Brownout! (troubleshooting SPS color issues)

[Kalanianaole]

Going for all the details. Bear with me and thanks in advance for any input!

 

The problem:

My SPS color is just not what it should be. From the pics below you can tell the colors are pretty meh. The tri-color acro (to immediate right of dragon's breath algae) is brown, not the brilliant purple it should be. I have a blue tip acro (big one in middle) that's just brown with greenish tints. My purple stylo is barely purple on the ends of the polyps, so on and so forth.

 

November

 

December

 

Tank specs:

5 gallon Fluval Spec V (20.5" long x 7.5" wide x 11.6" high)

NanoBox Mini Tide LEDs w/ Storm controller set at 220/255 blue and 140/255 white (here is the PAR breakdown by manufacturer - 14336962005_2220c8b68b_b.jpg)

Minijet 606 return flow

Stock powerhead on 45-second cycle

Media is filter floss, then ChemiPure Elite plus small bag of carbon

Coral Sea Pro salt mix, using distilled water (RO/DI broken)

No ATO, no skimmer, no sump

 

Parameters on 12.8.14:

Salinity - 36

Temp - 78

Ca - 450

Alk - 8

NO3 - ~10

PO4 ~0.10

 

These numbers are very consistent with what it regularly tests at. I top off in the morning and evening as there is no ATO.

 

Additives:

0.3 mL/day - Ca + Alk (for 3 months now)

1 drop/day - Red Sea Coral Coloration A, B, C, D (1 month)

1 drop/day - Zeovit LPS Amino Acids and Coral Vitalizer (2 month)

1 drop/2 days - Zeovit Phol's Xtra and Sponge Power (2 months)

 

Ca + Alk are for growth, obviously. Zeovit and Coral Coloration are for health and color. I will say PE is significantly better since I started the Zeovit additives and general health of all corals has improved. Color seems to have slightly improved. For the Color Coloration, it seems to have improved color by maybe 10% on the pocci and the blue-tip acro, but the tri-color is browner than ever.

 

 

Thoughts:
The tank was started in June 2014, so still young, especially for acros. Parameter stability in a 5 gallon with no sump/skimmer/ATO is pushing things, I admit. Still, I feel I can get better color out of things. I'm working under the impression that some nutrients are okay, but do 50% water changes weekly to keep things fresh. My lights may be too high, but I've slowly increased intensity over the last few months.

 

Anyway, any thoughts or feedback welcome!

[farkwar]

More light. Actinic and violet light. My experience is white or full spectrum light browns my acros, bleaches my montis.

 

Less N & P.

 

 

Since wild natural acros are more normally brown, my opinion is that when we get more colors(Zeo type colors) from them they are in reality less healthy. Kat's beautiful 3-4 color Katropora is normally a crap brown in the wild, for example.

 

Get some macros, phosphate removers, and zeolites to suck out the Ns & Ps. Increase protein skimming and feed less carbs and more protein based foods.

 

When I think about amino acids and proteins available on a natural reef, I would assume that it is sporatic. Think of a mako or white tip occasionally killing something above the coral. I feed the liquid foods like your zeo additives and Acropower sporatically, not daily.

[Dramad1]

I dose aa and phols only once a week in my bc29. Daily seems like to much, could be driving your po4 up? No idea other than that.. do you test your ca and alk weekly? Just curious about you dosing the 2 part and if you dose equal amount of both ca and alk. I dose alk 5x a week and ca only once? Maybe alk swings?? Just guessing, throwing out possibilities.

no ato? Top off daily by hand? Salinity swings?

[CronicReefer]

My Monti Cap was losing color until I removed my carbon. I believe it was stripping a lot of elements from the water that my sps needed. I started using kent coral vite daily (0.4ml) and switched to kent organic adsorption resin to take the place of the carbon and now my monti looks just like it did at the shop and my pocillipora is growing much faster as well and looks much bluer on the tips. The only other thing I dose for my sps is phytoplankton 2 times a week since I feed frozen foods pretty regularly to my lobster. I would also add a phosphate remover like stated above.

[Bingo1213]

I had a similar problem recently and increasing the amount of blue light in the tank made a huge difference. I also started dosing SeaChem's Fuel, which seemed to speed growth and help coloration.

