Red Monti Cap - bleaching or growing?

[Eclyps19]

I’ve had this red monti cap for about 4 months. It’s been growing great and is encrusting over the rock at the base, so I’m pretty sure it’s happy. The center of the cap has just, really lost its color. This has happened so gradually over the past 4 months that I was never concerned about it. I’m actually still not too concerned about it because it’s clearly growing a lot. I’m wondering if this is very slow bleaching, or maybe signs of vertical growth? There are definitely plenty of polyps toward the center, just not nearly as many as on the newly grown edges.

Alk: 8.8
Calc: 410
Mag: 1350
Nitrates: 5
Phosphates: 0.05

The photos don’t do it justice, it’s incredibly difficult to capture the colors. There are a phew different filters on to try to show the difference. The paleness is wherever it looks kinda... fuzzy...

 

[JPergamo]

Red monti cap is a great indicator of potassium in the system I've noticed over time. May be worth just giving K a test and seeing where you are at it actually can deplete pretty quickly and should be considered a parameter not a trace in my opinion. On the flip side It may just be new growth or adaptation! Happy reefing

 

[kireek]

That doesn't look good to me.I think if it was new growth the lighter coloration would be concentrated towards the edges.

 

[Backreefing]

White light gives clearer pics . A red monti should be started low and work it up over a couple weeks.

 

[KrisReef]

I think it looks fine, but it is interesting how different it can look with the different light spectrums you used in your pictures.

Do you have any pics of the growth over the last 4 months? It may just be still trying to adapt itself to your system as it grows, from what I see? The lighter areas appear like they may be where more active growth is laying down calcium.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Mine would pale when my P04 got low. Like near undetectable. Dosed Seachem's flourish phosphorus per instructions. Couple weeks it recovered.

In your case, it could be light intensity related. Could try lowering your intensity for awhile.

 

[Eclyps19]

Thanks for all the replies. Here’s a photo from back in March when I first added it. The shape is a bit different because the left side was damaged, so I broke it off and attached it elsewhere in the tank. You can see a ton of growth around the rock (which looks awful in white light, btw!).


The only reason why I was thinking it could possibly be new growth is because it started developing some serious peaks after the first month or two. I do agree that it looks a bit different than the new growth at the edges, though.

Potassium is one of the few things that I don’t have a test kit for, so I’ll pick one up to see if that could be a contributing factor.

As for acclimation, it spent about 2 weeks at the bottom of the tank in early March and then moved to where it is now. If it were due to acclimation, I would assume that 4 months would have been enough time to acclimate.

Here are a few more white light photos that are indeed a bit closer to what it actually looks like.

 

[KrisReef]

Someone mentioned potassium, and they were correct that is the element for improving red coloration. I don't test for it either, but I probably should also.

I don't think your coral is in any danger, but it might get richer coloration with potassium (or other trace elements?)

How often do you perform water changes? If you are doing regular water changes that would hopefully keep up with minor elements, but only testing of your water can confirm or rule out that possibility.

I run 14K mh, without any blue leds or t5 and I think your coral looks fine in white. Fantastic in blue. Gl

 

[Style185]

Is it the only sps in the tank? I've noticed the more I feed (mostly fish but sum reef roids 2-3times a week) things look better.... I do weekly water changes and I plan on 2 times a week with my 120 but I've gots lots of time on my hands but it does replentish trace imo better than dosing call me crazy lol your cap looks fine ime it's a faster growing coral like digis n stylos don't over think it bro keep on reefing n you'll know when something is really unhappy!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I don’t see any fish? What’s your bio load? What are your export methods?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Is that an ai prime?

 

[Eclyps19]

Only SPS, mostly LPS and a toadstool right now. I lost an acro about a month ago, likely from an alk swing.

Doing 15% WC every 2 weeks, very minor dosing of calc/alk as needed.

Yes, it’s an AI Prime x2.

Bioload is simply 2x clowns and a carpenter’s wrasse. And a sweet flower anemone.

I’m feeling less concerned after all of these replies - I’ll keep an eye on it, but as long as it continues to grow I think it’ll be okay. Thank you all for the great replies!