Montipora Help!

Brandon Rush · Jun 29, 2019

Alright so I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I'm new to SPS and feel like I have everything correct, but continue to have issues with my Montipora opening. All my other corals look perfectly fine. Any time I do a water change the polyps will extend for a day, then retract again. I'm thinking that I'm maybe stripping the water too much and it is causing it. Attached is my light schedule, parameters are as follows. I'm using Chemipur Blue, Filter Floss, and a Skimmer. No fish, a bunch of snails I'm QT'ing and several mixed pieces of coral. Light is a Kessil H380WE Tuna Blue and the frags are getting a PAR of 285. Also using a Jebao powerhead (to the left) to give them some good flow.

Tank is a 20 Gallon JBJ frag tank
Nitrates: 0.25 (think this is too low)
Mag: 1375
Alk: 8.9
CA: 425
Salinity: 35PPT

Hemmdog · Jun 29, 2019

Light cycle is to long. Start it at 10 or 11am if your going to end it at 22:00.

Brandon Rush · Jun 29, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Light cycle is to long. Start it at 10 or 11am if your going to end it at 22:00.

My lights are only really on 12-5, the others are just blues and really low intensity. The 11% is required to get the lights to turn on for the Apex which is stupid, but it's like barely on.

Flippers4pups · Jun 29, 2019

Nitrate is low. What's your phosphate?

Par is a little high at 285. Try 150-200.

Hemmdog · Jun 29, 2019

Brandon Rush said:
My lights are only really on 12-5, the others are just blues and really low intensity. The 11% is required to get the lights to turn on for the Apex which is stupid, but it's like barely on.

The photoperiod includes any light source. Coral needs more than 7 hours to rest. I’ve tried long photoperiods like you have, it doesn’t end up well.

Saintnovakai · Jun 29, 2019

No fish? Are you feeding coral food? If not you might be in fact stripping the water.

Brandon Rush · Jun 29, 2019

Flippers4pups said:
Nitrate is low. What's your phosphate?

Par is a little high at 285. Try 150-200.

0, you recommend dosing nitrates or just blanket feed the tank?

Saintnovakai · Jun 29, 2019

Brandon Rush said:
0, you recommend dosing nitrates or just blanket feed the tank?

Are you averse to getting a fish or two? My Montis seem to like params that would fit a mixed reef. If I run close to SPS reef params it goes light but that's in my tank. Others have them with SPS params and they stay bright however they have a larger fish load than I so there is a constant supply of organics going in and out.

Brandon Rush · Jun 29, 2019

Saintnovakai said:
Are you averse to getting a fish or two? My Montis seem to like params that would fit a mixed reef. If I run close to SPS reef params it goes light but that's in my tank. Others have them with SPS params and they stay bright however they have a larger fish load than I so there is a constant supply of organics going in and out.

Im trying to keep this tank fishless for now since I'm trying to use it as a at tank. I've got a feeling the low nitrates is what was to blame. What is strange though is when I do a water change say 5 gallons they open up for a day or two.

Saintnovakai · Jun 29, 2019

Brandon Rush said:
Im trying to keep this tank fishless for now since I'm trying to use it as a at tank. I've got a feeling the low nitrates is what was to blame. What is strange though is when I do a water change say 5 gallons they open up for a day or two.

Keep it as a what type of tank?

Brandon Rush · Jun 29, 2019

Saintnovakai said:
No fish? Are you feeding coral food? If not you might be in fact stripping the water.

I've been feeding reefroids once a week so I figured I'd be getting some nitrates, but I think the Chemipure blue might be pulling them out, any thoughts?

Brandon Rush · Jun 29, 2019

Saintnovakai said:
No fish? Are you feeding coral food? If not you might be in fact stripping the water.

No fish since I'm using this tank as a coral QT tank

Hemmdog · Jun 29, 2019

Brandon Rush said:
I've been feeding reefroids once a week so I figured I'd be getting some nitrates, but I think the Chemipure blue might be pulling them out, any thoughts?

Reef roids gives you phosphates. Chemipure blue is mainly a carbon product so it removes toxins and mildly removes nitrates. Chemipure elite removes phosphates.

Brandon Rush · Jun 29, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Reef roids gives you phosphates. Chemipure blue is mainly a carbon product so it removes toxins and mildly removes nitrates. Chemipure elite removes phosphates.

Won't all foods increase nitrates?

Saintnovakai · Jun 29, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Reef roids gives you phosphates. Chemipure blue is mainly a carbon product so it removes toxins and mildly removes nitrates. Chemipure elite removes phosphates.

Coral QT tanks usually have some reef janitors in them. Some kind of wrasse for bugs etc, a tang for algae, etc etc but it's your tank. What I would tell you to do next is test your phosphate. For Montipora if your phosphates are bottomed out, they pale right out.

Hemmdog · Jun 29, 2019

Brandon Rush said:
Won't all foods increase nitrates?

Only if they produce ammonia, a great source is frozen mysis shrimp.

Brandon Rush · Jun 29, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Reef roids gives you phosphates. Chemipure blue is mainly a carbon product so it removes toxins and mildly removes nitrates. Chemipure elite removes phosphates.

Well just tested phosphates and they were too high to read on the ulr so maybe my phosphates are too high??

Saintnovakai · Jun 29, 2019

Brandon Rush said:
Well just tested phosphates and they were too high to read on the ulr so maybe my phosphates are too high??

Well too high is most definitely a problem. Take your time bringing them down though so you don't shock stuff. We need a number though. Too high isn't useful in these parts. Lol. Give us the number in PPM.