# Montipora Help



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Need some advice on this one: I have some teal montipora that have turned brown. However, it is still growing, and is actually growing quite well.

Is there anything I can do to make it color up?


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Has anyone experienced this?


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## BIGSHOW (Sep 10, 2011)

SPS corals turning brown can usually be attributed to two things

1. High level of nutrients
2. Not enough light


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

Can you describe a bit more about the montipora, as Bigshow mentioned their are several causes for this to happen, 

Where is this monti located?
What type of lighting?
and what are your nutrient levels i.e. Nitrate and P04


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

BIGSHOW said:


> SPS corals turning brown can usually be attributed to two things
> 
> 1. High level of nutrients
> 2. Not enough light


Is it reversible?


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

Yes it is reversible, if you provide answers to questions I asked above we can help figure out what the cause is.

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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

nc208082 said:


> Yes it is reversible, if you provide answers to questions I asked above we can help figure out what the cause is.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk


Light is 4x54W T5HO over 80 gallons. Nutrient levels are probably high since I still get algae and some cyano.

Not planning on changing anything since I will probably be moving in a few months, but I am planning my next build and wondering if the monti can be used.


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

Of course browned out corals can be brought back to life and their former glory. You may not be giving them enough light and higher nutrients can cause this to happen. You could try slowly raising it in the tank in the meantime and see if it gets any of its lost color back.
Good luck with the move

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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

nc208082 said:


> Of course browned out corals can be brought back to life and their former glory. You may not be giving them enough light and higher nutrients can cause this to happen. You could try slowly raising it in the tank in the meantime and see if it gets any of its lost color back.
> Good luck with the move
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk


It's pretty much at the top of the tank, there's not much else I can do about it for the moment. The interesting thing is that it's still growing and growing pretty fast too. Everything I've read seemed to indicate that SPS won't grow well if there's not enough light or too much nutrients. That's almost a religious belief repeated on reefing forums everywhere, but it seems reality is just a bit more complicated...


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## nc208082 (Jun 27, 2013)

Also how old are t5 bulbs? 

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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

nc208082 said:


> Also how old are t5 bulbs?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk


Just replaced them 3 months ago.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

SPS tend to not like change. When changing bulbs out on T5's it's a good idea to do one a week or possibly one every other week to get the corals to adjust to the new spectrum and PAR.

This sounds more like the older bulbs being very bad and the SPS being use to that intensity of light. Now that you have new bulbs the sps is semi-bleaching and changing colors due to the new spectrum. Could also be that you might have too much lower end spectrum on the bulbs. 

What bulbs do you have in there now?

Good luck!


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## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

I picked up a monti from a fellow reefer that was all brown. Put it in my system and it grew like crazy. Brown. When we started auto water changes it brought my nitrates down to a good level (not zero) but one that makes my corals happy. The monti, including the former brown areas is now turning yellow with blue polyps.
So I agree about consistency in lighting, but also, if you are getting algae esp cyano, then you might want to check your nitrate levels and get them down to at least 25 or 30


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

altcharacter said:


> SPS tend to not like change. When changing bulbs out on T5's it's a good idea to do one a week or possibly one every other week to get the corals to adjust to the new spectrum and PAR.
> 
> This sounds more like the older bulbs being very bad and the SPS being use to that intensity of light. Now that you have new bulbs the sps is semi-bleaching and changing colors due to the new spectrum. Could also be that you might have too much lower end spectrum on the bulbs.
> 
> ...


IIRC, I have 1 giesemann actinic blue, 1 giesemann super purple, 1 zoomed pure actinic, and 1 stock blue bulb.

I changed them out one at a time over a month.



Crayon said:


> I picked up a monti from a fellow reefer that was all brown. Put it in my system and it grew like crazy. Brown. When we started auto water changes it brought my nitrates down to a good level (not zero) but one that makes my corals happy. The monti, including the former brown areas is now turning yellow with blue polyps.
> So I agree about consistency in lighting, but also, if you are getting algae esp cyano, then you might want to check your nitrate levels and get them down to at least 25 or 30


Yes, I think that's my issue. It's good to get confirmation that someone else has experienced this.


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## someguy (Sep 7, 2009)

Also had this happen to me. bought a nice green monti cap and over time it turned brown. moved it higher up in the tank to get more light and did more maintenance on the tank and it is green again.

Like others said, its either high nutrients (phosphates usually) or low light. 

Run some carbon and gfo and if it doesn't colour up move it closer to the lights.


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## aquatic_expressions (Mar 17, 2006)

Water changes water changes water changes


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Here's an example of a browned out monti gaining its color back

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showpost.php?p=64543&postcount=64

What changed? Mostly water quality + lighting (12G to 75G move), assuming water flow is good, salinity level steady, etc.


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