SPS... Too much green!

[doch]

Hey kids! I've got a little but of a problem. Everything I but turns green! There's got to be a reason. I'll pick up a yellow colony.... Turns green. Blue frag... Green. purple frag... Green with purple tips. Why? There's got to be something too high, or too low. I dose several of the zeo products.... amino acids, coral vit., sponge power, Eisen (i.ve stopped thay one since it supposedly enhances green), pohls, kaliumidid, stylo pocci, the one for red (can't remember the name, and coral snow. All tested levels are good (ca 400, mg 1300, kh 8, phos o.o5, no3, no2 and nh3 all undetectable ). Any help would be appreciated.

On the briught side, my growth rates are crazy compared to what they once were... And everything used to be brown.... Green is WAY better than brown!

[Rogue951]

wow that's a crazy dose of additives haha.
maybe just rotate them and see what affects what?

how big is your tank, what kind/temp is the lighting?

[ScubaSteve]

Is it like an irridescent green or is it a through and through solid green? In theory, iron levels control green pigmentation in SPS, but it should look more like an irridescent green. So get a test kit for iron and see what it's at, it may give some insight. Post the result, this would some cool little research to see what is causing what.

Another possibility, though very unlikely, is uptake by your corals of a green-pigmented zooxanthellae clade that may be residing in your water column. Do you have a really green (naturally, not induced green) colony that could be spiting a green clade out into the water column? It's an out there idea but this is an out there kinda thing...

[ScubaSteve]

My guess is that it was overdose of the Eisen.

[es355lucille]

+1 on the iron. I am not sure what Eisen is ...but if it inhances green it might have a lot of iron in it.

The guide to SPS coral coloration reads like this:

1. Yellows - Nitrate and Phospate needs to be low
2. Greens - Iron - overdose tends to cause darkening of tissues
3. Blues and some Purples - Potassium Iodide
4. Reds/Pinks and some Purples - Potassium (not potassium iodide)
5. Purples - Potassium Iodide/Potassium

This is just a guide that you can find on the internet. "Guide of SPS Coral Coloration".

[mike31154]

Eisen is the German word for iron. Maybe save yourself some money and stop dosing any of that stuff for a week or two. See what happens. If it all turns brown again, slowly start dosing one of those ingredients at a time, if that's safe/feasible. I don't have a lot of SPS so I'm probably out to lunch, but a logical procedure you can document, like starting from scratch with the dosing, would seem like a good way to determine what's going on. None of our systems are identical, so in the end you'll likely end up having to figure this out on your own anyhow.

[Bblinks]

+1 on the iron, I did have the same problem with eisen zeovit additive, after i stopped dosing iron for a few weeks everything started to change back, but it takes a bit for it to reverse back to the original state. Also I think either k or b balance enhances green but don't quote me on it, please read the label or go to the zeovit forum and post it for one of the zeoheads to figure out. If I were you I would just stop iron and wait a week or so and see if there is any changes, but be patient as it might take a bit for the colors to return. Good luck. Remember at least they are growing like crazy.:mrgreen:

[doch]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I was thinking the same about the eisen (iron) which is why I stopped doing it. It's been about 3 weeks, maybe more, and I see no effect. I will however pick up a test kit and let you know what it says.

Thanks again.

[lorenz0]

what is your dosing regiment?

sure sounds like overdosing. with kz products do not dose every day (pending the type). make a quick stop into the zeovit forum for better dosing advice

[globaldesigns]

Hey kids! I've got a little but of a problem. Everything I but turns green! There's got to be a reason. I'll pick up a yellow colony.... Turns green. Blue frag... Green. purple frag... Green with purple tips. Why? There's got to be something too high, or too low. I dose several of the zeo products.... amino acids, coral vit., sponge power, Eisen (i.ve stopped thay one since it supposedly enhances green), pohls, kaliumidid, stylo pocci, the one for red (can't remember the name, and coral snow. All tested levels are good (ca 400, mg 1300, kh 8, phos o.o5, no3, no2 and nh3 all undetectable ). Any help would be appreciated.

On the briught side, my growth rates are crazy compared to what they once were... And everything used to be brown.... Green is WAY better than brown!

HEHE, Green is better than BROWN!!!! I will trade you anyday, I have alot of rare and unique brown specimens. Beautiful Browns, great brown shades, browns you won't see in any tank or in the wild. :biggrin:

[Delphinus]

I would actually suggest that lighting might be playing into this more so than Zeovit additives or lack thereof. Spectrum and intensity of lighting plays a huge role in colours you will see. What lighting do you currently have over things?

Also do not follow the Zeovit dosing instructions, they are way too much IMO. Most folks I know using Zeo and having good success with it run around 1/4 to 1/2 the recommended doses. Think of the instructions as the "safe maximum."

[ScubaSteve]

Doch, can you post a picture of this phenomena. I agree with Tony, it could also be your lighting. Once I see what it looks like I could probably give you a better comment.

[globaldesigns]

I also agree with Tony, I found zeo recommended dosages too much when I had ran the full Zeo system. I personally used about 50-70% of the recommended, depending on what was dosed.

[Navarchus]

I had the same issue in the past...like a greenish halo around the corals....it was caused by dosing too much iron.

[VFX]

Just a thought... do you use RO/DI water?

I don't here in Chilliwack, as we have extremely low TDS but there can sometimes be traces of iron in the water from the pipes depending on where in the city you are.

It could be one reason the greens in my tank always pop the more than any other colour.

I only dose Sponge Power & vodka.

.

[doch]

Well, my lighting is 6 t5ho's over a 55gal. There are 2 fiji purples, 2 super blues, and 2 coral light II's.

I don't use RO, so that's a possibility.

My dosing regimen is debatable. I work out of town, so I ask my wife to dose for me. She is often out of town as well, and I'd say that she doses no more than half the time that she says that she does... so realistically, I'd say 2-3 times a week I dose the recommended dose. If/when I'm in town for a full week, I'll cut the dose amounts down to about half, and dose daily.

Something that was brought to my attention at the LFS today... I use GFO... is it possible that I'm using too much?

[doch]

OK... here's some pics. The mille was a bright yellow when I got it a few months back... turned green shortly thereafter.

In 'WSB' - the little green frag used to be a nice ice blue Walt Smith.

In 'WSP' - the green one with purple tips used to be 100% purple, and the all green loripes (?) use to be ice blue with purple tips. THe other 2 loripes (?) were a burgandy sort of colour... kind of bland, so I was happy when they turned green.

[JenniferL]

Tagging along here. I've noticed this in my tank also. I bought a purple tip acro awhile ago and the base that has encrusted over the plug is an irridescent green now, it used to be purple? I use RO/DI water and have 2 250W 20k mh lights and only dose alk, ca, and mag. I wonder if its something in the water here?

[Navarchus]

Ok I am pretty sure that’s caused by over dose of iron! In my tank after I suspected iron I took some water to a lab and got the reading that said to much iron (I don’t remember the values but it was too high).

I recommend using dosing pumps…. In my tank I moved to dosing pumps for everything from vsv to ca and alk and all the elements such as iron, potassium ets….

That’s the best you can do! Always on time, always the right amount …..