AbelR1975 Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 I got a Montipora frag on April 27. It seemed like it was doing ok. About a week ago, it started bleaching(I think). It seems to be going downhill and I have no idea why. My Alk was at about a 7.5 on May 5. I have been slowly raising it and I think I want to keep it at about a 9.3ish. I used soda ash to get the Alk up. I have now started dosing Kalk to try to maintain. Calcium, I'm trying to keep it at between 400 and 450. Magnesium, I'm trying to keep it at 1400-1450 Ph is: 7.8-8.23 Phosphates are 0 on a Hanna tester. Salinity is 1.025 My set up is about 75gal water volume. I'm running filter socks, a BRS dual reactor with GFO, Carbon, and Purigen, a Reef Octopus Classic 150 INT Skimmer, a Vortec MP40, and two Hydra 52's with the following settings: I can't post pics of it now, but I will later tonight. Everything else seems OK to me. Any ideas or suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Any nuisance algae about, or other corals appear retracted and losing color? Right out of the gate, coral wide bleaching (as in not stn/RTN, or obvious consumption/predation) and loss/paleing of color for me has been a result of one or all of the following: High alk (in combination with...) Low phosphates/nitrates Excess light. You raised your alk pretty gradually so I don't imagine that's the problem, though bringing it up over 9 along with undetectable phosphates could be causing bleaching. First thing I would do is reduce the Intensity of your photoperiod peak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Your phosphates are too low. Corals need phosphates to utilize nitrates for their symbiotic algae. Check the pictures in my posts on this thread: http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/32332-coloring-up/?hl=coloring and read my posts and links on this thread: http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/33834-phosphate-article/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbelR1975 Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 I do have some GHA that I've been trying to get rid of...with no luck. The rest of the coral seem to be doing ok and that toadstool is doing great. The lights are 8" AWL. The Monti is about 8" below the water. What should I change the lights to? I always thought that you were supposed to keep phosphates out. Apparently that is wrong? I assume that I should remove the GFO? What else should I do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbelR1975 Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 And for what its worth, I started dosing Red Sea Reef Energy A & B, 4ml each every night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 Everything look pretty good except the monti. I would say it's probably not liking the amount of light and reduce its light by physically moving the coral. Everything else appears happy so I wouldn't adjust your light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viet'spride70 Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 What light u running ? U test nitrate? Too much light along with your phosphate too low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbelR1975 Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 Vu, I just tested the nitrate. It is 15ppm. Phosphate 0.00. Calcium 460. Alk 9.74. Ph 8.11 right now. The lights are Hydra 52's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viet'spride70 Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Still got my number? Call me.cause that's my piece I want u to have it for a long time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbelR1975 Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 Ok. After talking to Vu, I am turning off my GFO and I put the Monti on the sand bed to get it out of the bright light. Will see how it goes. I'm also stopping the Reef Energy for the time being too. If yall have any other suggestions, I'm all ears. Thanks for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 The zero phosphate goal is a little old fashioned. We have too many ultra aggressive phosphate removal tools at our disposal now, it's easier to starve a tank to death than it is to have excess inorganic nutrients. It's not that you want zero phosphates. Most folks will just shoot for a range, often in the lower end. There are plenty of great tanks out there with high phosphates but their coral biomass is usually enormous and the corals are able to easily out compete algae for space and food. In a newer tank, less mature, and lots of empty rock space...more likely to run into algae if you let it get very high. As in whole number ppm high. The goal most of us shoot for is fairly arbitrary, and natural reefs have a wide range of phosphate amounts, but most folks seem to experience their favorite growth and color when it is in the 0.02-0.05 ppm range or so. Any reefer worth his salt will tell you a true zero phosphate reading is likely an inaccurate one first, but if it is that low, your corals will be dying along with the algae. Phosphate is inevitable though in just about any system. It's a main building block of DNA present in every single morsel of food we feed and waste that everything in the tank expels. If there's life, there will be phosphate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbelR1975 Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 Awesome answer. Thank you Bpb. I have my GFO off, so I'll monitor the phosphates and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 No problem! That's a great piece you got there if it was the one in Vietspride's tank. You look to be set up pretty well for success. Hope it pulls through! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbelR1975 Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 I hope it does too. Yes, its the one from Vietpride. I feel bad that its not doing good. I got this tank in June 2014. Since July 2014, I have had 0 Nitrates, so I don't test for nitrates very often at all anymore. When I tested last night, with API test, they were at about 15ppm. I'm not sure what has caused the increase. I also just ordered the Red Sea nitrate pro test because I just heard that the API test is notorious for giving high results. Two months ago, I added a sleeper banded goby so that it would clean diatoms and gunk off my sand bed, which is 2-4" deep. Do yall think that its possible that the goby ate too much of the beneficial stuff from the sand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 I suppose it's possible, but I havent heard of sleeper gobies crashing sandbeds of all life. Just sand sifting stars. I've also heard from a number of people that the only reason a sandbed would have a ton of good bacteria and pods in it, is if there is sufficient food for them to eat, and that if you reduce the food, you reduce their population, but at the same time...reduce the need for them to be present. I dont know about that. I generally like having as biodiverse of a tank as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Reefer Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 + 111 on what everyone said but from skimming thru the responses it looks like one thing was missed. "The type of light" This is usually an important factor with placing new corals into the aquarium. Specifically what kind of light did they come from and are going into. Frequently corals coming from a light source different from the new source IE MH to LED or LED to VHO and the different combinations possible, the symbiotic Zooxanthellae algae will expel from the coral so that the coral can pick up new Zooxanthellae algae from its current location better suited to handle the current lighting situation. This expulsion of algae is the bleaching affect in corals. One must look at the coral to determine if it is only bleaching and not damaged tissue. If the coral is otherwise healthy and has good polyp extension with no necrotic or loss of tissue then many times nothing should be done but wait for the coral to color up. I usually look to see on a Monti if it is showing the growth ring as their growth rate is so fast. That can be a good indication of overall health. Moving it down to the sand bed may not be a bad thing just maybe un needed. Anyway if it goes South on you then let me know as I am moving into a new tank in 2weeks and have a lot of Monti I'm sure will beak off as much has grown on the glass. I'd be happy to share a piece with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbelR1975 Posted May 20, 2015 Author Share Posted May 20, 2015 I got it from Vu, who I believe is also running LEDs. I don't believe that there has been much polyp extension. The first picture, when you click on it, is a pretty decent pic of the monti. To me, it looks like its in pretty bad shape, but I've never had one before. I appreciate the offer! I hope that I don't have to take you up on that though. I'd rather not lose this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viet'spride70 Posted May 21, 2015 Share Posted May 21, 2015 That goby is probably a cause to ur nitrate arises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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