Fox Flame brown. Too little light or just unhappy?

[JOKER]

I have a mini fox flame colony that I was about to give up on because it has been brown for a while. I noticed it had new growth and PE so I know it is still alive but brown. What lighting do you recommend? It is getting a lot of flow, and will in my tank anywhere I put it so I know it has to have something to do with lighting. I am running Cebu sun 6' fixture over a 7' 16" deep tank with 3 X 250 watt radium 20K, 2 Blue+ ATI, and 2 Actinic ATI T5 bulbs. What do you recommend? PO4 is .04 or less, NO3 around 5. Alk 8-8.5, cal 420, mag 1300.

 

[Rick.45cal]

How old are your Radiums?

Looks like everything should be set nutrient wise those are good numbers for NO3 and PO4 if it’s growing I would just give it time and see if it brightens up.

Give us a quick run down of what additives you use (if any). Do you feed your corals? Any elemental supplementation? What do you use to maintain alkalinity and calcium. What is your alkalinity? Calcium? Magnesium?

All that stuff can and does play some role in coloration

 

[Mattrg02]

Looks bleached. I’d move it down as this coral seems to be a lower light one.

 

[JOKER]

How old are your Radiums?

Looks like everything should be set nutrient wise those are good numbers for NO3 and PO4 if it’s growing I would just give it time and see if it brightens up.

Give us a quick run down of what additives you use (if any). Do you feed your corals? Any elemental supplementation? What do you use to maintain alkalinity and calcium. What is your alkalinity? Calcium? Magnesium?

All that stuff can and does play some role in coloration

I don't feed corals, and have other acros doing great (that is for me anyways), I do however dose 2 part for cal, alk, mag. Cal 410-420, alk 8-8.5, mag 1320. I have been dosing phosphate since my ICP test showed .0009, and have noticed better color in all acros but the fox flame. The new growth has the nice yellow color.

 

[JOKER]

Looks bleached. I’d move it down as this coral seems to be a lower light one.

It is on the sand bed. Should I move it into shaded area to see if color comes back? I had to move my monti caps under a ledge to get nice color back. Would it be as low light as montis?

 

[JOKER]

Thanks so far for replies.

 

[favites]

The fox flame does well in lower light in my tank, so moving it would be a safe bet. My colony took a really long time to develop the nice coloration it is known for so if you are getting decent growth , you may need to continue to be patient. I have also found the fox flame to lose coloration quicker than some other sps with rapid changes in alkalinity. good luck!

 

[JOKER]

The fox flame does well in lower light in my tank, so moving it would be a safe bet. My colony took a really long time to develop the nice coloration it is known for so if you are getting decent growth , you may need to continue to be patient. I have also found the fox flame to lose coloration quicker than some other sps with rapid changes in alkalinity. good luck!

Thanks. It had color when I got it from him, but it lost the color within a few weeks. Come to think of it I think it was in shaded area when it turned this color. It is growing so I will just keep an eye on it. I may move it more in shade and see what happens. I have a lot of light.

 

[JOKER]

I missed the radium age. One bulb is 2 months old. The other 2 are 6 and 8. I like to stagger replacement.

 

[Velcro]

parameters look good. Mine likes low light for sure. Staying well colored at 200 par.

 

[JOKER]

parameters look good. Mine likes low light for sure. Staying well colored at 200 par.

I will have to get par meter, and see just what its under. I thought I had it mapped around 200-250 where its at, but I cant find my slide.

 

[NeverlosT]

It sounds like some people have success in coloring at lower PAR. My fox flame is up at like 450PAR or more, and it is fully colored. So success can be had in a wide range of lighting strengths in my experience.

Your nutrients look good, my alk is maintained a bit lower than yours 7.5 dKh. I run a LOT of flow, and I think that really helps, keep in mind that Jason does too.

Good luck!

 

[CoralCache]

My Fox Flame has always been over 400par and them the lights got turned up to around 500. Good color at both settings. I too run a lower Alk. 7.5 to 8 when I can keep it there.

 

[29bonsaireef]

I agree, mine was way up getting blasted by light when I first got it and it maintained nice colors. I've since moved it lower for better viewing purposes, but fox flame can definitely take some light. Your frag doesn't look unhealthy I would let it be for now, sometimes it just takes new growth to show the trademark colors.

 

[JOKER]

Thanks for the replies. I will just see how it goes. It is growing so I think it is somewhat happy, just doesn't have those nice colors. Acros can be confusing at times.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I've had unexpected luck when I wrote of maybe 7 near dead corals and threw them in the back of the tank hidden from view bc I couldnt stand to look at them. This provided ideal situation for new zoosenthelle to repopulate. zoozethelle will only regenerate with ideal water parameters and lighting before it starves for good. Get it in the lowest light area and target feed it daily if needed since this help provide the coral nutrients lacking. Once the coral is clearly recovering and happy slowly work its way up to lighting. I've had more growth starting sps at 100 PAR and working them to 200 -250 PAR then I did when just throwing them into there final spot without much thought. I've lost montis, stylos, porciliporas, and few sps by not following rules mentioned and they struggled to encrusted.. hope this helps and hope the coral makes it.. good luck

 

[JOKER]

Thanks for the replies. I have moved to lo light, and hope for recovery. My water quality is pretty good I think. Will try to spot feed as much as possible. It is growing rather rapidly encrusting sand as it goes.

 

[siggy]

@jfox why not ask the man himself

 

[JOKER]

@jfox why not ask the man himself

TRUE!!

 

[watchguy123]

My experience is that Jason Fox Flame frags will often, although not always, brown out weeks after being fragged. If they do brown out, it can be months before they color up. And as has been said, often the coloring will start with the new growth. It’s a beautiful coral and deserves whatever patience is demanded. It’s cool watching the transition; enjoy it.