Purple SPS Turning Green?

Hiker4twenty

Reef enthusiast
I've been having an issue with keeping purple SPS purple. I've tried a Purple Nana and ORA Plum Crazy. Boths started off purple but then turned green over time. What could be causing this? All of my other SPS are doing just fine and have all the right colors.
 
Dunno why they are turning green, but none of my SPS have ever stayed purple, they usually end up brown for me. Do you know what kind of lights they were under before you got them?
 
I think purple is 1 of the hardest colors to keep. My purples usually just fade and aren't as deep colored as when I got them. They end up more blue looking. I don't know what the secret is to keeping them a deep color.
 
I think purple is 1 of the hardest colors to keep. My purples usually just fade and aren't as deep colored as when I got them. They end up more blue looking. I don't know what the secret is to keeping them a deep color.

It's frustrating Larry. I have one misc acro that has a green base, purple branches and blue growth tips. The purple is bright on that one. Although its actually hard to see any of the colors because its so hairy. The polyps pretty much cover 100% of the braches and base. You can see bits and pieces of color when the current moves the polyps just right.
 
I'd like to know the answer to that question myself.My reds will turn brown.Blues turn green.Purples just bleach.:dunno:
 
High doses of trace elements (the stuff that's not easily measured) and possibly large amounts of phytoplankton result in discoloration of sps. Significant light change and very intense lighting would probably do so as well. Also, I would not mess around with any maricultured sps. Corals raised under the sun will almost always discolor or bleach out when stuck under articificail light. It can take a few days to a month. Has anyone had success with maricultured sps? Most of my discoloration issues have been with aquacultured acros where trace element overdose was the root cause (once corrected they came back), but recently had some maricultured purple stylapora and millepora turn brown over a month. They were still alive but I tossed them in my 10 gallon grave yard.
 
Want to give an update. The Purple Nana now had deep blue tips and some slight purple tink starting on the branches. I think it may have been shocked from the lights or something becuase its got more color now than it ever had. My purple stylo is doing well also.
 
I had a question kinda reffering to this i guess....my green monti is starting to look brown...any ideas?

It could be a combination of things. First questions, you probably expected this, what are you water param? If anything's off it can make SPS brown. It could be too much or not enough lighting. Or too much flow. Where is it place, what type of lighting and what type of flow?
 
Well my water param's are right on. As for lighting, i have 156 watts going into the tank. Im not sure of how much water is in the tank actually. i have 55lbs of LR so im sure there isnt 46g of water in my 46g tank.(3.4wpg if u calculate 46g of water) I got it placed in the back of the tank so its not getting all that much flow. It hasnt stopped growing thats for sure but it has started to turn brown. You think i should put it in a higher flow area? I'm not super concerned as its getting to big for its own good and seems no matter where i try to put it, its going to shadow other stuff in the tank. My orange encrusting monti seems to be doing fine so idk!
 
Well my water param's are right on. As for lighting, i have 156 watts going into the tank. Im not sure of how much water is in the tank actually. i have 55lbs of LR so im sure there isnt 46g of water in my 46g tank.(3.4wpg if u calculate 46g of water) I got it placed in the back of the tank so its not getting all that much flow. It hasnt stopped growing thats for sure but it has started to turn brown. You think i should put it in a higher flow area? I'm not super concerned as its getting to big for its own good and seems no matter where i try to put it, its going to shadow other stuff in the tank. My orange encrusting monti seems to be doing fine so idk!

What type of lights do you have...MH, T5's PC's? 3.4WPG is a bit low for most SPS especially if they're PC's. Monti's generally don't like super high lighting, but you may need to move it up higher. How's your alk? I know when I had my alk too high it caused my SPS to brown out and eventually die.
 
I have HO t5's. My alk is at 8.1...I dont get it...just within the past few days it started to do this. Is it good on flow or should i move it to a higher flow area? I guess i really don't care if it dies because it will make alot of room for other corals lol. I'll upload a pic ina few minutes.
 
I guess the other thing is, is that my water temp has been up and down with this cold weather now moving in. My tank is usually now 76-77 degrees. Should i turn the temp up a tad? First pic is about a month ago, second is 5 minutes ago..

IMG_0017-1.jpg


IMG_0544.jpg
 
I'm not sure what the deal is. I keep my alk around 9-10 dkh. You might want to raise it a bit. Also, it appears to be in a different location than the first pic. Maybe you should move it back to where it was doing good.
 
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