When you buy high end SPS, do they always sulk and go brown initially when added to your tank?

[Fisherman Joe]

Anytime I buy a nice high end SPS acropora etc, no matter where I put it, or how tight the parameters in my tank are (all green on the Triton test) they seem to lose colour for a few months then come back.

My strawberry shortcake went brown and 6 months later is now going green again. Odd.

Do others find SPS just do this?

I run my lights on AB+ settings. I’m thinking of changing to what my local fish store runs. Might make the corals look better lol.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

It does not happen often for me...

 

[Fisherman Joe]

But it does happen? Have you noticed which corals do it?

 

[jmichaelh7]

I didn’t acclimate water temperature and did a coral rx dip. Walt Disney frag and many others just browned and turned white eventually.

Fast forward a month and $ worth of SPS were floated/ acclimated for a hour and didn’t get dipped. They are doing great with polyp extension and colors.

I run hydra + t5. I placed them on the lower 1/2 of tank and slowly raise them so they get accustomed to par

 

[Fisherman Joe]

That might not be a bad idea. I don’t acclimatise when putting them in. I just let them mucus up in air for a minute then dunk them in.

How do you introduce SPS?

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Brown out usually occurs when they are moved to a new system without enough light. Basically, your lighting is too weak compared to where they came from. You can try to mitigate this by buying sps from sellers who run similar lighting to yours. Or upgrade your lights.

 

[Staghorn]

So far every sps frag I’ve added to my new tank has maintained color. Walt Disney, asd ultimate mili, pink lemonade, red dragon and many others I can’t remember the names of. Right now I’m running 2 a360x at 100% (2 more soon).
parameters

Alk 8.4
Calcium ~440
Mg ~1250
No3 .2
Phosphate .00

The tank has actually been setup for about 6 years with some Yuma’s in the bottom. I just recently started adding sps.

 

[Staghorn]

I always dip my corals, acclimate them for about 15 minutes and put them in a frag rack to watch for a while before adding to main display aquascape.

 

[elysics]

Yeah agree, it happens when corals are shocked because they suddenly get very different light

Buy from people that run the same kind of lights as you do and maybe even ask them how much par

I think shipping vs no shipping might play a role too

Brown out usually occurs when they are moved to a new system without enough light. Basically, your lighting is too weak compared to where they came from. You can try to mitigate this by buying sps from sellers who run similar lighting to yours. Or upgrade your lights.

 

[homer1475]

99% of my SPS maintain color.

I simply float for 15, dip in coralRX/bayer, then place in frag rack for a week or 2.

I also do not run LED's, but most of my SPS come from people who do. I run a simple 8 bulb T5 setup with 2 reefbright supplementals.

Browning out typically means not enough light

 

[Beau_B]

I’ll jump in and ask: what about green? I’ve only recently attempted acros and had a few RTN and the others went to a generic green. Haven’t colored up in over a month. Same lack of light issue?

 

[homer1475]

Going green typically relates to nutrient levels. To high and they turn green, too low and they get that pastel look. There is a sweet spot for each tank, and no 2 tanks are the same.

For me I keep nitrates in the 8 to 12ppm range, and phospahtes anywhere at 0.1 to 0.2. I find the best color in my SPS at those levels for my tank(live phyto dosing allows me to keep those higher numbers without having to deal with algae issues).

You just have to find nutrient levels that work for your tank, and your corals.

 

[Beau_B]

Thanks for that, I’ll have to do an investigation. It’s interesting because I don’t have much in the way of algae in the display (run fuge) and tests (salifert) come back undetectable for nitrate and phosphate. I’ve been increasing feedings trying to bring it up. I’ve got a hiccup somewhere!

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

But it does happen? Have you noticed which corals do it?

It's not specific corals, it has more to do with stress in my opinion. Usually from shipping or different tank conditions.

 

[Staghorn]

Thanks for that, I’ll have to do an investigation. It’s interesting because I don’t have much in the way of algae in the display (run fuge) and tests (salifert) come back undetectable for nitrate and phosphate. I’ve been increasing feedings trying to bring it up. I’ve got a hiccup somewhere!

Right now my nitrate is very low and po4 undetectable. I’m feeding about 3 frozen cubes and doing aminos, and a couple dry foods, and have an auto feeder which dispenses pellets 3 times a day. The fish love it and even though the levels are low you can definately tell the corals are benefiting from the feedings.

 

[ScottB]

I do recall that happening a few times but that was a handful of years ago. Through time, my acclimation tactics have changed and I credit that for the improvement in health of newly acquired pieces.
a) I only buy from vendors that run near my parameters. More accurately, I run very similar parameters to theirs.
b) Temp acclimate
c) Don't dip until they've had a chance to rest/recover for a couple days! They sit in a softly lit T5 LPS tank in the interim.
d) 2 Potassium chloride dips a week apart. After a final rest for a day or two they go into the SPS system.