Coral Colours and Amino Acids

[Ron99]

Originally Posted by freezetyle

I know this is a little off topic, but i don't understand how a small current in the water would inhibit the growth of the corals. I mean with the Conservationists using things like biorocks (http://www.biorock.net) to speed the growth of coral production.

To the OP, like its been previously stated maybe your corals were still adapting to your system. If there wasn't very much PE until recently that may have been a sign that they were still under some stress. I would probably just keep on top of your calcium and Alk. for a little bit before adding a bunch of things that may or may not help out your situation

No, the corals were doing well and growing and then things went downhill with no obvious cause. I suspect it was more then a small current to actually feel it that way when I put my finger in the tank. I also suffered a couple of fish losses during that period so it is likely the electricity was stressing them out and making them susceptible to infections or something.

The coral reef restoration you mention is based on very small currents and voltages generated by chemical reactions of different metals in seawater; sort of like a very weak battery. You would likely not feel that level of electricity which is far lower then what can be generated by a voltage leak in your tank's equipment. In this case it had to be close to or more then 9 volts with significant current. As I mentioned before, the turnaround was noticeable within hours of fixing the voltage leak as the SPS started to show some PE that day after several weeks of no PE and fading and then bleaching etc.

[Reefer Rob]

Good to hear things have turned around for you, and thanks for posting the results.

[Marlin65]

Originally Posted by Ron99

I do suspect my Alk may have been a bit unstable so I am keeping an eye on that right now. That may also have been the source of or contributed to the problem.

I think this might be part of your problem. I just had a problem with the alk in one of my tanks and all my corals turned brown. They are coming back but it is taking some time.
I do think your fish load could be a problem. When I was running my other tank with fish I had great color then when I transfered just my fish over to my other tank my corals slowly faded in color they did not turn brown but the color faded out over a few weeks. I was not feeding at all at that time as there were no fish.