Recoloring Brown SPS

[jrnannery]

Title says it best. I went to a local lfs and purposely purchased a severely browned-out coral (acro, maybe) that also had a lot of missing tissue.

No, I haven't been smoking anything, and the only bottle I've been sampling had Dr. Pepper in it. The thing is, the store had it in an 18" high tank (guesstimation) with a single 50/50 compact flourescent bulb at least ten inches above the water.

The thing is, yes it has a terrible case of missing tissue, but it has excellent polyp extension. Everything that is still there is brown, including the little polyps, but they really do come out. I figured that a good diet and much better lighting might net me a good little project, so, away we go.

Now, when I say this coral is brown, I mean, when I turn my five LED moonlight over it, it doesn't flouresce AT ALL!! IT IS BROWN!! And so, the project begins.

I have fed it the first dose of Fuel, and I will be adding Coral Frenzy to the next dose. I am hoping that the aminos and the fatty acids will help to get this thing healthy again. Amongst all the pages of SPS brown-out stuff I have read over the past couple of days, I seem to remember that aminos are really important in coral health and coloration.

After checking, my parameters are all really good. Phosphate could be a little lower, and I am working on that. I suspect my rock is holding a ton of it. Solid water changes are in the mix -- 15% at a time, once a week for now. I'm also dosing CLOSE to the listed amounts of Kent's products, including Tech M, Stront and Moly, Tech CB A&B, and Essential Elements. I am, I believe, successfully keeping a Bali Tri-color frag from Mizeny's tank with this regimen, and I believe that I am seeing a little encrustation of the superglue holding a broken tip onto a base after just a couple weeks. Lights are two 50/50 PC, and a 10k and an Actinic PC bulb as well. All are Coralife, one month old now, and run currently for about 8 hours total per day.

Everything seems happy that was already in the tank, with the possible exception of a piece of Tyree Flower Petal Monti. Cap. that has gone beige. Working on that, too.

So, what do you think? Anything I can do for that brownie that I am not doing already?

Thanks
Richard

[justahobby]

Wow, its not often I hear someone keeping sps with PC. My first sps was dug out of sand I had purchased (brown monti) and grew into a beautiful yellow....so it can be done. Try doing a search for specific elements and sps colorations. Certain sps use more of different elements depending on their color. Aside from obvious things like calcium and water quality, their lack of color can be remedy with careful dosing of the corresponding element. Keep up the good work

[justahobby]

http://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/03/guide-of-sps-coral-coloration-make-them-more-vivid-bright/

[BSJF]

(http://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/03/guide-of-sps-coral-coloration-make-them-more-vivid-bright/)http://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/03/g...-vivid-bright/ (http://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/03/guide-of-sps-coral-coloration-make-them-more-vivid-bright/) (http://reefbuilders.com/2008/09/03/guide-of-sps-coral-coloration-make-them-more-vivid-bright/)

Interesting article.

Hope it turns around for you.

[Mr Cob]

nice Read Justin.

Good luck Richard.

[jrnannery]

I found the article very interesting, right up to the part where people started poo-pooing the idea of dosing iron and potassium. I will definitely have to reread the article and arguments against. The truth is out there, we just have to find it. X-Files, anyone?

Here's a pic. My new clown goby took to it just as soon as it was put in.

http://www.maast.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=10564&d=1293827221

[CoryDude]

Interesting article, but it doesn't seem very scientific. He said he tested these different supplements, but it doesn't seem like a valid experiment. Sounds more like he dosed different things and got the results he wanted. I was able to keep blues, purples, greens, and yellows without all the additives.

Keeping your alkalinity/ca up, keeping nitrates and phos down, strong intermittent flow, a good skimmer, and adequate lighting are the main ingredients to colorful sps corals.

[justahobby]

I don't think It was intended as a "add these if you want your sps to live" guide book. I haven't tested t to claim his validity but I can say it is no different than a centuries old concept in gardening. If your leaves are yellowish, splotchy, etc then you know what nutrients its missing. There was no extensive lab testing done. If your water quality and main reef elements are are keyed in, good lighting, then the next thing to turn is your trace elements. Sheesh, I'm sick of hearing the word element lol!

[jrnannery]

Bump for fixed picture on line 6

[CoryDude]

The tissue necrosis worries me. Personally, I'd cut away the dead areas and put the healthy pieces on a new plug.

[CoryDude]

I don't think It was intended as a "add these if you want your sps to live" guide book. I haven't tested t to claim his validity but I can say it is no different than a centuries old concept in gardening. If your leaves are yellowish, splotchy, etc then you know what nutrients its missing.

The only problem I see with the comparison is that sps keeping isn't a centuries old practice like gardening, so a lot of the info is based on general observation. But, that isn't to say there isn't any validity to the article. Shadowarmy (or what ever their name is) could very well be on to something. But, I think I'm paraphrasing cbianco when he said "if you treat your tank like a finicky creature, then it will act finicky".

