Why does montipora bleach on me?

[Blackhawk Fan]

I haven't tried any in my new tank, but in my BB cube I had montipora of any species would bleach out and die in three to four days. I put it high, low, shaded areas, low flow, high flow... I tried it everywhere but got the same results. It's not a pest problem as I made sure they were clean and usually waited a month or two before trying another piece. I keep my Ca at 435 and my alk at 7dkh and mag is usually around 1350. Any ideas?

I want to try another piece but want some thoughts first.

 

[JR's Reef]

How stable does your ALK say? I have alot of problems with montis is I have a big swing. Everything else does okay except for montis. Its is one of my tell tell signs my alk is off.

 

[xmjxflipx]

hmm....my sunset monti likes high lights......but your dkh is really on the low side i want my alkalinity at.......i know its natural seawater level but i try to keep mine 9-10 dkh to allow some small fluctuations cause i dose and dont have a calcium reactor............

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

My alk stays very stable. At the time I had monti problems I was running a calcium reactor, but now i'm dosing a two part.

I've always kept the alk this low, maybe I should bump it up to 9?

 

[subielover]

I would try bumping it up a tad. I generally keep mine at about 9-10dkh.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I will do that and try a piece of cap. Luckily I have great friends that give me pieces of cap for free.

 

[ashton]

I've always had better luck with my montis as well keeping my alk around 9-10 dkh.

 

[myzislow]

Just to echo what others have already said, I would try to bump your ALK up a bit, shoot for around 8.5 to 9. Keeping it a bit higher will allow a bit more room for error, and will help keep your Ca and Mg more stable as well.

How often are you dosing and how much of each 2 part do u dose each time? The reason I ask is because in my tank(obv a lot smaller than yours) my consumption rate got so high that I had to split my dosing up into 4 smaller doses instead of the previous split dosing, 12 hours apart. My Alk evels would fluctuate almost a whole point in between the 12 hour period between doses. Now that I've spaced them out more, in smaller doses each time, my levels are consistently more stable and the corals have defnitely responded for the better.

Try testing your tank before you dose your 2 part, then wait like 5 -10 minutes after you dose and test again. See what kind of jump, if any, you are getting.

What salt do you use? Montipora are sensitive to Potassium levels. Your salt may be low in potassium. My buddy doses potassium when his montis begin to pale on him and they bounce right back super fast.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I have potassium, but haven't used any as I need a test kit for it. I use RC salt. Right now I'm not dosing very much at all, three capfulls of each Brightwells two part is keeping things stable along with a 40g water change every sunday morning. My tank is using very little Ca and Alk. I think when the coralline starts to take off this will change.

I will test as you suggest and see what the results are.