[Kalanianaole]

Thanks for the feedback so far!

 

More light. Actinic and violet light. My experience is white or full spectrum light browns my acros, bleaches my montis.

Less N & P.

Get some macros, phosphate removers, and zeolites to suck out the Ns & Ps. Increase protein skimming and feed less carbs and more protein based foods.

I'm worried about overdoing it. NanoBox is a powerful unit and it's just a five gallon. Here's a link to the PAR graph of the tide - 14336962005_2220c8b68b_b.jpg. Without running a PAR meter, I just have to guesstimate that since all SPS are mid to top level in the tank, they're all getting 150 - 300 PAR. What's "typical" for vibrant acros? The FTS gives some perspective of how the light is positioned. Would this lead to any dramatic reduction in penetration?

 

I dose aa and phols only once a week in my bc29. Daily seems like to much, could be driving your po4 up? No idea other than that.. do you test your ca and alk weekly? Just curious about you dosing the 2 part and if you dose equal amount of both ca and alk. I dose alk 5x a week and ca only once? Maybe alk swings?? Just guessing, throwing out possibilities.
no ato? Top off daily by hand? Salinity swings?

How many drops do you dose at a time? I'm doing 1 drop/day, which is per the instructions. PE is great, which is the primary indicator of happiness, right?

 

I test Ca and Alk weekly, though almost always at night. It's consistently between 430-460 and 7-8. Will test in the morning to see what swings look like.

 

I do top off daily by hand, but swings have been pretty minimal lately. ATO (or a slow dripper) would be good

 

My Monti Cap was losing color until I removed my carbon. I believe it was stripping a lot of elements from the water that my sps needed. I started using kent coral vite daily (0.4ml) and switched to kent organic adsorption resin to take the place of the carbon and now my monti looks just like it did at the shop and my pocillipora is growing much faster as well and looks much bluer on the tips. The only other thing I dose for my sps is phytoplankton 2 times a week since I feed frozen foods pretty regularly to my lobster. I would also add a phosphate remover like stated above.

Now that you mention it, I feel the color reduction might be in line with when I started carbon dosing a small bag in addition to the carbon in the ChemiPure Elite. The idea is that with a highly-stocked tank, it could use the extra help keeping nitrates down. So the Kent resin just captures organics? Anyone else have similar experience of corals coloring back up once carbon is removed?

 

I had a similar problem recently and increasing the amount of blue light in the tank made a huge difference. I also started dosing SeaChem's Fuel, which seemed to speed growth and help coloration.

What's your blue to white ratio? And do you have LEDs only or supplement with T5s? What's the active ingredients in SeaChem's fuel?

[rengb6]

I have the same issues when it comes to blue/purple coloration. My strawberry shortcake and Tyree pink lemonade are the only SPS that I keep that have never lost their colors. Here's an article that I found helpful. I haven't given the suggestions a try yet but I will once I ensure that alk swings aren't my problem.

 

http://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/03/guide-of-sps-coral-coloration-make-them-more-vivid-bright/

[ninjamyst]

Is there an easy way to tell if there's too much nutrients or too little? I thought SPS browning is usually TOO MUCH nutrients.

[CronicReefer]

Now that you mention it, I feel the color reduction might be in line with when I started carbon dosing a small bag in addition to the carbon in the ChemiPure Elite. The idea is that with a highly-stocked tank, it could use the extra help keeping nitrates down. So the Kent resin just captures organics? Anyone else have similar experience of corals coloring back up once carbon is removed?

The resin is supposed to be able to take the place of carbon and after using it for over a month now I'm satisfied it is working well. I also like that you can regenerate it for two years. As for lighting I keep my tank much whiter than what I see others use so for me at least this causes no problems with coloration.

[Kalanianaole]

I have the same issues when it comes to blue/purple coloration. My strawberry shortcake and Tyree pink lemonade are the only SPS that I keep that have never lost their colors. Here's an article that I found helpful. I haven't given the suggestions a try yet but I will once I ensure that alk swings aren't my problem.

 

http://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/03/guide-of-sps-coral-coloration-make-them-more-vivid-bright/

Great article, thanks for sharing. My green birds nest is doing fine (though not encrusting the base), so maybe I'm working my up the "chain." And, what I'm hearing from you, is get a strawberry shortcake

 

Is there an easy way to tell if there's too much nutrients or too little? I thought SPS browning is usually TOO MUCH nutrients.

