Montipora Cap bleaching?

jsker · Dec 2, 2017

With feeding just the frozen brine shrimp the coral is not getting enough to eat. the Pellets and nori are not enough for your corals and the waste for the fish. I would suggest using Reef Nutrition products to feed your corals. The corals need small particle food to live, there are other products available, such as reef roids, BRS chili, Aquaforest coral food, etc. I feed my system 2 a day everyday a frozen mixture of my recipe frozen, mysis shrimp, oyster feast, rotti feast, vitamarin C and M

DSC reef · Dec 2, 2017

A nice mix of oyster feast and reef roids keeps the corals happy. Also, that species of montipora typically likes lower light than say a montipora cap. Similar to undata, ours does best under medium light.

Fudsey · Dec 2, 2017

I have done nothing to this tank to keep anything at any particular point. I have only done 2 water changes on it since it was setup. Numbers are not really going down or up. Only things I have done is setup a single BRS reactor with 1/2 GFO and 1/2 GAC, set at about 1/2 on the shutoff valve, and moved my sulfur denitrator over from my rescue tank.

I keep waiting for numbers to drop, like alk, cal & mag but they really haven't moved much. Alk has only dropped once right before last water change(4 weeks ago) to 8.9. After it was at 9.46 and actually went up to 9.52 when I tested 2 weeks later. I was actually going to change water again this weekend but every time I do the numbers go up. CAL and MAG are already high and just don't move much. Month and 1/2 ago MAG was 1520, now it's 1480. CAL was at 475 now 465. Shouldn't the numbers be going down faster than that?

Tank was setup with dry rock and I'm sure it's why numbers aren't moving as it is leaching out of the rock. Or least that's MO.

Fudsey · Dec 2, 2017

I have ReefRoids on the way and should have them Tuesday.

Fudsey · Dec 2, 2017

DSC reef said:
A nice mix of oyster feast and reef roids keeps the corals happy. Also, that species of montipora typically likes lower light than say a montipora cap. Similar to undata, ours does best under medium light.

I was told that they are a Monti cap, is it not that?

DSC reef · Dec 2, 2017

Looks like montipora palawanensis. Definitely not capricornis

Fudsey · Dec 2, 2017

OK I shut off my GFO/GAC reactor as I tested my parameters today and PO4 is at .000 again. I will be getting some BRS ROX to replace it thiws week. I will watch it and see if it gets too high.

As for other parameters:

PO4 - .000
dkH - 9.52 (still)
Cal - 480
Mag - 1480
N03 - 5
SG - 1.024
pH - 8.0

madweazl · Dec 2, 2017

While not the same species, my monti cap will bleach at about 225 PAR and grow just fine with half that as well so I certainly wouldn't turn the light up and would probably turn it down unless you have other corals this will impact. If that is the case, try moving the montis. I don't believe your nitrate or phosphate levels have anything to do with your coral's issue.

john.m.cole3 · Dec 5, 2017

As DSC mentioned, it's not a "my lighting is too low" issue I don't think. The thing about light is that it will amplify any problem the tank is having. Decreasing the light intensity and duration would be my first course of action. Wait until color comes back to the monti then slowly start ramoping them back up by 2-5 percent every week or 2.

Second is the reactor. ROX .8 and GFO can strip the water of all the little stuffs in our water that contribute to the food web in our tanks. ROX especially can pull out more than you'd think. I can't explain it as well as it has been explained to be before by @WetWhistle, but take the reactor offline for a month. Don't sweat it if your PO4 goes up a little or if some algae starts showing up. Algae is a natural part of a reef. I took my reactors offline 2 years ago and was worried about my tank. But you know what... everything was ok. I had some nutrient swings but all my corals regained their color and are doing great! Here is the thread where we talk about all of that https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/corals-are-pale-wont-grow-shriveling-away-and-dying.263563/

john.m.cole3 · Dec 5, 2017

here's another one about having higher nutrients and being successful. And it was @saltyfilmfolks birthday that day. Lotas of fun there I think even Paul B came into the convo https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/nutrient-saturated-systems.268359/

Fudsey · Dec 5, 2017

john.m.cole3 said:
Second is the reactor. ROX .8 and GFO can strip the water of all the little stuffs in our water that contribute to the food web in our tanks. ROX especially can pull out more than you'd think.

I took GFO out and replaced it with ROX. Should I shut that down too?

john.m.cole3 · Dec 5, 2017

Fudsey said:
I took GFO out and replaced it with ROX. Should I shut that down too?

I would take it offline, yes. I don't use either of the 2 now days. Don't lighten up your feeding schedule as others have mentioned. I trust @jsker and his use of the reef nutrition and brightwell products.

Fudsey · Dec 8, 2017

With GFO and GAC offline:
PO4 is up to .07
Nitrate - 5
but new bottle of dkH reagent shows drastic drop in alk. down to 6.94 from 9.52 6 days ago

Could this have been the problem all along? Low alk? Bad reagent showing false number before?

DSC reef · Dec 8, 2017

Fudsey said:
With GFO and GAC offline:
PO4 is up to .07
Nitrate - 5
but new bottle of dkH reagent shows drastic drop in alk. down to 6.94 from 9.52 6 days ago

Could this have been the problem all along? Low alk? Bad reagent showing false number before?

If it's swinging that much then yes. Alk swings IME caused fading spots in certain montipora we've kept. I've never kept alk lower than 8dkh, maybe someone else can say if they had problems with alk that low.

Fudsey · Dec 8, 2017

What would cause a swing like that when all other parameters are consistent?

DSC reef · Dec 8, 2017

It could have been that low all along if the reagents were bad. Hard to say. For me, I have to dose alk daily where calcium every 2 days. The alk gets consumed way quicker in our reef tank than calcium.

Fudsey · Dec 8, 2017

Well there's the thing, I have not dosed anything yet. Cal and Mag have not dropped at all since I started testing them back in October.

reeferfoxx · Dec 8, 2017

2dkh in 6 days isn't drastic imo. With available nutrients, now, coral uptake and consumption has begun. This is what happens when corals aren't being deprived.

john.m.cole3 · Dec 9, 2017

I think you are at near ideal parameters now that you have some nutrients for the corals. I like to keep my parameters in line with what my salt mixes to or close. That way there is not large swings with water changes and regular dosing. But I also like to keep my alk in the low 8s, calcium 420, and mag 1400. I found that using elevated salt mixes where alk mixes at 12 dkh, would make for a parameter swing when performing a water change. What salt mix are you using?