Help Orange turned Brown !!!
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Help
Forum Name: EMERGENCY FORUM
Forum Description: If you have an Emergency post here and you should receive a quick reply.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=45629
Printed Date: October 20 2025 at 1:09pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Help Orange turned Brown !!!
Posted By: sjaynes
Subject: Help Orange turned Brown !!!
Date Posted: December 23 2010 at 7:58pm
|
These were my first sps corals and they have been doing fine for 3 weeks and then all of the sudden the orange monti cap started turning brown and the green birds nest is starting to shed ( which i am assuming it is dying). Everything else in the tank is doing just fine. Nothing new has been added or changed. I checked my parameters and here are the results: 75 gallon oceanic half circle Salinity. 1.025 Temp. 75 Cal. 450 alk. 2.5 Mag. 900 PH 8.2 Phosphates and ammonia are both less than are basically zero. Lighting: 36 3w cree led Here are some pics: 1st pic is my tank with mainly blue led on before i added the coral 2nd pic is my tank as it sits now 3rd pic is a close up of the corals that are being affected. Any help or advice would be appreciated !!!! Happy Holidays lol    |
Replies:
Posted By: SGH360
Date Posted: December 23 2010 at 8:16pm
| what about your nitrates levels? |
Posted By: sjaynes
Date Posted: December 23 2010 at 8:18pm
| basically zero... |
Posted By: Nick801
Date Posted: December 23 2010 at 8:53pm
|
whats the lighting on that one? ------------- http://www.reefinsanity.com" rel="nofollow - www.ReefInsanity.com http://www.facebook.com/ReefInsanity" rel="nofollow - www.Facebook.com/ReefInsanity 801-680-4676 |
Posted By: jwoo
Date Posted: December 23 2010 at 11:30pm
|
Your ALK is really low. It should be 4 mel/q and your mag is super low too. I keep mine around 1400-1500. I bet it's the low Alk though. Birdsnest is really sensitive to water parameter changes. Lighting could be a factor too. What do you have for lighting? ------------- None at the moment Soon: 72 Gallon Bowfront |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 12:43am
 Sorry for the [almost] loss. If you follow the advice here, it may still be possible to save the Monti.It's definitely both the low Alk and low Mg. The light looks okay, not great but okay, but it's hard to tell because LED's take lousy pics (it's not the light's fault, it's the camera not seeing the PAR of the LED) Alk should be 3-5 meq/l (8-14 dKH) 2.5 meq/l (6 dKH) is like  for SPSRead below in the Reefkeeping Tips thread (2nd post) about adding Baking Soda solution to raise the Alk about 0.5 meq/l per day and get some Epsom Salt to raise the Mg to at least 1250 ppm (about 150 ppm per day) Oceanic Salt Mix is too low in Alk, so if that's what you are using, just know that you will always have to add Alkalinity with Baking Soda.  Try to keep on top of the Alkalinity so that it doesn't go below 3 again and ideally stays constant at around 4 meq/l. Same for the Mg. Good luck. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
|
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 12:45am
|
Oh and it looks like there is a 3rd type of SPS in that pic. I'd say all three are too close together.
------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: Chris Scott
Date Posted: December 24 2010 at 6:41pm
|
when you say your nitrates are basically zero, what do you mean? 0 or like 10 or 20?
If it is zero, i bet it is the low alk. If you want to address it quickly and not bake the baking soda, you can go get alkalinity from the fish store. I think its called reef builder or something. ------------- 55g Bowfront Corner Reef |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: December 25 2010 at 10:48am
|
The rest of the coral look fine so N is not a problem. Even Nitrate as high as 50 ppm is no problem in some tanks. Soda Ash (baked Baking Soda) is not necessary. Baking soda is all that is needed. We can go into the details if needed. And for raising the Mg, Epsom Salt is all that is needed. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: Ryan Thompson
Date Posted: December 26 2010 at 1:16pm
Actually Mark, I believe Epsom Salt is only Magnesium Sulfate. Therefore you need Magnesium Chloride as well or your system will not be ionically balanced. Randy Holmes-Farley wrote a great article about that exact problem with most Magnesium supplements. Avoid Seachem Magnesium for this reason as well. It is not ionically balanced. |
Mark Peterson wrote:Posted By: Ryan Thompson
Date Posted: December 26 2010 at 1:24pm
|
That is my old rock and coral. I had great growth and color for years out of those corals. I would say that alk is too low and so is your magnesium. Magnesium needs to be kept above 1300 in my experience or you will see problems.
I would also say that the LED's are the major problem. I am not convinced they can keep reef tanks successfully. You will have certain colors and corals suffer from the lack of spectrum. You can't run only blue and cool white LED's. I believe you MUST run some warm whites to bring in some red. Kind of like the early days with T5's, people were only running only Blue Plus and Aquablue bulbs. Pinks and other colors always suffered. As soon as KZ came out with the Fiji Purple, it changed the game. Corals need red and blue light the most. The middle of the spectrum (green, yellow, orange) is not needed as much. |
Posted By: Jeffs_little_ocean
Date Posted: December 26 2010 at 3:27pm
I think those corals just miss ryan and the way he used to softly caress the glass every night and read them bedtime stories like "Jack and the slimmer stalk"and "The little coral that could"  ------------- Life is good....right? |
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: December 26 2010 at 3:42pm
|
lol ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: kellerexpress
Date Posted: December 26 2010 at 3:45pm
|
I also vote for low alk, I recently had a small birdnest colony and some monti die in my 12 gallon because I let my alk get way too low. ------------- IM 30L Kessil A160we x2 |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: December 26 2010 at 8:44pm
|
What I said about Mg is true for the moment. The Mg needs to be raised ASAP along with the Alk. Epsom salt is very safe and Baking Soda is the same exact chemical that costs 10x as much at the LFS. Ryan is correct after a point. Yes, in the long run Epsom Salt should be moderated with water changes, but there is also a Sulfur Cycle that is often overlooked. We can get to that later. sjaynes, are you there? ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: sjaynes
Date Posted: December 27 2010 at 2:16pm
Hey everyone thanks for the help and advice. I am raising the Magnesium and Alkalinity as fast as I can while still keeping it safe on the tank. I will keep you updated. Time will tell if it was too late. Hopefully not....  |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 27 2010 at 3:39pm
|
This same thing happened to me 2 months ago. All my parameters were good though. My alk and mag were at normal levels along with everything else. I couldnt ever figure out what it was. My orange monti turned completely brown and so did parts of my green birdsnest. To me it looked like some sort of fungis. What I ended up doing was pulling out all the montipora besides what was attached to the rocks and breaking off all the brown parts on the greed birdsnest. Then I dosed my tank with lugals iodide solution. I dont know if it helped or not but the parts of the montipora that were stuck on the rocks that were completey brown are starting to color back up and im seeing a lot of new growth. I have no idea what it was but your montipora looks just like mine did before it turned completely brown. Good luck. ------------- |