Montipora Digitata’s - Not Happy!

[Mollyrosecoburn]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice if possible, I have a couple digitata’s and they’re not doing too well!

They aren’t bleaching but their polyps only ever extend, if at all, at night. My other monti’s (plating), pocillopora and stylo’s are all doing really well and growing quickly.

I tested all my water and there was nothing out of the ordinary e.g my alk was coming in around 7 (low I know but my calcium was too high at around 550 so I stopped adding kalk to allow this to drop naturally), ph is always around 8.3/4, nitrates around 1 and phos was undetectable on my kit.

So I thought there may be some sort of pollution in the water so I sent off an ICP test and I’ll attach my results. I won’t attach my RODI water as it all came back as n/u so I know that probably isn’t the issue.

So basically, my question is could the high reading of copper (running cuprisorb, source is probably coral dip not being rinsed off frags properly) or the aluminium (I think came from a nori clip rusting, also been removed) irritating my digi’s?

I am running a AI Hydra 52HD on the AB+ settings and a maxspect gyre 150 on about 70% (on the right side of the glass with one end pointing across the bottom and the other across the middle). Photo of the full tank attached for perspective.

Any advice on what it could be would be a great help.

I’m going to do a 50% water change tomorrow to reduce the copper and aluminium and I’ve dosed some Red Sea Trace-Colors to increase the trace elements (iodine etc)

Thanks,
Molly

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Pics of the coral your worried about will help.

 

[Mollyrosecoburn]

Pics of the coral your worried about will help.

These 3

 

[Phil D.]

I have a Montipora Spungode that' VERY happy and am running my AI Hydra 26 HDs at 65% UV, 68% Blues, 0% Red & Green, and 8% white. You may have the whites too high.

 

[Mollyrosecoburn]

I have a Montipora Spungode that' VERY happy and am running my AI Hydra 26 HDs at 65% UV, 68% Blues, 0% Red & Green, and 8% white. You may have the whites too high.

That might be the case, I’m running my lights based off the AB+ spectrum that BRS suggested

 

[Mollyrosecoburn]

That might be the case, I’m running my lights based off the AB+ spectrum that BRS suggested

I did turn the reds down I think to try and reduce the GHA growth

 

[Graffiti Spot]

If the whites were too high everything would be having issues. Same with high levels of any elements. The frags look almost dead or like they got stressed and burned and never fully recovered. I would get some healthy pieces and try again. Don’t go changing things in your tank because a few digi frags don’t look good, especially if everything else is fine (I can’t tell if the rest of the tank looks good or not from the pictures).
I wouldn’t expect stellar results with one fixture over that tank either, but I will let the led guys help you on that front.

 

[Miller535]

Looking at your ICP I do not think you copper or aluminum is anything that bad YET. Some of those trace additives have copper in them, so I would make sure yours doesn't. Two problems I see, your salinity is high at 37, and your alk is very low at 6.12 dkh. I would say your ALK is your problem.

 

[Mollyrosecoburn]

If the whites were too high everything would be having issues. Same with high levels of any elements. The frags look almost dead or like they got stressed and burned and never fully recovered. I would get some healthy pieces and try again. Don’t go changing things in your tank because a few digi frags don’t look good, especially if everything else is fine (I can’t tell if the rest of the tank looks good or not from the pictures).

Thanks for your help! I think it might be to do with the shipping, the water they arrived in was reaaaally cold. I’ll just leave everything alone and see if they start to recover. They aren’t dead as they still have some colour but the polyps just refuse to extend, it’s frustrating!

 

[Mollyrosecoburn]

Looking at your ICP I do not think you copper or aluminum is anything that bad YET. Some of those trace additives have copper in them, so I would make sure yours doesn't. Two problems I see, your salinity is high at 37, and your alk is very low at 6.12 dkh. I would say your ALK is your problem.

I’ve added some RODI water to get the salinity down, my refractometer probably needs recalibrating. I left the alk alone due to my calcium being high at around 550/600 but now it’s come down I’ve started adding kalkwasser again so hopefully my alk will start to come back up.
Thanks for the reply!

 

[Miller535]

I’ve added some RODI water to get the salinity down, my refractometer probably needs recalibrating. I left the alk alone due to my calcium being high at around 550/600 but now it’s come down I’ve started adding kalkwasser again so hopefully my alk will start to come back up.
Thanks for the reply!

