New monti turning white..?

peterire · May 14, 2021

So I'm new to reefing and have a refer 350 9 months old. I've mainly got softies and LPS.

But I decided to test the waters with a plating Monti cap, I believe its an easier type of SPS.

Anyway, a few weeks in and its starting to turn white..

After a bit of research it seemed like maybe I needed to acclimate it to my lights. I have 2 reefled90s. They were set to 100% blue and 25% white.

So I turned on acclimation two days ago (set to 65% over 10 days)

But this seems to have had the opposite effect, its gotten more white in those 2 days. Is it not enough time to see changes or is the lighting not the issue. Does it need more light?

I have it set in the lower-mid section.

Alk 9.6
Nitrate 5
Phos 0.02

any help appreciated!

dhnguyen · May 14, 2021

How much flow do you have in your tank? And yes I would move it up higher.

peterire · May 14, 2021

dhnguyen said:
How much flow do you have in your tank? And yes I would move it up higher

I have 2 reefwave45s, set to 70%, so should be plenty of flow.

So they can turn white if there's not enough light? will it easily recover?

dhnguyen · May 14, 2021

monti caps are generally pretty resilient IME. As long as tank parameters are stable and you give them plenty of light and flow they should recover

dhnguyen · May 14, 2021

did you start your tank with live rock for dry rock?

peterire · May 14, 2021

Started with live rock.

I've moved it up a bit, hopefully starts to recover, thanks

ReefRxSWFL · May 14, 2021

Mg? Ca? Do you add aminos? Which montipora is it? Do you have a toadstool in the tank?

ReefRxSWFL · May 14, 2021

Do you have a par meter or seneye? As long as you have 150 to 290 par for 9 to 10 houts where the frag is, you should be fine

peterire · May 14, 2021

Ca was 460 last time I checked, I haven't got a Mag test kit yet, its on my list.

its a plating monti cap, red, thats all I know

I do have a leather toadstool, opposite side of the tank. That could be releasing something that's harming it?

Don't have a par meter or seneye

ReefRxSWFL · May 15, 2021

peterire said:
Ca was 460 last time I checked, I haven't got a Mag test kit yet, its on my list.

its a plating monti cap, red, thats all I know

I do have a leather toadstool, opposite side of the tank. That could be releasing something that's harming it?

Don't have a par meter or seneye

As long as the toadstool is a foot away, its fine, but yes. Things placed within 6 inches of a toadstool can be involved in some chemical warfare.

Knowing the Par where you place corals can cause browning if not getting enough light.
Montipora can suck up mg. While yours isn’t small, you should still make sure levels are good.

being a red cap, when it does start to grow, it will grow extremely fast, so you will need to keep up with your alk, ca and mg, because it will suck it up more and more as it grows larger. keep all your chemistry stable and it should be fine. But check that mag as well.