High Tide Aquatics

Acropora slowly turning brown

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Jonathan Chia

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I seem to have an issue with my Nuvo 40 where the acropora slowly turn brown over the span of a few weeks. It's being lit by a Radion G5 Blue with AB+, at about 60% intensity. PE is good, just no color

Alkalinity: 11.5
Calcium: 450
Mag: 1500
Nitrates: 5-12ppm
Phos: .05-.09

ICP tests also came back normal as well...It should be enough light, any more intense and my LPS will bleach...I'm at a loss as to what could be going on
 
The videos recommend 300+ or they say the light and program you’re running should be supplying that amount mounted at a certain height above the water and depth?
 
Not all acros want the same amount of light. Which ones have been doing this? I would seriously try to borrow the par meter tho.
Directly under the light and off to the side a few inches can Ben a big difference in PAR
 
Yea I use Red Sea coral pro. And figured I’d aim for stability so I dose ESV by hand to maintain it between water changes.
Sounds like I should just let it consume alk naturally... what should I aim for?
 
Jonathan Chia said:
Yea I use Red Sea coral pro. And figured I’d aim for stability so I dose ESV by hand to maintain it between water changes.
Sounds like I should just let it consume alk naturally... what should I aim for?
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The red sea pro is made for their accelerated growth program.
See the YouTube videos redsea have about their foundation elements and programs.
They will also explain why brown color is expected when you run elevated foundation elements
 
My experience -- high alk will often cause some SPS to brown. It accelerates growth at a cost of color. Not sure why this is, but it's a pretty common finding. Try lowering your Alk and if that's an issue you'll see some color within a month on some of the SPS. I'd also get your Phosphates down to .03-.05 at most.Some SPS is very sensitive to Phosphates and if you are running in the range indicated a slight bump will cause distress.

I did run a frag tank at 11-12 for a long time and the growth was good, but I also found that the incidence of RTN and STN was much higher. I don't think it's worth it. Remember that anything above 8 is really an artificial level. The ocean averages right around 8 if I remeber correctly.
 
Bruce Spiegelman said:
My experience -- high alk will often cause some SPS to brown. It accelerates growth at a cost of color. Not sure why this is, but it's a pretty common finding. Try lowering your Alk and if that's an issue you'll see some color within a month on some of the SPS. I'd also get your Phosphates down to .03-.05 at most.Some SPS is very sensitive to Phosphates and if you are running in the range indicated a slight bump will cause distress.

I did run a frag tank at 11-12 for a long time and the growth was good, but I also found that the incidence of RTN and STN was much higher. I don't think it's worth it. Remember that anything above 8 is really an artificial level. The ocean averages right around 8 if I remeber correctly.
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When you run accelerated growth which can be achieved by elevated foundation and trace element you increase the density of zooxanthellae which give the coral its brown color.
In nature, coral usually are brown btw. Many of the colors we achieve in our systems are not exactly the natural color found in reef. We manipulate the density of zooxanthellae(low means brighter color) then based on the light spectrum amd intensity (PSR) the coral reponde by a certain color.
Red sea have very good learning series about how foundation and trace element change color and growth..
 
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Btw for the sake of completeness many factors can cause browning.
In mature stable system the most common is the alk and PAR.
But in early new systems other actors like high nutrients, system bio filtration not mature yet or even some contaminates can all also participate in browning coral.
 
Solitaryensis said:
Your tank is just a couple months old right? In my experience, even if your parameters are in line, SPS dont thrive until your tank is a bit more established.


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my tank is about 8 months old, bare bottom. Coraline has covered the bare bottom and like 75% of the back wall
ive never heard of RSCP causing browning so I’ll be sure to check out the videos. I’ve tried dosing brightwell amino in the past but end up with Dino’s after a week or so
 
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