Monti dying or growing ?

OpenOcean33 · Feb 18, 2019

I have red montipora cap and seasons greetings coral. Over the past week I just randomly noticed they look ashy. They have been in my tank since November in the same spot. Not sure what's going on. Parameters salinity 1.025 N-8 P.12 as I am FIGHTING dinos I am keeping them slightly elevated but have been since they have been in tank. Calcium 450 all 9.2. Temp 80. I did have a small alk swing 2 weeks ago where alk drop a little but none of the other corals were affected these are my only sps though. You can see the back of the seasons greetings how green it usually is. I have been busy the past two week aswell and didnt really notice small changes.

Sierra_Bravo · Feb 18, 2019

Dying, unfortunately. Could possibly have been your alk swing - not sure how low it was, but did you perhaps try to raise it back all at once? Your phosphates are high for SPS, but I don't think that triggered the problem. Good news is that the Seasons Greetings looks like it has a good chance of coming back as long as you maintain the color and polyp extension your pictures show. The red cap looks a bit more worse for wear, but try to keep things stable and give it a month.

SeaDweller · Feb 18, 2019

That's headed towards death. That's not growth. I've had montis recover from ONE single polyp so I hope you figure it out.

Charlie’s Frags · Feb 18, 2019

It would of had of been a giant alk swing to cause that. I have monti’s That have been in my tank for 12 years and I never dosed or even tested alk, cal or mag for 7 or 8 of those years and they never looked stressed. The only time I’ve ever seen my monti’s stressed was from carbon dosing and using gfo.

OpenOcean33 · Feb 18, 2019

Chaswood79 said:
It would of had of been a giant alk swing to cause that. I have monti’s That have been in my tank for 12 years and I never dosed or even tested alk, cal or mag for 7 or 8 of those years and they never looked stressed. The only time I’ve ever seen my monti’s stressed was from carbon dosing and using gfo.

Yeah i only dose calcium and alk, not very often as it is usualy stable and in good peramters. my alk dropped to 9.2 which is a little low for my system that stays in the 10s but no a crazy swing i dont think. Its weird as they have been doing great and this week just kind of turned ashy.

OpenOcean33 · Feb 18, 2019

TitanCi said:
That's headed towards death. That's not growth. I've had montis recover from ONE single polyp so I hope you figure it out.

Me too,I guess a water change to start just in case and ride it out im not sure what else to do at this point since they have donse great for 4 months in that exact spot.

OpenOcean33 · Feb 18, 2019

Sierra_Bravo said:
Dying, unfortunately. Could possibly have been your alk swing - not sure how low it was, but did you perhaps try to raise it back all at once? Your phosphates are high for SPS, but I don't think that triggered the problem. Good news is that the Seasons Greetings looks like it has a good chance of coming back as long as you maintain the color and polyp extension your pictures show. The red cap looks a bit more worse for wear, but try to keep things stable and give it a month.

9.2 is what it dropped to and not i slowly am dosing to increase it over the week gone from 9.2 to 9.8 and dosed again last night. Thats the only thing i can think of is just do a water change and ride it out as they have been there since november.

Charlie’s Frags · Feb 18, 2019

OpenOcean33 said:
9.2 is what it dropped to and not i slowly am dosing to increase it over the week gone from 9.2 to 9.8 and dosed again last night. Thats the only thing i can think of is just do a water change and ride it out as they have been there since november.

My alk drops 0.8-1.0 everyday and doesn’t phase my monti’s or my 30 acros one bit. There’s something else going on. What kind of lighting do you have?

SeaDweller · Feb 18, 2019

Chaswood79 said:
My alk drops 0.8-1.0 everyday and phase my monti’s or my 30 acros one bit. There’s something else going on. What kind of lighting do you have?

Yeah, and plus having all that high isn't necessarily a good thing either...

OpenOcean33 · Feb 18, 2019

Chaswood79 said:
My alk drops 0.8-1.0 everyday and doesn’t phase my monti’s or my 30 acros one bit. There’s something else going on. What kind of lighting do you have?

I have two hydra 26 lights on a red sea max 260. UV 47% V 66% RY 66% B 66% G 0% R 0% and w 21% for 9 hours a day with 1 1/2 hour ramp time on each end.

OpenOcean33 · Feb 18, 2019

TitanCi said:
Yeah, and plus having all that high isn't necessarily a good thing either...

I am following the suggested redsea levels for alk for mixed reef they suggest 11.5dkh, maybe it would be good to aim a little lower since i know sps like lower alk. However, they have been fine for 4 months growing amazing. I feel like it could be something else. The only other thing i am having touble with is a have a dinoflagelate bloom going on. However they are only on the sand no rocks or coral. I am dosing silicates to gain some diatoms to outcompete them but not sure how silicates effect sps.

Charlie’s Frags · Feb 19, 2019

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OpenOcean33 said:
I have two hydra 26 lights on a red sea max 260. UV 47% V 66% RY 66% B 66% G 0% R 0% and w 21% for 9 hours a day with 1 1/2 hour ramp time on each end.

I would crank those hydras up. I have 2-52 HD’s over my 50 gallon cube set to 100 watts each during my 6 hour peak. I like my alk 7.5-8.0. Are you using the Red Sea nopox?