What caused my Blue SPS to turn Green?

[jdeb101]

So I just noticed this yesterday, a blue spa frag of mine seemed to turn green over night! It was 1, maybe 2 days since I last looked at it so it seems to have happened very quickly. Any ideas what would cause this?

Tank details:
95g wave front tank w/40 breeder sump (estimated ~120g total volume)
Mixed reef tank, 5 fish, deresa clam, various CUC...

alk=9.8dkh
calc=410
mag=1280
salinity=1.026
Temp=77.5-78
Lighting Schedule= Actinics 12-10, all other bulbs 1-8.
6 bulb 36" T5 fixture w/2 actinics, 2 blue+, 1 coral+, 1 aquablue special ATI bulbs.

I'm wondering if perhaps my lighting is not sufficient for SPS as most have faded and some also turned slowly brown after being in my tank. Also another SPS piece I recently noticed may be starting to lose tissue?

 

[reefstarter]

check phosphates and bring Mag up a bit to around 1350

 

[this is me]

Assuming those T5 bulbs are less than 10 months, it's plenty of light and should not caused a birdsnest to STN. I would get yuour phosphate and nitrate tested.

 

[jdeb101]

I'll test other params tomorrow. Bulbs are 5-6 months old. Thanks guys.

 

[JasonandSarah]

+1 to the above, also what kind of flow do you got going on? Oddly enough I've noticed birdsnest to be on the the first to react when there isn't enough flow.
As far as color and sps, it could be one of many factors but my bet would be feeding (more) or lower nutrients. Sps need to eat too...

 

[reefstarter]

Lots and lots of little bitty pods help feed them

 

[jdeb101]

Flow comes from a jebao mp-10 and mp-40, alternating and both set to -2 full power.

Feeding schedule is once a day of either OCean Nutrition prime reef flakes, hikari frozen mysis or frozen spirulina brine. I also feed BRS reef chili once a week and acropower once a week.

Dosing is done manually using seachem reef builder and reef advantage complete.

 

[JasonandSarah]

Lots and lots of little bitty pods help feed them

You mean plankton? You normally have to feed your reef plankton it doesn't just readily grow in our closed systems.
I mean we do have small pods in our tanks but I highly doubt is enough for Sps. Especially if you have any kind of pod predictors. In my case I have 2 wrasses that hunt pods all day long, so supply is low. Copepods are more of a Lps food and I don't think I've ever seen an sps catch a copepod out of the water.

 

[JasonandSarah]

Flow comes from a jebao mp-10 and mp-40, alternating and both set to -2 full power.

Feeding schedule is once a day of either OCean Nutrition prime reef flakes, hikari frozen mysis or frozen spirulina brine. I also feed BRS reef chili once a week and acropower once a week.

Dosing is done manually using seachem reef builder and reef advantage complete.

By alternating do you mean they're not on at the same time? Does the birds nest polyps get nice movement?
Mayne you could try spot feeding some reef chilli to the corals that are not as happy as you'd like?
I shut off all flow and spot feed my Sps once a week with coral frenzy. I do occasional spot feeding to my Lps while I'm feeding fish if there's left over.

 

[frank180reef]

Fwiw raise your calc

 

[PSU4ME]

I don't think there is anything wrong with your parameters. Are you sure the coral is alive and the green is not algae growing on it?

 

[jdeb101]

By alternating do you mean they're not on at the same time? Does the birds nest polyps get nice movement?
Mayne you could try spot feeding some reef chilli to the corals that are not as happy as you'd like?
I shut off all flow and spot feed my Sps once a week with coral frenzy. I do occasional spot feeding to my Lps while I'm feeding fish if there's left over.

Correct, one pump is off while other is one. They switch on/off quickly, about every 5-7 seconds. Appearance wise it looks like I have decent flow in the tank, I'm sure I could probably go stronger for the SPS however I'm afraid it will also piss off my softies/LPS and clam. One other thing maybe worth mentioning...(which could be related to flow?) is my clam seems to be turning itself in the sandbed. Any ideas what that could indicate?

For feeding, I do squirt the Reef Chili towards all my coral.

 

[jdeb101]

Fwiw raise your calc

Since my Seachem calc additive does contain some Mag which I need to raise, my Calc will be raising a little as well. I'm aiming for about 420 Cal and 1300 Mag levels.

I don't think there is anything wrong with your parameters. Are you sure the coral is alive and the green is not algae growing on it?

It looks nothng like algae and its only the coral itself, nowhere around it that has this green color to it. I'm not 100% sure if it's alive as it never had great polyp extension...

 

[nemodan]

Nutients....Check Nitrate and PO4.

I do not see anything wrong with your parameters. Beside Alk that I like to have it around 7-8 dkh. But for now is OK what you posted.

High N and P will stop your coral growth and will brownish most of them.

Changes in color, if not due to high nutrients are most of them due to light. Nothing bad with your lights, but the frag, if the mother colony was under a different light system, there can be a color change. I do not recall this happening in a night, takes days/weeks and,also months. I never saw it in my tank in 24 hours.

If the coral us not white, showing the skeleton, is still alive, also if polyps are retracTed now. Do the polyps expand at night.

Cheers

 

[jdeb101]

So nitrates and PO4 both read 0. New test kits FYI. Other thoughts?

 

[jdeb101]

So I just did another Alk test with a new test kit and tested at 11.3dkh! YIKES! I will work on lowering that. I was planning on a 20g water change this weekend as well. Now it gets me wondering if my Calc test kit is accurate since they were both about the same age...

 

[STiTCH87]

I personally aim for ALK at 10-11dkh, calc around 480 or so, and MG around 1350 but don't get scared if it's 1400.

That being said, I do run my levels higher than most people I think maybe? But my corals do have a great supply of what they need, and I have no precipitation, RTN/STN, or color loss.

Actually, everything looks awesome when I go this route. But what is perfect for one reefer is a death wish for another, I know. I have another tank where the opposite is true. I have to run things LOW or else stuff starts browning out and dying off, go figure.

 

[jdeb101]

What do they say, ulns should run lower alk levels?

 

[PSU4ME]

yeah lower levels. I've always heard that corals color better with lower levels but don't grow as fast. I keep my alk around 7

 

[JasonandSarah]

yeah lower levels. I've always heard that corals color better with lower levels but don't grow as fast. I keep my alk around 7

Yeah Fwiw I used to keep my levels pretty high, 12 dkh - 470 Cal - 1400 Mag and since reading PSU4ME comments and tank thread I've lowered my levels and I've seen great results. Oddly enough I lowered my levels to get better color but I've also had better growth as well.
Oh yeah and I'm currently keeping my levels at 8.5 dkh - 410/420 Cal - 1300 Mag.