new sps and Montipora bleaching

LuisA · Oct 27, 2009

Hey all I got some free stuff from a fellow reefer and the montipora and an unknow sps are showing bad signs of bleaching. just tested to water and these are the numbers Mg Ca KH Ph Nitrate 1185 430 8 8 10
I am dosing the tank to bring the Mag up to around 1400 this should be done by friday or so. also The SPS is getting blasted by a mj1200 with the suregrip mod and sitting right under a 250w MH 14k. the montipora is getting about med light and and is getting a small current from a mj400.

do you guys think that the monti is high or low in the tank?
will the Mag being low make these bleach pretty bad?
I am close to finishing my new sump and i will get some cheato to help keep the nitrates down.
thanks for the help.

reefpoor · Oct 27, 2009

I'd move them to the bottom of the tank and gradually acclimate them to your lighting. Probably light shocked, Mg is a little low, but other parameters really aren't bad. Do you know what lighting and alk they were kept at? Monti's really don't like alk swings at all. Go for stability rather that trying to get ideal parameters and they can recover. BTW I have 250 MH and most of my monti's are at the bottom to mid way up

LuisA · Oct 27, 2009

reefpoor said:
I'd move them to the bottom of the tank and gradually acclimate them to your lighting. Probably light shocked, Mg is a little low, but other parameters really aren't bad. Do you know what lighting and alk they were kept at? Monti's really don't like alk swings at all. Go for stability rather that trying to get ideal parameters and they can recover. BTW I have 250 MH and most of my monti's are at the bottom to mid way up

good deal I will try them down lowand try moving them slowly

hollback · Oct 30, 2009

You might also want to move your maxijet 1200 that's blasting your acro. That pump may blow the flesh right off the skeleton. Try point the stream just to the side of the acro. This will give the coral plenty of indirect flow.

tangdiver · Nov 26, 2009

Move to indirect flow, and down a bit. But should come around....Monti's are pretty hardy when it comes to sps.

joelq · Jan 19, 2010

Light acclimation is probably the main reason for the bleaching, but your high nitrates could also be contributing, especially if they came from zero nitrate water. Ideally, you should get your nitrates to <5, if not zero.