I have a 45 gallon cube that I started back in February. Things have been going very well except a couple of small things I'm troubleshooting with one or two coral frags.
Recent Test Results:
Nitrate: 1.5ppm
Ammonia & Nitrite: 0ppm
Calcium: 430ppm
Alk: 8.4dkh
Magnesium: 1500
PH: 8.1
Phosphate: 0ppm (Salifert)
Problem:
So the encrusting Rainbow Monti frag I got in this tank has been my trouble child. I can't seem to find the right placement or do anything to get its polyps to extend fully. The flesh is still a nice lavender/purple color (not as dark as when I got it), but the polyps are pretty much retracted and it is looking sad.
Lighting:
I have a Hydra26HD running about 12" above the water line at 50% blues, 40% violet, 20% UV, 14% whites, and 7% green and red. Light cycle starts at 11am ramping for two hours to these settings then begins a two hour ramp down at 5pm. I then run 5% blues only for about an hour. Due to my LFS recommendations, I first placed it in high flow and high light close to the center and about 16" below the light in the beginning. She said it might lose vivid colors if I don't keep it in high light. It did well for about a month before the polyps started retracting near where there was some new growth starting to spread. Slowly over the next few weeks less and less polyps were showing in different places on the coral and the flesh was looking a little lighter. I decided to move it down in the tank to the midway point probably 24" below the light and about 6" off from the center where there is still some pretty decent flow. I thought it might be bleaching. Conditions haven't really improved in the past 2-3 weeks so I'm thinking it may not have been lighting/flow problem. Although, it may be worth noting that my orange monti cap has been showing slight signs of bleaching/fading on the older tissue only, the new growth is bright orange and polyps are still extended on the whole coral. I thought that was worth mentioning. All other corals (acropora, stylophora, duncan, goni, blastomussa, micromussa, nepthea, and euphyllia) seem unaffected by whatever this issue is.
Nutrients:
I don't have what I would consider high nutrients, so I'm thinking it might be that my nutrients are too low? I recently got some Reef Energy A & B and have recently started dosing a small amount under the recommended dosage to see if that might help. It has been about a week with daily doses and the only thing that has really changed is I get a slight haze of brown film algae on the glass quicker than I used to. My other corals, including my blue acropora, are growing faster, but no change to the rainbow monti. My nitrate and phosphate levels really haven't moved and have stayed pretty constant at my posted parameters. I doubt I'm really at a perfect zero phosphate since I slowly get that brown algae film on the glass.
Foundation Elements:
My Calcium has been solid between 420-440 for the last few months. My alk has moved around between 7.5-9.0 very slowly (no rapid swings) as I've figured out the best dosage for my Kalk in the ATO over the last 3 months. I occasionally will do very small doses of Red Sea Foundation A or B to make very slow corrections in my Calcium and Alk if needed, but it has been fairly solid at 8.4 for the last few weeks. My magnesium hasn't budged from 1500 in 3 months; rock solid. I do weekly 10-15% water changes with Coral Pro Salt.
I recently decided to put the Hydra in acclimation mode a reduce lighting by 30% and slowly ramp back up over the next 6 weeks. I'm still supplementing the reef energy just to be consistent and see if that can assist with getting the polyps to extend and color to return. Any ideas as to what might be the case for this downward spiral in my rainbow monti? It is definitely one of my dream corals to keep, but lately it just looks like a lavender yogurt drop with some itty bitty yellow/green dots where the polyps don't extend fully.
Thank you all for your time. I know there are plenty of people on here who can help troubleshoot this issue!
Best Regards
Recent Test Results:
Nitrate: 1.5ppm
Ammonia & Nitrite: 0ppm
Calcium: 430ppm
Alk: 8.4dkh
Magnesium: 1500
PH: 8.1
Phosphate: 0ppm (Salifert)
Problem:
So the encrusting Rainbow Monti frag I got in this tank has been my trouble child. I can't seem to find the right placement or do anything to get its polyps to extend fully. The flesh is still a nice lavender/purple color (not as dark as when I got it), but the polyps are pretty much retracted and it is looking sad.
Lighting:
I have a Hydra26HD running about 12" above the water line at 50% blues, 40% violet, 20% UV, 14% whites, and 7% green and red. Light cycle starts at 11am ramping for two hours to these settings then begins a two hour ramp down at 5pm. I then run 5% blues only for about an hour. Due to my LFS recommendations, I first placed it in high flow and high light close to the center and about 16" below the light in the beginning. She said it might lose vivid colors if I don't keep it in high light. It did well for about a month before the polyps started retracting near where there was some new growth starting to spread. Slowly over the next few weeks less and less polyps were showing in different places on the coral and the flesh was looking a little lighter. I decided to move it down in the tank to the midway point probably 24" below the light and about 6" off from the center where there is still some pretty decent flow. I thought it might be bleaching. Conditions haven't really improved in the past 2-3 weeks so I'm thinking it may not have been lighting/flow problem. Although, it may be worth noting that my orange monti cap has been showing slight signs of bleaching/fading on the older tissue only, the new growth is bright orange and polyps are still extended on the whole coral. I thought that was worth mentioning. All other corals (acropora, stylophora, duncan, goni, blastomussa, micromussa, nepthea, and euphyllia) seem unaffected by whatever this issue is.
Nutrients:
I don't have what I would consider high nutrients, so I'm thinking it might be that my nutrients are too low? I recently got some Reef Energy A & B and have recently started dosing a small amount under the recommended dosage to see if that might help. It has been about a week with daily doses and the only thing that has really changed is I get a slight haze of brown film algae on the glass quicker than I used to. My other corals, including my blue acropora, are growing faster, but no change to the rainbow monti. My nitrate and phosphate levels really haven't moved and have stayed pretty constant at my posted parameters. I doubt I'm really at a perfect zero phosphate since I slowly get that brown algae film on the glass.
Foundation Elements:
My Calcium has been solid between 420-440 for the last few months. My alk has moved around between 7.5-9.0 very slowly (no rapid swings) as I've figured out the best dosage for my Kalk in the ATO over the last 3 months. I occasionally will do very small doses of Red Sea Foundation A or B to make very slow corrections in my Calcium and Alk if needed, but it has been fairly solid at 8.4 for the last few weeks. My magnesium hasn't budged from 1500 in 3 months; rock solid. I do weekly 10-15% water changes with Coral Pro Salt.
I recently decided to put the Hydra in acclimation mode a reduce lighting by 30% and slowly ramp back up over the next 6 weeks. I'm still supplementing the reef energy just to be consistent and see if that can assist with getting the polyps to extend and color to return. Any ideas as to what might be the case for this downward spiral in my rainbow monti? It is definitely one of my dream corals to keep, but lately it just looks like a lavender yogurt drop with some itty bitty yellow/green dots where the polyps don't extend fully.
Thank you all for your time. I know there are plenty of people on here who can help troubleshoot this issue!
Best Regards