Ninja, always with the question that cuts to the heart of the issue. Go Ninja. For browning, I also thought it was too many nutrients, defined as nitrates and phosphates, yes? However, how many is too many? And part of this is the debate, where some people swear by giant zeros and some say 5-10 nitrates and trace phosphates are actually healthy...

 

The resin is supposed to be able to take the place of carbon and after using it for over a month now I'm satisfied it is working well. I also like that you can regenerate it for two years. As for lighting I keep my tank much whiter than what I see others use so for me at least this causes no problems with coloration.

Well what do you know. I have a small bag of SeaChem Purigen in my media tray, though it's been in there since June. Time to recharge? What's the safest way to do so? And what percentage improvement in color would you say you've seen since you switched?

[Dramad1]

 

How many drops do you dose at a time? I'm doing 1 drop/day, which is per the instructions. PE is great, which is the primary indicator of happiness, right?

 

I test Ca and Alk weekly, though almost always at night. It's consistently between 430-460 and 7-8. Will test in the morning to see what swings look like.

 

I do top off daily by hand, but swings have been pretty minimal lately. ATO (or a slow dripper) would be good

Immediately after a wc I dose 1.5ml cs and 1 drop sp. At lights out same day as wc I dose 1 drop of cv. Nxt day at lights out I dose 1 drop aa (not lps) nothing else. Nxt day after work I feed some frozen mixed with some reef chili or coral frenzy ( i like to switch it up depending on looks of coral, I prefer the chili)and garlic, nothing else this day. Nxt day I dose 1ml cs and 1 drop sp, nothing else this day. Nxt day I dose 5 drops phol extra (regular strength). Nxt day feed with either flakes, pellets, frozen or a tiny bit of all 3, nothing else this day. Nxt day nothing, nxt day wc.

I also dose 5ml alk starting on Tuesday thru Saturday and 10ml ca on Wednesday. I change a double stack of inTank floss twice a week. I run about a half a cup carbon for a week once a month, phosgaurd when po4 shows up and the small prepacked 100ml bag of purigen that last a few months.

5 gal wc a week and every so often I will do an 8 g wc or even 10g. I feel the increased wc gallon amount every now and then helps replace other important elements that are lost over long periods of time just doing the same amount of wc's every week.

 

A while back I was having algae outbreaks and browning etc etc and I felt it was due to me over dosing zeovit. I stopped dosing aa, phols and cv for a while (about a month), then resumed dosing zeo after coming up with my current dosing routine w/ the help of nanoTopia and a few others on this forum as well as the zeo forum. Some people dose the crap outta zeovit products but most who do dose alot have a full zevit set up.

[CronicReefer]

Well what do you know. I have a small bag of SeaChem Purigen in my media tray, though it's been in there since June. Time to recharge? What's the safest way to do so? And what percentage improvement in color would you say you've seen since you switched?

I would not recharge purigen. Too many horror stories and I have my own. Since I switched the monti went from being gray with brown spots to being bright red/orange just like the day I bought it but more important to me is the growth I've seen from my pocillipora since removing the carbon.

[farkwar]

One other feature that let's me know that acroporas feed sporadically, not continuously.

 

Mesenteric filaments.

 

They have evolved a feeding mechanism that comes out when they detect proteins and amino acids in the water.

 

But like I said, Zeovit is not natural, and it keeps them on the verge of starvation, to get the color that we desire.

 

Regarding PAR, PAR meters do a bad job of detecting blue and violet light, just like our eyes. You can have huge amounts of usable radiation, that corals can use, that we can barely see, and does not register well on a PAR meter.

[Kalanianaole]

I change a double stack of inTank floss twice a week. I run about a half a cup carbon for a week once a month, phosgaurd when po4 shows up and the small prepacked 100ml bag of purigen that last a few months.

 

A while back I was having algae outbreaks and browning etc etc and I felt it was due to me over dosing zeovit. I stopped dosing aa, phols and cv for a while (about a month), then resumed dosing zeo after coming up with my current dosing routine w/ the help of nanoTopia and a few others on this forum as well as the zeo forum. Some people dose the crap outta zeovit products but most who do dose alot have a full zevit set up.

