My First Monti Cap bleached overnight

[gbru316]

So I tested on Friday and today. Friday Alk was 8.9 and today it was 8.4. After my WC on Monday it was 9.3.

Would All4Reef be a good way to stabilize my alk along with the other parameters?

You're losing about 0.25 dKh/day.

All-for-reef is one option. There's also kalkwasser, balling method, 2 part, etc.


Note that your alk consumption is going to keep rising as your tank matures. Even without adding stony coral. Coralline algae consumes it, too. Do some research on the different methods and pick one.

FWIW, 1 square meter of reef in the wild is able to suck out 10-20 kg/year, and this rate has been observed in aquaria. Applied to aquaria -- it's entirely possible for a fully stocked tank to suck all the alk out of a tank in a single day. At some point, you're probably going to need to dose more than once per day to keep the parameters stable. Probably wouldn't hurt to start researching dosing pumps.

 

[Jcon82]

You're losing about 0.25 dKh/day.

All-for-reef is one option. There's also kalkwasser, balling method, 2 part, etc.


Note that your alk consumption is going to keep rising as your tank matures. Even without adding stony coral. Coralline algae consumes it, too. Do some research on the different methods and pick one.

FWIW, 1 square meter of reef in the wild is able to suck out 10-20 kg/year, and this rate has been observed in aquaria. Applied to aquaria -- it's entirely possible for a fully stocked tank to suck all the alk out of a tank in a single day. At some point, you're probably going to need to dose more than once per day to keep the parameters stable. Probably wouldn't hurt to start researching dosing pumps.

I researched it a while ago and decided A4R was for me.

 

[gbru316]

I researched it a while ago and decided A4R was for me.

Sounds like you're on the right path. Just make sure you set your ca and alk where you want to keep them before starting it.

 

[Tidal Gardens]

So I tested on Friday and today. Friday Alk was 8.9 and today it was 8.4. After my WC on Monday it was 9.3.

Would All4Reef be a good way to stabilize my alk along with the other parameters?

Looks like your system is consuming your elements pretty fast. Time to supplement them somehow. We have never used the all-for-reef product so we couldn't say if that would work. You can defiantly use some Kalk if you want or set up a 2 part dosing system.

 

[BirdFish5000]

All for reef works just fine, but it's expensive, imo

 

[markwayts]

Hi All,

I'm new and ordered a bunch of corals from @Tidal Gardens after having good luck with a duncan, acan, zoa and hammer for a few months. The tank is a 40B with a Tidal55 HOB and 2 AI Prime 16's running the Saxby profile.

PH 8.2, Cal 465, Mg 1450, Alk 9.6, temp 77f
I've tested Nitrate once and it showed 10ppm but I need to get better at reading the Salifert kit so it may be off.

My Phosphate kit just came in so I haven't tested yet.

I target feed the corals the night before a weekly 20% wc and then a few days after with a broadcast feed. I'm trying not to overfeed!

So I ordered two Monti caps, one encrusting monti, BoP, Slimer Acro, three chalices, two leptos and some favia. Everyone is doing fine other than the Acro that died within the first week, the green monti cap didn't survive being cracked in pieces after I manhandled it with epoxy on the rock.

But I have a red monti cap that was doing ok for the last three weeks until two nights ago I noticed it was bleaching at the base where it was attached to the rock. then the next day it was all white.

I lowered the light intensity by 15%. I thought this may have been it since the acclimation mode ended a few days prior.

Is there anything I should check before trying to grow them again? I'm debating adding chemi pure blue to bring nitrate and phosphate down (I'll test first) but see the other corals settling in nicely so I'm not sure.

Monti's do that. I bought a red one that bleached except for a speck the size of a pencil eraser then came back. I have a blue one that bleaches off and comes back and a purple one that has a big dead spot in the middle where an anemonie sat on it for a day. They are just real delicate and sensitive to light, temp and they lose all chemical warfare.

 

[homer1475]

0.1. O.01 is just way to low for the margin of error in any test that can go that low.

 

[DieHardPhotog-Reefer]

Monti's do that. I bought a red one that bleached except for a speck the size of a pencil eraser then came back. I have a blue one that bleaches off and comes back and a purple one that has a big dead spot in the middle where an anemonie sat on it for a day. They are just real delicate and sensitive to light, temp and they lose all chemical warfare.

@markwayts did the dead spot on your purple monti go white or ??? I just had a BTA creep up the side of a rock structure and lean over my monti just enough to create a line of white right where the contact was made. Should I assume that area will always be dead? Is it likely to expand and kill off more? Hope you can shed some light on the situation.

 

[fishmonkey]

can we get a picture of the monti cap. i had a monti cap that was close to death for months and now its finally recovered since i increased flow