Best of luck to you jrnannery and I hope you can get that acro to heal. It looks like there's a lot of potential there in that piece.

[jrnannery]

UPDATE****

I went ahead and fragged it, as the RTN continued on up. I got some really good sized frags out of it. The good news is, I think I see green barely flourescing under an LED moonlight. Just about 1/4 inch, starting at the tip on one of the frags, but I swear it is there. That sounds like the beginning of a success story to me, but I don't want to jump the gun. Anyhow, I will update again later. Thanks for the well wishes.

Thanks
Richard

[jrnannery]

UPDATE****

So, last update showed what I thought was the fluorescing of the browned out coral in question. Well, it is FACT!! They now exhibit the prized "green shimmer" over approximately 45% of each frag. What's more, when viewed close up (they are all the way in the back of the tank on a homemade frag rack on the back wall), you can see without a doubt an attractive green. This is precisely in the area of the glow, so I am positive that it is not algal growth on the frag.

Further, right next to the multiple frags of 'Brownie' - whatever, like you don't name your corals - are two frags of Bali Tri-Color that I got from Mizeny. One is the tip that had grown off of an encrusted base that had broken off and that I mounted. Well, both the tip and the base are alive and well, and show decent color, and, under my little blue moonlight, show bright, pretty little polyps. The base is even exhibiting a vertical bump.

These pieces are directly under a 10k PC using the stock Oceanic ballast. I don't think they are over-driven. Any info would be appreciated. So, what this means is that you can, at least in my situation, grow SPS under PCs, given the right circumstances: multiple bulbs, livestock very close to the surface, diligence with water parameters, and in my case, almost daily use of Fuel. I attribute the rapid change in Brownie to repeated dosing of Fuel, as well as all of the above. The more often I dose, the more the color changed. This is just my hypothesis. I am scared to change this regimen, with the possibility of losing my investment...and project.

I am most enthused about being able to reverse the decline of an accro in this way, but moreso that I am able to grow a coral that is supposedly very difficult to keep under less than VHO or Halides. Thanks for reading...more updates later.

PS If any of you guys need me to hold on to your ORAs or Tyrees, or Palettas while you are on vacation or whatever, seriously, I can handle it. Oh and, sorry bout that broken tip...rock collapse. Very tragic.

[CoryDude]

Yeah, I remember the excitement a few years back when I got my first sps to actually grow. It helps now that most of the acros floating around now are tank raised.
When I first tried them in the 90's, they would always do well for a week or two and then suddently rtn.

I'd add that you need to be careful not to put too many additives in your tank. My line of thinking with any tank is to do regular water changes, have the best filtration system possible, and keep my hands out of the tank as much as possible.

Nice try on the acro babysitting! Now that you said that, I woudn't even let you watch over my tank while I'm gone.

[jrnannery]

I don't like adding too much too often of anything, really. I'm no chemist, and has been said before, most of is needed by the inhabitants of your tank is already in the water at water change. It's usually the larger tanks, or heavily stocked tanks that need additives beyond water change.

Now, feeding or supplementing your corals, inverts, etc is different. You don't really find aminos, omega 3, and the like already in your water, so that is a different story.

[tebstan]

Are you adding anything other than fuel?


I've been using fuel too, but I do so much other stuff I can't attribute any results to that one product.

[jrnannery]

Nice try on the acro babysitting! Now that you said that, I woudn't even let you watch over my tank while I'm gone.

Fear not, for I am a wise-a@@ and a cynic, but never a thief!

[jrnannery]

Dosing Kent A&B, as well as the other standard additives, but no coral foods yet. I was gonna buy some cyclopeez (sp) this weekend, but the cost was a little much for me.

[klondike4001]

Potassium is actually a large part of ZEOvit if you can to give it a read. Their entire idea is based on getting your water to NSW or Natural Sea Water conditions, and in most places SPS grow potassium concentrations are about 300-400ppm, so don't knock it. Iron, while not exactly a suppliment you can test for in the tankis still considered beneficial. You can visually see a difference in green and yellow corals when adding it, as opposed to not adding.

Just my $.02

[jrnannery]

For sure, yeah. I've read the article, and when I have my big tank, I will be able to experiment in my cube with all kinds of stuff.

[SoLiD]

Any updated pictures Richard?

[Mrs. z28pwr]

I would also love to see pictures if possible:)

[SoLiD]

I remember when I received a free "brown" montipora digitata from a fellow maastard. Within 6 months it went from brown to something like this. Then I moved to another apartment and killed it with a big alkalinity swing :cry_smile: Go figure...

Not my picture but it was pretty close to what it looked like... before I murdered it:
http://www.reefhotspot.com/store/images/large/a_red_digitata_montipora_41.jpg