Thanks for the info.

 

I would not recharge purigen. Too many horror stories and I have my own. Since I switched the monti went from being gray with brown spots to being bright red/orange just like the day I bought it but more important to me is the growth I've seen from my pocillipora since removing the carbon.

Ordered a new one - mine's been running same one since June. It's gotten darker for sure and time to replace.

 

One other feature that let's me know that acroporas feed sporadically, not continuously.

 

Mesenteric filaments.

 

They have evolved a feeding mechanism that comes out when they detect proteins and amino acids in the water.

 

But like I said, Zeovit is not natural, and it keeps them on the verge of starvation, to get the color that we desire.

 

Regarding PAR, PAR meters do a bad job of detecting blue and violet light, just like our eyes. You can have huge amounts of usable radiation, that corals can use, that we can barely see, and does not register well on a PAR meter.

In tanks that don't do AAs, PE is still an indicator of good health right?

[Kalanianaole]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Based on suggestions, I've come up with a few immediate actions. Going to track and report on the process and progress here in hopes that it will be useful information.

 

Next steps:

-Angle light more level with water surface (thanks Dave!) and slowly increase intensity

Though other people with similar set ups use lower settings, I'm increasing light to power up the color. I hope this isn't a bad decision.

 

-Track Alk in morning

I usually test in the evenings so late night and morning testing might help to confirm it's not swinging.

 

-Replace filter floss weekly

Previously was changed monthly at best which likely collected and leaked nutrients.

 

-Replace 100 mL Purigen bag every 3 months

Same bag has been in tank for 5+ months. Ordered new bag and replacing tomorrow.

 

-(Sigh) Order Mg test kit and test weekly

I actually love feeling like a scientist, was just being stubborn about not spending the extra $30. Since Ca and Alk depend on it so much, it's too important not to test if I want the success I'm looking for.

 

-Dose Coral Coloration A,B, C, D elements every other day

The thought with daily dosing is that the tank is stocked so heavily, I assumed a deficiency in important trace elements was the cause of the browning. Daily dosing of one drop was calibrated based on the amount of two part I dosed to keep levels at 440 and 8, though I think this was a bit overkill.

[markalot]

Howdy,

 

I read skimmed some of this thread, sorry if I repeat some things, but I typically disagree with a lot of advice about SPS. I know I can color up acros under LED, I had it, then I browned everything out because I let Alk and phosphate rise, or phosphate rose, growth slowed, which resulted in an Alk rise. No way to be 100% sure.

 

#1 SPS like stability, period. Evaluate everything you plan to do based on stability PERIOD. ALK is the most important followed closely by just about everything else.

 

You say Alk is steady at 8 but you are using RSCP, a toy salt in my opinion. RSCP mixes with an Alk of what, 12? You ain't stable if you are pouring 12 KH water into a tank running at 8KH, so there's your first fix.

 

I would stop putting any color crap into the water, doesn't seem to be helping.

 

Getting phosphates down to a lower level, say .05, will help. You can find plenty of super colorful tanks with SPS and phosphates over .1 but you will also find STABILITY. See #1

 

People often talk about carbon and say that removing carbon improved color of something. I have no reason to doubt them but understand the myriad of things that might have caused the increase color. More available organics in the water, less light hitting the coral due to reduced water clarity, or a change in tank maintenance that followed the removal of carbon that was actually responsible for the improved coral colors.

 

I have 150 gallons to work with and I still botched it, you only have 5. Best of luck, I could not manage it in smaller tanks but many talented people here can. Sometimes it comes down to coral choice as well. There are certain acros, like the green slimer, that can maintain color in bad or swinging parameters.

 

I can offer proof I can achieve good color and browns.

 

This is what we fondly call Katropora, a frag of a coral from Metrokats tank. This was grown under Maxspect Razors running at 80% white and 100% blue.

 

 

This is how it looks today, 1 month after my phosphate and KH issue. Phosphate is now nearly undetectable, KH slowly falling from 7.8 to 7.6 and I plan to lock it in around 7.5. it is finally regaining some color, very very slowly.

 

With LED lights the best color will be observed from the top. This is true for all lighting, but with LED it's especially bad because ver little light hits the side of the coral directly where with T5 and MH (with a reflector as wide as the tank) corals get more direct and indirect light on all sides. Look at your corals from the top down and make sure they are really colorless.

