last week I noticed my green montipora turning white and brown, now it's completely lost all color. Also last week I noticed my pink monti didn't have any new growth along its edges and it's fading in color. Only thing off in my tank is phosphates (upwards of 1). I added some Chateo and am hoping after a couple weeks it battles the phosphates. I ran some phosguard for 3 days but it was just starting to kill the Chateo so I removed it. Anyone think I should just do a big water change or run more phosguard and lose the Chateo?
Green monti dead, pink possibly on its way out :(
- Thread starter Bperau
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ndrwater
2500 Club Member
Bigger question in my mind is where is your Alkalinity? In my tank, the Monti's have been the canary in a coal mine when something has been amiss with my ALK. Either to low, poor color, or to high, bleaching.
Phosphate can contribute, but I think the problem may lie elsewhere
Phosphate can contribute, but I think the problem may lie elsewhere
Iv been having a problem with my alk since I switched to fritz salt. It will drop down to 7 drops on the API test kit. I added a few ounces of my BRS stuff for alk so I'll check it tomorrow. Maybe a good waterchange will bring the levels to normal. I thought when I was using the Red Sea pro my alk was to high but maybe it was good
ndrwater
2500 Club Member
Stability is key. Going from a low of 7 and then potentially bouncing to 10-11 with RSCP is just as problematic if not more so than the low ALK to begin with.
There are a couple of old addages in this hobby that I wish I had thought of but didn't:
SPS= Stability Promotes Success
"Nothing good happens fast in a Reef tank"
My suggestion at this point would be to get a real handle on where you are with you ALK currently and then raise it to YOUR desired level. My tank cruises along nicely at 9.2 +/- .02
That doesn't mean you will have the same success at those numbers, but where YOUR tank finds that sweet spot. With some reefers, that is just above 8, and many also have thriving tanks at upwards of 11.
If dosing, bump up your ALK daily somewhere in the neighborhood of .02-.03 until you see your corals looking really happy. If you are relying on water changes alone, check the ALK of your tank AND new salt water BEFORE adding it to your tank, wait a few hours and then RE-read your tank to see where you are.
Again, stability and NO FAST CHANGES.
There are a couple of old addages in this hobby that I wish I had thought of but didn't:
SPS= Stability Promotes Success
"Nothing good happens fast in a Reef tank"
My suggestion at this point would be to get a real handle on where you are with you ALK currently and then raise it to YOUR desired level. My tank cruises along nicely at 9.2 +/- .02
That doesn't mean you will have the same success at those numbers, but where YOUR tank finds that sweet spot. With some reefers, that is just above 8, and many also have thriving tanks at upwards of 11.
If dosing, bump up your ALK daily somewhere in the neighborhood of .02-.03 until you see your corals looking really happy. If you are relying on water changes alone, check the ALK of your tank AND new salt water BEFORE adding it to your tank, wait a few hours and then RE-read your tank to see where you are.
Again, stability and NO FAST CHANGES.
ndrwater
2500 Club Member
Fwiw, I test my ALK daily using the Hanna DKH ALK checker. Takes maybe 45 seconds. By testing daily, I have a real handle on the ALK consumption in my tank. Testing daily also allows me to maintain that stability that SPS corals really need.
ndrwater
2500 Club Member
Again as a side note, some of the newer salt companies are purposely making their mixes on the lower end of CA and ALK to allow for final tweaking by the end user. RSCP is high right out of the bag which is good for some reefers, but not so good for reefers who's tank likes something lower than 10+
Ocean Lotion
Well-Known Member
Low calcium will set off my green and pink monti too. First it stops growing then losses color. Could be both ca and alk.
Ca is always between 420-440, its the alk Iv been having a issue with dropping quick. I just made up some new water and see it takes 10 drops on the API kit to go from blue to yellow. Going to do a 30 gal water change tomorrow and see if I can keep this pink cap alive
From what I've read, Fritz is right around 8 for dKH but I have no first hand experience to back this up. This seems to be in line with the OPs alkalinity of 7 though. There seems to be some correlation between lower alkalinity and higher phosphates being an issue; at this point, dropping the phosphates through some larger water changes with your salt might not be a bad idea since the alkalinity wouldn't be significantly different (provided it does mix around 8 dKH).
Scott.h
Valuable Member
Imo when keeping sps you need a test kit that will allow a little more precise measuring other then API. 7 is fine, fluctuation will kill them, not 7. (My sps tank is at 7.0)
When you say "p03 is 1" do you mean .1? I assume? If you are trying to lower it, chaeto is fine but pretty slow At lowering nutrients. Gfo can strip water pretty fast which can be equally detrimental (or worse). Whatever the number keep it in ratio with nitrates and go slow.
When you say "p03 is 1" do you mean .1? I assume? If you are trying to lower it, chaeto is fine but pretty slow At lowering nutrients. Gfo can strip water pretty fast which can be equally detrimental (or worse). Whatever the number keep it in ratio with nitrates and go slow.
Ocean Lotion
Well-Known Member
Just to cover all bases what is your mag? When ever someone says that either alk or ca is good and th3 other is not we have to make sure you are dosing and testing magnesium too.
Magnesium has to be high enough to support a calcium of 420-440. If it was to low then my calcium would drop just about over night to make it all in line with each other. I'll check it today just to verify but it's been my experience that calcium will drop to the level the magnesium can hold it at
I left some mixing all night. If it is mixed up at 8 then I may consider switching back to the Red Sea pro. Was using it for 2 years and everything was perfect in my tank, now since I switched in dealing with ph issues, alk issues, corals dying
Scott.h
Valuable Member
Unless your tank is new and po4 is coming off the rocks, it generally comes from fish or coral food. I'd run gfo to clean that up until it's in line with a 16:1 ratio with nitrates.
Ocean Lotion
Well-Known Member
Glad you found the culpret. So what is the dkh value it is mixing at? May be worth giving fritz a call, if you just got a bad box of salt they may replace it. Have r ad that many like their salt.
DarkSky
Well-Known Member
How high are your nitrates? I have a green montipora that went completely white on me when I first got it because I was running 0 NO3. Now that I keep it around 5ppm it is a deep green color.
0 nitrates. I found this salt is most likely the issue. I just did a water change after bringing the alk up in the new saltwater and the salt was still cloudy after mixing all night. Place I got the salt from is going to contact fritz and see what the deal is. I have just never added salt the had a alkalinity color change on the API test kit change at 5 drop
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