Birdsnest Browning

[acemart]

My Seriatopora hystrix has been in my tank for about a month and is starting to fade and brown. I have 2 X 250 MH about 9 inches above the water and the coral is about 8-10 inches from the surface. nitrates and phos are undetectable; temp is right at 78; sal=1.025. cal=430; ph=8.2. skimming and running carbon -- any ideas to get it back to pink?

 

[dpaynter]

Mine faded to brown as well which I attributed to too little light (VHO's). I would think if light was the problem you should have enough. I'm tagging along to see what others suggest.

 

[DonW]

Alot of corals will brown in a new home, sometimes its just high nutrients and it can be stress of a new house.

Don

 

[ethanriley]

I am down with the high nutrient idea. I talked to Kevin about something very similar and it was high nutrient related. try small frequent water changes for at least four weeks.

 

[kevinpo]

S. hystix is a high flow and light loving coral. What halide ballast and bulb brand/color temperature are you running? Try moving the coral closer to the lights. I run 400W 10,000K on a HQI ballast with the S. caliendrum (another closely related species) directly under the center of the bulb at 19" from the bulb. When the bulb gets about 1 year old the coral turns brown. It takes about 14 days for it to turn pink again after replacing the bulb. I run a 9 hour MH photo period.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[acemart]

Kevin, I'm John from CDA and am running the PFO's I got from you in November --2X250 Mh with 96 PCs. I assumed the MH were 10K??? I'll move them directly under the light and higher up as well as increasing flow.

 

[kevinpo]

Hi John,
I think that will do it The color should come back in 2 weeks or less.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[damien_kee]

Mine faded to brown as well which I attributed to too little light (VHO's). I would think if light was the problem you should have enough. I'm tagging along to see what others suggest.

bro, i run HO T5s! i think our problem is quite similar....

 

[acemart]

Kevin, I may have panicked too soon. I had already moved the coral up (a bit) higher in the tank, ran a bit of carbon and did an extra water change (in case it was a nutrient problem) but was impatient when I posted. Noticed yesterday that there appears to be less brown and a return to more pink. Think I'll just monitor it for a bit before I move it again -- did however direct a little more flow its way.