light penetrates deeper into water that is more clean, which is what we are aiming for with a BB system, right? Your corals are getting more light than you think. I lost a few corals high in the rock when I did the switch. Never an RTN, just a tan color, that faded until it was obviously dead. You can get away with raising the lights and dropping your corals down 6" or so when you move from a low nutrient reef to a no nutrient reef. I switched 5 mo ago and my corals are just now showing some good color. Some boast immediate results, but I'm just being honest. I also dropped my photoperiod down from 8 to 6 hours. Good luck and be patient!

[Gmoney]

yah, i just switched my nano tank from a 150w DE 20k bulb that was old to a 150w Ushio 14k that is crisp white... ALL my corals are pretty much dead... it caused a chain reactions, my coralline died as well..fish died... it was really sad, I had some nice acans in there...light can do it.. quick change in alkalinity or pH..

[REEF-DADDY]

How long is your photo period?

[Twitterbait]

That is my suspicion, with BB some are running MH for 2-3 hrs a day with VHO for the rest to avoid burning the corals. Please give us the stats on your lights and of course a full tank shot would be appreciated

welcome to the family!

[REEF-DADDY]

Originally Posted by Twitterbait

That is my suspicion, with BB some are running MH for 2-3 hrs a day with VHO for the rest to avoid burning the corals. Please give us the stats on your lights and of course a full tank shot would be appreciated

welcome to the family!

Thats exactly what happened to me. DSB 10 hours, BB 3 hours same lights

[Lobster]

Originally Posted by REEF-DADDY

How long is your photo period?

My single Reeflux 10K 150W is on about 7.5 hours and the PC actinics are on for about 8 hours. You think that's the problem? It doesn't seem like bleaching. I thought short photoperiods were meant to discourage zoox buildup. I don't think that's the problem, but this is just so different than anything I've run into I don't know anymore.

A 2-3 hour photoperiod would be terrible! Id never get to see anything.

[REEF-DADDY]

You would leave your PC's on for 8-10 and your halides on for 3-4. IME once people actually have a low nutrient system, the mistakes most often made are too little food and too much light.

[Lobster]

Originally Posted by REEF-DADDY

You would leave your PC's on for 8-10 and your halides on for 3-4. IME once people actually have a low nutrient system, the mistakes most often made are too little food and too much light.

Interesting... well I'm certainly willing to try this. But, I'd have to keep actinic PCs in there? My tank is next to my office desk and I dont think I could get any work done with the whole room lit neon blue all day. It would drive me insane.

[Wiskey]

For a while there I put in half atinic PC and half 10K PC so I could stand the look while the MH was off becase I was only running a 2 hour MH photoperiod.

Welcome to TRT!
Whiskey

[Casey]

I cant stand the look without my Mhs on