[markalot]

Going for all the details. Bear with me and thanks in advance for any input!

 

Quoting you since you don't follow this thread. Old timer!

[farkwar]

 

 

In tanks that don't do AAs, PE is still an indicator of good health right?

 

If you're feeding thawed frozen foods like Rods Larrys, Mysis, krill, etc, all that juice is saturated with amino acids.

 

Of course the meat itself is all protein, mostly. Proteins are constructed of amino acids.

 

You can have PE without food in the water. The Mesenterial filaments come out when they sense foods. They will come out with say reconstituted Reef Chili.

[Polarcollision]

I'm worried about overdoing it. NanoBox is a powerful unit and it's just a five gallon. Here's a link to the PAR graph of the tide - 14336962005_2220c8b68b_b.jpg. Without running a PAR meter, I just have to guesstimate that since all SPS are mid to top level in the tank, they're all getting 150 - 300 PAR. What's "typical" for vibrant acros? The FTS gives some perspective of how the light is positioned. Would this lead to any dramatic reduction in penetration?

 

I was guessing on my lights, too until I borrowed a PAR meter. You want between 300-400 PAR for SPS. There's a good article over at advanced aquarist with a list of ideal and photoinhibition points for many species of coral. I used that as a guide for picking peak light levels.

 

My peak was about 2/3 ideal levels. So I put the lights on acclimation mode and let it increase over 6 weeks to gain the extra 100+ PAR. During that time I calculated a rough estimate of actual light vs reported light from the meter, which meant the programmed peak levels ended up being quite a bit brighter than ideal. I figured the increase was slow enough that I could stop it if coral showed isssues. Except nothing has complained 3 weeks after reaching new peak level (estimate that my big bird is now getting ~500 PAR).

 

I'd say just watch the coral as you SLOWLY increase your lights. If they start getting lighter brown, they're expelling zoox. Some of this is good since your corals are brown from a high concentration of zoox. Just don't let it go so far as to bleach pale tan or white. As you lose zoox, you should see the protective pigment colors start to build, if it's going to happen. More on those below.

 

I test Ca and Alk weekly, though almost always at night. It's consistently between 430-460 and 7-8. Will test in the morning to see what swings look like.

I do top off daily by hand, but swings have been pretty minimal lately. ATO (or a slow dripper) would be good

 

 

Now that you mention it, I feel the color reduction might be in line with when I started carbon dosing a small bag in addition to the carbon in the ChemiPure Elite. The idea is that with a highly-stocked tank, it could use the extra help keeping nitrates down. So the Kent resin just captures organics? Anyone else have similar experience of corals coloring back up once carbon is removed?

 

Try to keep your alk swings less than .25 KH at any point. If coral is really healthy some can take a larger swing but not constantly. They'll brown out on you. I second the RSCP salt with alk of 12. That's fine for less finicky corals that can take large alk swings and i believe intended to maintain levels via water changed for those who don't dose. Switch to the regular Red Sea salt and stability will get a lot easier to maintain.

 

Salinity swings can affect coral too. I think pH, salinity and alk are the 3 most imporant parameters to keep stable. (plz don't take my meaning to chase pH - not recommended)

 

My SPS is doing colring up and growing well after the lighting change, keeping alk swings below .25 KH and also correcting low iodine levels.

 

Great article, thanks for sharing. My green birds nest is doing fine (though not encrusting the base), so maybe I'm working my up the "chain." And, what I'm hearing from you, is get a strawberry shortcake

 

Ninja, always with the question that cuts to the heart of the issue. Go Ninja. For browning, I also thought it was too many nutrients, defined as nitrates and phosphates, yes? However, how many is too many? And part of this is the debate, where some people swear by giant zeros and some say 5-10 nitrates and trace phosphates are actually healthy...

 

Your birdsnest may never encrust--none of mine ever have. They tend to just grow out immediately.

 

Phosphates are ideal around .03. Test kit resolution and actual water levels vs available phosphates make test kits unreliable so I aim for .02-.06. Nitrates can go higher, but try to keep it in the ratio ideal for zoox and coral, rather than algae and cyano, etc.

