despite growth and parameters, all SPS look brown.

[aastretch64]

I had the same problem. Them I bought a phosphate reactor, and replaced my refugium light with a 19/75 watt home depot bulb. 3 weeks later everything is wonderful.

I would say that there is probable too much nutrience, and not enough light.

I have (2) 250 watt 15K's with (2) 65 watt actinics suspended about 8 inches off the water sureface. Just replaced my old 175's, what a difference!

Alex

[giants4pc]

All of my SPS are at the top of the tank, just about below the surface of the water. Halides are about 6" above the surface. I will try to post pics later. My camera isn't the best. I will also retest the parameters with Salifert and get back to everyone. Thanks for those suggestions. As for switching the light, I pay enough $ in electricity as it is with the 175's.
If it means anything, I have a mixed tank. I have some LPS with nice reds and some frogspawn that's a nice green. I think the easiest way to envision this is that I got a frag of a blue acro from someone who had it under 150's. In the plastic bag, I could tell that it was blue. Now, it just looks brown.

[ahchung]

In a mixed tank you might need to run carbon.

Originally posted by giants4pc
All of my SPS are at the top of the tank, just about below the surface of the water. Halides are about 6" above the surface. I will try to post pics later. My camera isn't the best. I will also retest the parameters with Salifert and get back to everyone. Thanks for those suggestions. As for switching the light, I pay enough $ in electricity as it is with the 175's.
If it means anything, I have a mixed tank. I have some LPS with nice reds and some frogspawn that's a nice green. I think the easiest way to envision this is that I got a frag of a blue acro from someone who had it under 150's. In the plastic bag, I could tell that it was blue. Now, it just looks brown.

[JC VT]

Maybe, but coral toxins are supposed to slow growth... which is not happening correct?

Brown, growing corals point to mucho zoox.

So the point, I believe, is to find out what is feeding all those zoox.

[JC VT]

Also, how warm are you running your reef?

[giants4pc]

Here's the deal. I just tested with Salifert. And by the way, I do run carbon 24/7.
Temp - 80
salt - 1.025
calcium - 460
Akj - 11.2
Mag - 1200
Nitrate - 5
Phosphate - 0
Any suggestions for what to do if adjustments are needed? Again, I drip kalk at night and dose Randy's two part (3 part really)
Pics:
"Green" cap

brown acros

Supposed blue acro (it was blue in the bag)

Suggestions now?

[giants4pc]

In the picture, my rock looks like it's covered in red algae. It's actually red coraline. That's solid stuff even though there is some other micro lingering around.

[giants4pc]

bump

[StrategicReef]

I have corals like that trying to figure out too.
Do you have any SPS that grows to it's advertised colors though, and are they strong with green, blue, pink etc.

[robertloop]

First thing that poped into my mind was "amino acids". I dose reef plus. (seachem) for amino acids. Seemed to make a big difference in my 55 that had very high nitrates. I had 175w 12000k sunburst and 2X 36" t5 ho tubes. Despite the 50 ppm nitrate the color on sps was spectacular.

[giants4pc]

I've been reading a lot about amino acids. For some reason, the idea of cracking open those horse pills that lifters use pops into my head. Apparently we aren't talking about those types of amino acids. I've never been one to supplement. However, it may be worth a shot.

[giants4pc]

.

[cweder]

Give us your typical daily feeding regimen. How many hours are your halides on for each day. You should keep your magnesium 3 times your calcium as a good rule which would put you at 1350 for mag. Your alk seems too high to be safe. Even though your phosphate measures zero your tank and corals say otherwise. Buy a phosban reactor, you will not regret it, just be sure the granules are thoroughly rinsed out and let the water flow through it no faster than recommended or it can break up. Change your carbon at least monthly and what kind of carbon is it. From your photos your tank lighting looks very dim. Hopefully it looks better in person. In my experience SPS turn brown from stress, lack of light and too many nutrients (they hate phosphates). Give us a full tank shot showing the lighting if possible.

[RobsReefs]

Is that a mushroom in the 2nd pic down?

[MiddletonMark]

How long have these been growing in-tank?

Have you moved them recently?

IMO, they seem still fairly small. I've had some Acropora that just didn't color for 6-9 months in tank .... but given a year, turned lovely.

I'd think perhaps more time might help vs. nutrient addition.

[giants4pc]

These pics were taken after the lights went out. Lighting is mentioned in the first thread. I feed differently daily. Sometimes mysis, brine, flakes, chopped silversides, krill, blender mush...a great variety. That is a mushroom in the pick. I know it's close to that one in particular, but not the others.

Phosphate reads zero and I have Seachem's Phosguard in the tank.

All frags have been in there for nearly a year. Some have really shown growth - others not so much.

Halides are on for 8 hours daily.

I use black diamond for carbon.

[ghostman]

My opinion would be that the lighting is far too low for such a deep tank as a 90. Do you have 1 halide or several? If it were me, I would have at least 2x250W bulbs with T5 or VHO actinics to accent coral coloration. In addition, the tank looks a bit "dirty" with some hair algae and such. I don't think nutrients addition is your problem. I would work on exporting nutrients with more skimming or a PO4 reactor. HTH

[cweder]

see below

[cweder]

GFO is much better than phosguard IMO and experience. I dont think your single 175 is enough as has already been mentioned. Unless your coral is directly centered beneath the halide no more than a foot down even with a good reflector. I would recommend keeping your halide on longer than 8 hours, like 10 to 12. Keep in mind your trying to keep coral that was near impossible to keep for the average reef keeper 10 years ago. Along with the best possible water quality, they thrive on proper lighting, thats why some people even use 1000 watt bulbs.

I would also make sure your bulbs were installed properly, I have heard they need to be put in a certain way to work properly.

Best of luck to you, I would love a pic with these bulbs on. I think they look very nice and have a good spectrum.

[RobsReefs]

His 175w have more par than my 250's http://www.reeflightinginfo.arvixe.c...&Submit=Submit
but that mushroom looks to be loving the amount of light it is geting and they have diffrent lighting needs than acro's

[stony_corals]

You say that the red is coraline in your pics, but in the first pic, there looks to be an acro with this 'coraline' on it... please confirm.... 5ppm NO3 is fine, though some can brown out. Depending on where you cite, that's a good 10x or so higher than NSW. You need to know what your PO4 are, if you're not getting growth and are brown, could be it.... I doubt lighting is the issue....

Lastly, a lot of sps are.... brown. Did you see these corals colored some other color in a different tank?

[giants4pc]

I have 2 175 watt 10k Iwasaki's and 2 96 watt PC actinic. From all the reading I have done, that should be enough light.

I have seen the coral before I purchased it. The one in the third pic was blue.

That particular coral does have some red slime on it. Honestly, these pics portray the tank to be much dirtier than it really is. It just seems surprising that phosphates could be the issue when my test kit shows 0. Even if it's off a little, it can't be that much.

[giants4pc]

I forgot to reiterate that the growth is there. I have had some 2" frags turn into colonies. The color on those is a little better. Blue tips are present. So, it's not like they aren't growing, it's just the color that's lacking.

I recently saw XM 20k's in the 175 watt. I liked the bluer look. Perhaps that would help.
The par on the Iwasaki's is great...hence the growth. However, I have never been impressed with their color.

[pscheel]

"It just seems surprising that phosphates could be the issue when my test kit shows 0." What test are you using. Most kits will read zero.

[JC VT]

Most of those colonies have white undersides particularly the 3rd picture... what do you attribute to that?

Also, there seems to be green hair algae in the first pic... that indicates phosphate.