Montipora losing color

[Ruthem22]

I purchased a few montipora about 1 week ago. Over the past week 2 of them have lost a lot of color and are turning pale. The tank is a standard 75 gallon with 2 ai hydra 26 leds. The settings are UV: 118%, Violet: 118%, Royal Blue: 105%, Blue: 105%, Green and Red: 0%, and Cool White: 65%. All the new corals are at the bottom half of the tank on a frag rack. One has been moved to the sand bed due to the color. There could have been a quick Alk swing because when I checked Alk a few days after I got the corals it had dropped from 8.4 to 8.1 and then from 8.1 to 7.8dkh in 24 hours. I have added a doser and my Alk is now stable. The only other reason I can think of is my phosphates being at 0, but I'm still getting a decent amount of algae growth. I have heard that corals going from a high nutrient environment to a low nutrient environment could turn pale and eventually come back, so that could also be another cause. Also most of the other corals seem fine. I even have a few lps that don't seem to mind the low nutrients and a green slimer acropora that has great color and polyp extension. One other montipora I got in the same order is also doing pretty good. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[vetteguy53081]

High salinity
Alk high
Lights too bright
Inadequate water flow
Nitrates high
Temp high

look at all the above and do a process of elimination

temperature 77-79
Alk. 8-9
Mag 1300
Nitrate < .04
Salinity 1.025
Ph 8.1-8.3

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

monitpora likes the bright light. Mine are up top directly under MH lighting and they love it. Some parts that have grown outside the spectrum of the direct light had paled and then slowly died. But that dead part is connected to the thriving part under the light. I dont know about LED lighting so I cant comment on your lights, but lighting is a main issue for monti

 

[Ruthem22]

monitpora likes the bright light. Mine are up top directly under MH lighting and they love it. Some parts that have grown outside the spectrum of the direct light had paled and then slowly died. But that dead part is connected to the thriving part under the light. I dont know about LED lighting so I cant comment on your lights, but lighting is a main issue for monti

Do you acclimate them to the lighting or do you just place them? I have got away without light acclimation before with montipora, but those lights weren’t nearly as powerful as the leds I have now.

 

[Ruthem22]

High salinity
Alk high
Lights too bright
Inadequate water flow
Nitrates high
Temp high

look at all the above and do a process of elimination

temperature 77-79
Alk. 8-9
Mag 1300
Nitrate < .04
Salinity 1.025
Ph 8.1-8.3

Do you mean Phosphates < .04? I will double check all of these and get back to you. Thank you

 

[vetteguy53081]

Phosphate at .04. If you’re using api test kits, you may be getting false readings

Do you mean Phosphates < .04? I will double check all of these and get back to you. Thank you

 

[Ruthem22]

Phosphate at .04. If you’re using api test kits, you may be getting false readings

Phosphate came out at 0 again. I know zero phosphate is not good either but the other corals look good. Salinity was 1.025. Temperature was a bit low at 75.5 F but it stays consistent. I’m going to check Mag and Cal at 4:00pm to see how much it has changed if any.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Phosphate came out at 0 again. I know zero phosphate is not good either but the other corals look good. Salinity was 1.025. Temperature was a bit low at 75.5 F but it stays consistent. I’m going to check Mag and Cal at 4:00pm to see how much it has changed if any.

Don’t fret on phosphate.I’m near zero and all my coral grow like weeds
See if you can maintain at least 77 degrees

 

[RuuToo]

Another non chemistry related cause could be montipora eating nudibranchs. Which are both hard to spot (until you know what to look for, then it’s pretty easy) and pure pure evil.

 

[Ruthem22]

Another non chemistry related cause could be montipora eating nudibranchs. Which are both hard to spot (until you know what to look for, then it’s pretty easy) and pure pure evil.

Yeah I’ve been thinking about that as well. Do they cause the montipora to pale out or would it immediately start bleaching?

 

[ShepherdReefer]

My montiopra's did best when slowly moving them around the tank to exposed to different lighting intensities.

 

[Ruthem22]

Okay, I think I have a better idea of what is happening. I tested Cal and Mag a little earlier than I said I would. Neither changed. Cal: 415 Mag: 1320. I noticed some dino in the tank today. I’ve had this issue before earlier in the life of this tank. My best guess is I had a small amount of phosphate in the water then the algae came in and took up whatever phosphate was there. The tank is close to a window so that could of helped the algae grow a bit faster. (I know it is not the best idea to keep a tank close to the window, but it was the best spot I had). Now phosphates have bottomed out causing the montipora to pale. The green slimmer is not looking as good as it normally does either. The lps may be okay because I take time to feed them frozen brine so the low nutrients might not bother them as much. Tell me what you think.

 

[bitwise]

My montis start to pale and look terrible if nitrate and phosphate bottoms out, especially with nitrate. I try to keep my nitrate to 2 ppm - 10 ppm to give me some buffer there. If they pale it’s almost a guarantee I’ve slacked on watching nitrates and dosing it if I need to.

 

[bitwise]

Also looking at your Alk swing data, that isn’t too bad but you don’t want that to keep swinging or you will run into issues keeping SPS alive. I lost a few hundred $$ in SPS when I was starting out because I wasn’t watching Alk closely enough. Try to keep the swing to +/-.5 dKH or so PER WEEK, and adjust as needed. I only test about once a week now because my reef has been running for 3+ years

 

[Ruthem22]

My montis start to pale and look terrible if nitrate and phosphate bottoms out, especially with nitrate. I try to keep my nitrate to 2 ppm - 10 ppm to give me some buffer there. If they pale it’s almost a guarantee I’ve slacked on watching nitrates and dosing it if I need to.

Yeah, I tested nitrate and it was basically 0 so that’s most likely the problem

 

[Ruthem22]

Thank you everyone for the help. I ordered nitrate and phosphate to dose and I’m going to add a few more fish and see if that helps.

 

[blasterman]

What kind of Montipora? Caps, digis, etc.

Caps can be sensitive to high alk swings (the only montis in my experience sensitive to alk) and don't like zero phosphate. I will says it again, but caps are really not beginner coral. Forrest Fires and bubblegums will also pale out if phosphate and nitrate goes to zero but are more robust than caps. If polyps are pale on orange or red montipora digis it's usually due to zero phosphate, which makes them a good 'weather coral' for phosphate. German blues and greens are the toughest and will grow in a sewer and don't have as much phosphate sensitivity but will pale out if nitrate levels spike and under high light.

IMO, nitrate levels between 5-10 and phosphate levels around .03 and *stable* are ideal for all montipora. They can be rapid growers and hence like higher nutrient levels than acros.