[ninjamyst]

I was guessing on my lights, too until I borrowed a PAR meter. You want between 300-400 PAR for SPS. There's a good article over at advanced aquarist with a list of ideal and photoinhibition points for many species of coral. I used that as a guide for picking peak light levels.

 

My peak was about 2/3 ideal levels. So I put the lights on acclimation mode and let it increase over 6 weeks to gain the extra 100+ PAR. During that time I calculated a rough estimate of actual light vs reported light from the meter, which meant the programmed peak levels ended up being quite a bit brighter than ideal. I figured the increase was slow enough that I could stop it if coral showed isssues. Except nothing has complained 3 weeks after reaching new peak level (estimate that my big bird is now getting ~500 PAR).

 

I'd say just watch the coral as you SLOWLY increase your lights. If they start getting lighter brown, they're expelling zoox. Some of this is good since your corals are brown from a high concentration of zoox. Just don't let it go so far as to bleach pale tan or white. As you lose zoox, you should see the protective pigment colors start to build, if it's going to happen. More on those below.

 

 

Try to keep your alk swings less than .25 KH at any point. If coral is really healthy some can take a larger swing but not constantly. They'll brown out on you. I second the RSCP salt with alk of 12. That's fine for less finicky corals that can take large alk swings and i believe intended to maintain levels via water changed for those who don't dose. Switch to the regular Red Sea salt and stability will get a lot easier to maintain.

 

Salinity swings can affect coral too. I think pH, salinity and alk are the 3 most imporant parameters to keep stable. (plz don't take my meaning to chase pH - not recommended)

 

My SPS is doing colring up and growing well after the lighting change, keeping alk swings below .25 KH and also correcting low iodine levels.

 

 

Your birdsnest may never encrust--none of mine ever have. They tend to just grow out immediately.

 

Phosphates are ideal around .03. Test kit resolution and actual water levels vs available phosphates make test kits unreliable so I aim for .02-.06. Nitrates can go higher, but try to keep it in the ratio ideal for zoox and coral, rather than algae and cyano, etc.

 

HOw do you know you have low iodine level?

[Polarcollision]

HOw do you know you have low iodine level?

I have a RedSea iodine test kit that always reads super low. I guess heavy skimming and carbon deplete it, at least that's what I have read. Plus, iodide affects blue SPS color. Adding 2 drops of Lugols a week and also the RedSea iodine trace supplement improved my purple SPS significantly. Also zoas look tons better, which also need iodine for health.

[Bingo1213]

Thanks for the feedback so far!

 

I'm worried about overdoing it. NanoBox is a powerful unit and it's just a five gallon. Here's a link to the PAR graph of the tide - 14336962005_2220c8b68b_b.jpg. Without running a PAR meter, I just have to guesstimate that since all SPS are mid to top level in the tank, they're all getting 150 - 300 PAR. What's "typical" for vibrant acros? The FTS gives some perspective of how the light is positioned. Would this lead to any dramatic reduction in penetration?

 

How many drops do you dose at a time? I'm doing 1 drop/day, which is per the instructions. PE is great, which is the primary indicator of happiness, right?

 

I test Ca and Alk weekly, though almost always at night. It's consistently between 430-460 and 7-8. Will test in the morning to see what swings look like.

 

I do top off daily by hand, but swings have been pretty minimal lately. ATO (or a slow dripper) would be good

 

Now that you mention it, I feel the color reduction might be in line with when I started carbon dosing a small bag in addition to the carbon in the ChemiPure Elite. The idea is that with a highly-stocked tank, it could use the extra help keeping nitrates down. So the Kent resin just captures organics? Anyone else have similar experience of corals coloring back up once carbon is removed?

 

What's your blue to white ratio? And do you have LEDs only or supplement with T5s? What's the active ingredients in SeaChem's fuel?

First off I run carbon in my tanks without issue. I feel it helps pull any chemical warfare remnants from the water. As for blue to white, I run my lights about 2:1. My tank used to be all t5 then I tried both for a while and now just run LEDs. I know some think that LEDs no longer support coral as well as t5 but for me it has been the opposite. I have gotten better growth and colors since I switched.

[Kalanianaole]

You say Alk is steady at 8 but you are using RSCP, a toy salt in my opinion. RSCP mixes with an Alk of what, 12? You ain't stable if you are pouring 12 KH water into a tank running at 8KH, so there's your first fix.