It is dangerous to let alk get that low. Alk should NEVER go below 7. Very few reefers let theirs go below 7.5, with I would argue most keep theirs above 8.

Kalk also adds calcium and alk in balance. To get your alk back up to where it needs to be, your calcium is going to be back to high again. You need to add some alk. Some sodium bicarbonate or soda ash

 

[Graffiti Spot]

There are a lot of reefers that run tanks with alk between 6-7 I don’t see how that would be an issue. I would dose just alk until calcium drops too though. Defiantly always calibrate with 35ppt solution as often as you can, I check with it each use if I am using a handheld refractometer.
if the corals didn’t ship good I would put it on that issue. Digi might take some time to recover but once it does it should be an easy one to keep.
And the white light is one thing often blamed for issues with coral, but with fixtures these days it shouldn’t be a problem. Reefers should be able to use their white channels much more than they are these days. I run my small tank at 100% on all channels. Ime white light is key to keeping certain pigments in acropora vibrant and visible. But everyone has different tastes and there are many ways to run a reef.

 

[Miller535]

There are a lot of reefers that run tanks with alk between 6-7 I don’t see how that would be an issue. I would dose just alk until calcium drops too though. Defiantly always calibrate with 35ppt solution as often as you can, I check with it each use if I am using a handheld refractometer.
if the corals didn’t ship good I would put it on that issue. Digi might take some time to recover but once it does it should be an easy one to keep.
And the white light is one thing often blamed for issues with coral, but with fixtures these days it shouldn’t be a problem. Reefers should be able to use their white channels much more than they are these days. I run my small tank at 100% on all channels. Ime white light is key to keeping certain pigments in acropora vibrant and visible. But everyone has different tastes and there are many ways to run a reef.

Natural seawater alk is in the 7s (never below), I have never seen a site recommend alk below 7. Most reefers run above natural seawater for a plethora of good reasons. And what are your parameters is a common question theme around reef2reef as well as often polled, and I have almost never seen anyone below 7 (and if they are they are having problems usually with dosing). And definitely NOT trying to grow any SPS like digis.

 

[Miller535]

Notice on this reef2reef poll, they do not even poll below 8. Although there are several on here that say 7's. Almost no 6's.

Why do a lot of reefers keep a lower alk in their tank (8-9)?

I’ve been reading posts about alk for a while and seen some polls about it, and it seems that most reefers keep their alk between 8-9dkh. I’m still dialing in the alk of my 40g and was curious about reasons this range is so popular. Instant Ocean mixes at 10dkh so I was keeping my LPS/softie...

www.reef2reef.com

I would point out @Randy Holmes-Farley post #16, of which I will highlight one line

in general, I suggest that aquarists maintain alkalinity between about 7-11 dKH (2.5 and 4 meq/L; 125-200 ppm CaCO3 equivalents). Many aquarists growing SPS corals and using Ultra Low Nutrient Systems (ULNS) have found that the corals suffer from “burnt tips†if the alkalinity is too high or changes too much. It is not at all clear why this is the case, but such aquaria are better served by alkalinity in the 7-8 dKH range.

 

[blstravler]

Notice on this reef2reef poll, they do not even poll below 8. Although there are several on here that say 7's. Almost no 6's.

Why do a lot of reefers keep a lower alk in their tank (8-9)?

I’ve been reading posts about alk for a while and seen some polls about it, and it seems that most reefers keep their alk between 8-9dkh. I’m still dialing in the alk of my 40g and was curious about reasons this range is so popular. Instant Ocean mixes at 10dkh so I was keeping my LPS/softie...

www.reef2reef.com

I would point out @Randy Holmes-Farley post #16, of which I will highlight one line

in general, I suggest that aquarists maintain alkalinity between about 7-11 dKH (2.5 and 4 meq/L; 125-200 ppm CaCO3 equivalents). Many aquarists growing SPS corals and using Ultra Low Nutrient Systems (ULNS) have found that the corals suffer from “burnt tips†if the alkalinity is too high or changes too much. It is not at all clear why this is the case, but such aquaria are better served by alkalinity in the 7-8 dKH range.

Was about to post this - one of the best pieces of data as it relates to ALK to nutrients in a reef tank.