Pale Monti cap?

StrangeDejavu · Dec 12, 2016

Hopefully someone can lead me in the right direction here. Got a small Sunburst Monti a while ago that hasn't grown a whole lot in my tank. It always had good polyp extension and color but grew at a snails pace. I've been battling a ridiculous GHA and dino battle the last few months so I started running GFO and dosing Vibrant twice a week (I slowly introduced GFO, didn't add full amount at once). Tank is night and day as far as algae improvements but my Monti has been going downhill since I started GFO and Vibrant. Can they lose color like this in a ULN system? All the other coral are happy and display great colors except the Monti. Tank is a BioCube 29 (10 months old) with an AI Prime mounted 9 inches above the water, 25% weekly WC with Reef Crystals.

Here's a pic with the lights off, it's the best way I can show the color difference.

Lighting schedule

And a FTS (slightly outdated, it still had some color here)

Travis Stewart · Dec 12, 2016

I had problems recently with mine where it kind of looked washed out and faded. I noticed it was because I had started dosing heavily. I'm curious if you had a decent amount of PO4 before you added the GFO and it changed too quickly. Mine colored back up as I started dosing smaller amounts. It was also my only coral that was affected. Did you change anything else other than adding GFO?

StrangeDejavu · Dec 12, 2016

Travis Stewart said:
I had problems recently with mine where it kind of looked washed out and faded. I noticed it was because I had started dosing heavily. I'm curious if you had a decent amount of PO4 before you added the GFO and it changed too quickly. Mine colored back up as I started dosing smaller amounts. It was also my only coral that was affected. Did you change anything else other than adding GFO?

I never get a PO4 reading on my Hanna checker so I pretty much quit testing for it. I did lose a fish early on in the tanks life which I never did find, so the sand and LR probably soaked up all those nutrients. I've been battling GHA for so long I can't even remember what readings were like before it. Also, I did add the GFO very slowly to try and prevent shock. I started out with 1 tbsp, then 2, etc until I was at the recommended 5 tbsp. It's the only thing that's changed besides Vibrant which, far as I know, also goes after NO3 and PO4. Combine both of these with 25% WC, ROX carbon, skimming and light feeding and i'm probably at ULN. Prior to Vibrant, everything I just mentioned did nothing and my tank was overrun with GHA. The entire back wall, the sandbed, all the rocks- everything was covered and never went away despite running GFO and the best husbandry. I'm considering pulling it for now and maybe adding back only 2 tbsp or so later.

Travis Stewart · Dec 13, 2016

What's your mag readings? Where is the GHA in the picture because I don't see any?

Travis Stewart · Dec 13, 2016

Water your doing water changes with is confirmed 0 TDS before mixing?

StrangeDejavu · Dec 13, 2016

Travis Stewart said:
What's your mag readings? Where is the GHA in the picture because I don't see any?

At one point I used Vibrant to clear it up, then fell behind on dosing it and it returned like a plague. Finally getting it under control again. Here's the tank around Thanksgiving.

RODI water is 0 TDS, I change all filters every 4 months like clockwork, before it has a chance to read 1 TDS. In-line meter is calibrated as well.

Here's my most recent params:

Temp: 78 degrees
pH: 7.8
Salinity: 1.026
Cal: 520
Mag: 1485
Alk: 8.4
PO4: zero
NO3: zero

twilliard · Dec 13, 2016

Oh my what happened there?
Sorry to see that battle going on. From here everything will become stressful for the coral.

StrangeDejavu · Dec 13, 2016

twilliard said:
Oh my what happened there?
Sorry to see that battle going on. From here everything will become stressful for the coral.

I've been fighting GHA, mild Bryopsis and Dinos for a while now, since at least August. I QT'd and treated a Tailspot Blenny a while back and added him to my DT, had to do a blackout for dinos a few weeks later. When the bags came off, he was gone, never found a trace of him. Most of my problems started around that time, sand and LR probably soaked up the nutrients and have been releasing it since. I'm finally winning the algae battle now but I think I hit it too hard, too fast and the Monti's starving now. Could be wrong, but that's my guess.

twilliard · Dec 13, 2016

Yes I feel you are correct on that. Based on the monti picture it is a little thin on zooxanthellae.
Continue the diligent battle on that algae and it will all come back together :)

Travis Stewart · Dec 13, 2016

How long is your photo period?

twilliard · Dec 13, 2016

So far I have dosed 121ml of H2O2 in the last 4 days. Maybe an idea to help you :)

saltyfilmfolks · Dec 13, 2016

check your no and Po. Its a balance between light amounts and nutrints. corals need Po too.
If you were already low on no and Po (algae eats it too,) and added gfo you may have stripped too much out of the water column.

Travis Stewart · Dec 13, 2016

I second your algae is consuming the PO4 and NO3 readings

StrangeDejavu · Dec 13, 2016

Travis Stewart said:
How long is your photo period?

8 hours with 1 hour ramps on each end.

I just removed the baggie of GFO, hopefully the GHA doesn't take over again. I'm hoping just Vibrant will be enough to control the algae while also leaving some nutrients in the water.

saltyfilmfolks said:
check your no and Po. Its a balance between light amounts and nutrints. corals need Po too.
If you were already low on no and Po (algae eats it too,) and added gfo you may have stripped too much out of the water column.

That's the thing, I can't seem to achieve that balance. There was a time when I actually fed my fish and my coral like everyone else, I did so for months. Then GHA took over. Everyone said feed less, feed less, you're feeding too much. So I cut my feeding amount in half and it kept growing. Then I quit feeding my coral and it kept growing. Then I bought a skimmer and it kept growing. Then I started running GFO and it kept growing... lol. The pic I included of the HA everywhere was when I was running GFO, feeding minimal, weekly 25% WC and skimming wet. The algae didn't care, it took over and grew on every surface except the glass itself. Then I add Vibrant in the mix and the scale immediately tips to the other side full force... it's frustrating.

twilliard · Dec 13, 2016

That would all be accurate.
When algae reaches size photosynthesis is dominate in it's survival.
Understanding what each cell produces under light gives good insight on its characteristics.
Algae must be caught early in order for NOPO to be in play.
One thing that is never discussed or may be overlooked is something as simple as Iron levels. So much is involved I could write a book on algae survival.