 

I would stop putting any color crap into the water, doesn't seem to be helping.

 

Getting phosphates down to a lower level, say .05, will help. You can find plenty of super colorful tanks with SPS and phosphates over .1 but you will also find STABILITY. See #1

 

People often talk about carbon and say that removing carbon improved color of something. I have no reason to doubt them but understand the myriad of things that might have caused the increase color. More available organics in the water, less light hitting the coral due to reduced water clarity, or a change in tank maintenance that followed the removal of carbon that was actually responsible for the improved coral colors.

 

I have 150 gallons to work with and I still botched it, you only have 5. Best of luck, I could not manage it in smaller tanks but many talented people here can. Sometimes it comes down to coral choice as well. There are certain acros, like the green slimer, that can maintain color in bad or swinging parameters.

 

I can offer proof I can achieve good color and browns.

 

This is what we fondly call Katropora, a frag of a coral from Metrokats tank. This was grown under Maxspect Razors running at 80% white and 100% blue.

 

This is how it looks today, 1 month after my phosphate and KH issue. Phosphate is now nearly undetectable, KH slowly falling from 7.8 to 7.6 and I plan to lock it in around 7.5. it is finally regaining some color, very very slowly.

 

With LED lights the best color will be observed from the top. This is true for all lighting, but with LED it's especially bad because ver little light hits the side of the coral directly where with T5 and MH (with a reflector as wide as the tank) corals get more direct and indirect light on all sides. Look at your corals from the top down and make sure they are really colorless.

Great post, thanks. This is why I posted, I knew there was some dummy thing I was overlooking and the salt make up was something I completely forgot to double check. Sure enough, tested fresh Red Sea Coral Pro and it was 12. Did a 75% water change yesterday. Pre-change it was 8, and this evening it was 9.5. That's a major swing from 8 to 12. Is most people whose tanks I like do ~8. I don't suppose there's any rationale to attempt to keep it at 12? Especially when it seems to stabilize itself at 8. I went with RSCP because I read and got feedback that it has better trace elements, etc. What salt do you use?

 

Love the Katropora. Will have to get one of my own to brown out one day

 

Will keep on using the supplements because they've definitely helped somewhat since I started. and aren't doing any harm (yet).

 

There is about 20% more color when viewed from the top and I do wish there was more "bounce in how the light distributes to the ends of the tank. But good to get further confirmation that LEDs are what they need to be.

[Kalanianaole]

I was guessing on my lights, too until I borrowed a PAR meter. You want between 300-400 PAR for SPS. There's a good article over at advanced aquarist with a list of ideal and photoinhibition points for many species of coral. I used that as a guide for picking peak light levels.

Do you have a link to the article?

 

My peak was about 2/3 ideal levels. So I put the lights on acclimation mode and let it increase over 6 weeks to gain the extra 100+ PAR. During that time I calculated a rough estimate of actual light vs reported light from the meter, which meant the programmed peak levels ended up being quite a bit brighter than ideal. I figured the increase was slow enough that I could stop it if coral showed isssues. Except nothing has complained 3 weeks after reaching new peak level (estimate that my big bird is now getting ~500 PAR).

 

I'd say just watch the coral as you SLOWLY increase your lights. If they start getting lighter brown, they're expelling zoox. Some of this is good since your corals are brown from a high concentration of zoox. Just don't let it go so far as to bleach pale tan or white. As you lose zoox, you should see the protective pigment colors start to build, if it's going to happen. More on those below.

 

 

Try to keep your alk swings less than .25 KH at any point. If coral is really healthy some can take a larger swing but not constantly. They'll brown out on you. I second the RSCP salt with alk of 12. That's fine for less finicky corals that can take large alk swings and i believe intended to maintain levels via water changed for those who don't dose. Switch to the regular Red Sea salt and stability will get a lot easier to maintain.

Should have checked this first! If my tank stabilizes at ~8, what salts are recommended that are also 8?

 

Salinity swings can affect coral too. I think pH, salinity and alk are the 3 most imporant parameters to keep stable. (plz don't take my meaning to chase pH - not recommended)

 

My SPS is doing colring up and growing well after the lighting change, keeping alk swings below .25 KH and also correcting low iodine levels.

