Monti Question

N-E CICHLIDS · Jun 5, 2012

I have a 29 Gal HQI Biocube and it seems like the light is not strong enough. I have a 150W 14K Pheonix Bulb in it. When I bought my Pokerstar Monti it was under 400W and it was bright purple base with bright green polyps. Now it is all brown, however it is growing like a weed. Also my zoas that are on the sand bed seem to reach for more light, but when I move them up they do they go back to normal. I would think that a 150W MH would enough light in a 29. Is it possible that it is not?

apicturepaints · Jun 5, 2012

When was the last time you changed the bulbs? I know MH bulbs needs to be replaced fairly often. :/

N-E CICHLIDS · Jun 5, 2012

About 5 months old

I was just reading about how long people run their MH and some were saying 10 hours a day. I only run mine for 6 hours a day. Could that be causing it. Only other lights are actinic LEDS that I run.

SmokeyCFH · Jun 5, 2012

Color's also have a lot to do with trace elements in your water as well as lighting...I had a monti slowly dying for months with no color until I switched to AquaCraft Products Bio-Marine salt mix and an Orphek LED (MH's are just as good), ever since then it's bright green and growing back pretty quickly. The salt made all the difference in the world with my tank, no more IO for me hahahaha

Henry C · Jun 6, 2012

When a coral is put in a tank with 150 watt m/h from a tank with 400 watt m/h it will most likely lose it's color due to the loss of intensity. Some corals take alot of time to color back up. A good sign is that it's growing like a weed which leads me to believe your chemistry is probably ok. I would test your params just to check but it really sounds like the coral needs time to color back up.