Red Sea Coral Coloration A is the dose for iodine.

 

Your birdsnest may never encrust--none of mine ever have. They tend to just grow out immediately.

I've noticed that too, really annoying habit birds nests and pocilliapora have.

 

Phosphates are ideal around .03. Test kit resolution and actual water levels vs available phosphates make test kits unreliable so I aim for .02-.06. Nitrates can go higher, but try to keep it in the ratio ideal for zoox and coral, rather than algae and cyano, etc.

 

 

I was guessing on my lights, too until I borrowed a PAR meter. You want between 300-400 PAR for SPS. There's a good article over at advanced aquarist with a list of ideal and photoinhibition points for many species of coral. I used that as a guide for picking peak light levels.

Do you have a link to the article?

 

My peak was about 2/3 ideal levels. So I put the lights on acclimation mode and let it increase over 6 weeks to gain the extra 100+ PAR. During that time I calculated a rough estimate of actual light vs reported light from the meter, which meant the programmed peak levels ended up being quite a bit brighter than ideal. I figured the increase was slow enough that I could stop it if coral showed isssues. Except nothing has complained 3 weeks after reaching new peak level (estimate that my big bird is now getting ~500 PAR).

 

I'd say just watch the coral as you SLOWLY increase your lights. If they start getting lighter brown, they're expelling zoox. Some of this is good since your corals are brown from a high concentration of zoox. Just don't let it go so far as to bleach pale tan or white. As you lose zoox, you should see the protective pigment colors start to build, if it's going to happen. More on those below.

 

 

Try to keep your alk swings less than .25 KH at any point. If coral is really healthy some can take a larger swing but not constantly. They'll brown out on you. I second the RSCP salt with alk of 12. That's fine for less finicky corals that can take large alk swings and i believe intended to maintain levels via water changed for those who don't dose. Switch to the regular Red Sea salt and stability will get a lot easier to maintain.

Should have checked this first! If my tank stabilizes at ~8, what salts are recommended that are also 8?

 

Salinity swings can affect coral too. I think pH, salinity and alk are the 3 most imporant parameters to keep stable. (plz don't take my meaning to chase pH - not recommended)

 

My SPS is doing colring up and growing well after the lighting change, keeping alk swings below .25 KH and also correcting low iodine levels.

Red Sea Coral Coloration A is the dose for iodine.

 

Your birdsnest may never encrust--none of mine ever have. They tend to just grow out immediately.

I've noticed that too, really annoying habit birds nests and pocilliapora have.

 

Phosphates are ideal around .03. Test kit resolution and actual water levels vs available phosphates make test kits unreliable so I aim for .02-.06.

Nitrates can go higher, but try to keep it in the ratio ideal for zoox and coral, rather than algae and cyano, etc.

I have a RedSea iodine test kit that always reads super low. I guess heavy skimming and carbon deplete it, at least that's what I have read. Plus, iodide affects blue SPS color. Adding 2 drops of Lugols a week and also the RedSea iodine trace supplement improved my purple SPS significantly. Also zoas look tons better, which also need iodine for health.

Lugols isn't redundant with the iodine supplement?

[Polarcollision]

 

Do you have a link to the article?

 

Should have checked this first! If my tank stabilizes at ~8, what salts are recommended that are also 8?

 

Red Sea Coral Coloration A is the dose for iodine.

 

I've noticed that too, really annoying habit birds nests and pocilliapora have. Lugols isn't redundant with the iodine supplement?

 

Great photoinhibition table in this article: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2014/11/aafeature

Also a great companion article if you haven't read it already: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/3/aafeature1

 

The regular Red Sea salt mixes fairly close to NSW parameters AND you get to keep the benefit of all the trace elements in RedSea salt. :-) The concentration of trace at 35 salinity stays about the same--checked on that one myself before making the switch from coral pro.

 

Yeah, they're somewhat redundant. RedSea doesn't really state what form of iodine it contains, but I know there's some iodiDe in Lugols, which is the ideal form for bringing out more blue coloration. I bought the reef care box of trace elements from RedSea a year ago thinking I'd dose trace elements...they sat in the stand all that time until recently trying to get purple SPS to color back up. Combined, the total iodine now hovers where it needs to be--0.06.