Setosa question

[LarryD]

So a little while back I got a tyree Montipora setosa frag from SaschaD it has been in the tank for close to a month now, when I first got it it was dark red

However now it has changed to a pale pink

From the picture you can see that I am getting polyp extension (I have no idea if it is a decent amount for the species) the frag is at the top of my tank under an AI prime that is about a foot above the tank with the highest colour level set at 80%. My question is should I be concerned about how pale it is getting? This is the first sps I have ever had so I am going to look towards more experienced reefers to get an idea.

[victoly]

pale in SPS is typically an indication of too much light or too little nutrient (NO3/PO4). My guess is that at 80% with top of tank placement that it's getting too much light.

[FarmerTy]

pale in SPS is typically an indication of too much light or too little nutrient (NO3/PO4). My guess is that at 80% with top of tank placement that it's getting too much light.

+1

[LarryD]

I went ahead and cranked down the light by ten percent, we shall see how that helps. If that does not work I will move it lower in the tank.

How long would something like this take to start to recover?

[victoly]

i would move it lower before cranking down the light, assuming everything else is happy. i would guesstimate that recovery will take on the order of several weeks to a few months.

[LarryD]

The problem is I don't really have anywhere else to put it. I will try lower light first and if I see any reaction from the other corals I will change tact.

[ckyuv]

I would try testing your water and moving the coral before changing the lights. Never fun making the whole tank mad trying to make one coral happy

[LarryD]

Everything else is in the tank are more moderate light requirements, the only reason the lights were even on that high was because I knew sps liked higher light. The chances that there is a lack of nutrients are pretty good, there is only one fish in there and I have quite a bit of filtration from rock, sand, and macro.

[Sascha D.]

Hi Larry! The Tyree Montipora Setosa that you have is like any other Montipora. It likes moderate light and light nutrient levels. If I remember right, you're using LEDs and turning it down to your normal levels is a good idea. I keep mine about 17" from the light and it's diffused by about 12" of water. Pink to red is an acceptable color for that coral, but the color shouldn't look faded or washed out.

[LarryD]

Hi Larry! The Tyree Montipora Setosa that you have is like any other Montipora. It likes moderate light and light nutrient levels. If I remember right, you're using LEDs and turning it down to your normal levels is a good idea. I keep mine about 17" from the light and it's diffused by about 12" of water. Pink to red is an acceptable color for that coral, but the color shouldn't look faded or washed out.

Thanks Sascha, I will test my water after I run an errand and will get this guy growing. Other than the setosa everything else I got from you is doing great. The palys are always out unless the shrimp climbs onto them, the ricordea got in a fight with gravity the first day and was ripped but has since healed up and looks like it is getting a new mouth, the acan is plump with feeder tentacles out all night (every so often I feed it)

[LarryD]

So I just finished testing my water results are as follows

Salinity 1.025 (refractometer)

Mg 1440 (Red Sea magnesium pro)

pH 7.9 (api)

Phosphate . 25ppm (api)

Nitrate ~5ppm (api)

dKH 11 (api)

Calc 440 ppm (api)

I do not trust the API phosphate test because I always read .25 ppm even on ro water, however I have not had a reason to mistrust the others as of yet and I have no other tests to verify the results with.

[jestep]

Are you tracking temp? Bleaching is much easier at higher temperatures.

I would also lean towards too much light, but the fact it took a month could suggest it's a temp issue or combination of rising temp and high light.

I run AI SOL's on my 90 and I can't keep anything in the top 50% of the middle of the tank if the intensity is above about 40%. If you do want to keep a high intensity on this tank, place new SPS as low as possible and move them up over the course of a month or two and watch for signs of bleaching.

Also, if possible, have someone with a hanna or a good kit test your PO4, just to get an accurate measurement. API PO4 and NO3 are 2 tests that I wouldn't trust for a second. Their Alk and Ca are close enough that it's not a huge problem though.

[LarryD]

Are you tracking temp? Bleaching is much easier at higher temperatures.

I would also lean towards too much light, but the fact it took a month could suggest it's a temp issue or combination of rising temp and high light.

I run AI SOL's on my 90 and I can't keep anything in the top 50% of the middle of the tank if the intensity is above about 40%. If you do want to keep a high intensity on this tank, place new SPS as low as possible and move them up over the course of a month or two and watch for signs of bleaching.

Also, if possible, have someone with a hanna or a good kit test your PO4, just to get an accurate measurement. API PO4 and NO3 are 2 tests that I wouldn't trust for a second. Their Alk and Ca are close enough that it's not a huge problem though.

Temperature stay in the 77.3-77.8 range.

I had thought about trying to get some one to check the phosphates, if it were not for the fact that I am going to be out of town this weekend I would try and get someone to bring their checker to the informal meeting.

[victoly]

Your alk is also towards the high end, which is fine, you just have less wiggle room in the event that whatever dosing method you use (if you use one) decides to go ape.

[LarryD]

Your alk is also towards the high end, which is fine, you just have less wiggle room in the event that whatever dosing method you use (if you use one) decides to go ape.

There is no dosing system, just weekly water changes with Red Sea coral pro salt mix, I did a water change yesterday so that is why it is a little high.

[victoly]

Ah yeah, RSCP runs high , once you get your SPS going, it should bring down your alk pretty quickly.

[LarryD]

Only the one sps at this point.

[FarmerTy]

I'd honestly just use a regular salt brand and not one of the brands that has increased Ca and alk. Your needs aren't really high right now for them so using a regular salt will keep your levels more consistent... not to mention cheaper!

[Sascha D.]

Hi Larry! The Tyree Montipora Setosa that you have is like any other Montipora. It likes moderate light and light nutrient levels. If I remember right, you're using LEDs and turning it down to your normal levels is a good idea. I keep mine about 17" from the light and it's diffused by about 12" of water. Pink to red is an acceptable color for that coral, but the color shouldn't look faded or washed out.

Thanks Sascha, I will test my water after I run an errand and will get this guy growing. Other than the setosa everything else I got from you is doing great. The palys are always out unless the shrimp climbs onto them, the ricordea got in a fight with gravity the first day and was ripped but has since healed up and looks like it is getting a new mouth, the acan is plump with feeder tentacles out all night (every so often I feed it)

I'm glad that everything is doing great for you! Your parameters look fine to me. We'll see how the coral looks in about a week. I remember giving you that coral for free as an SPS tester and it will give you experience valuable if you want to keep other SPS corals.

A good way to gauge the light is to look at the zoas and palys. If they're stretching higher than normal than you don't have enough light reaching them. If they're leaning really far to one side then the coverage isn't sufficient. Browning out is another indication of insufficient lighting, but could also happen in elevated nutrient conditions.

You're right about the phosphate test. There is almost no reason to test for PO4 because the tests are unreliable at best. Any phosphate test will give us PO4 minus consumption and what we really need is PO4 production. A better way to gauge phosphate is to look at your corals and the algae growth rate in the aquarium. The water change schedule you have is a good one and you likely don't have any problems with phosphate.

[LarryD]

Hi Larry! The Tyree Montipora Setosa that you have is like any other Montipora. It likes moderate light and light nutrient levels. If I remember right, you're using LEDs and turning it down to your normal levels is a good idea. I keep mine about 17" from the light and it's diffused by about 12" of water. Pink to red is an acceptable color for that coral, but the color shouldn't look faded or washed out.

Thanks Sascha, I will test my water after I run an errand and will get this guy growing. Other than the setosa everything else I got from you is doing great. The palys are always out unless the shrimp climbs onto them, the ricordea got in a fight with gravity the first day and was ripped but has since healed up and looks like it is getting a new mouth, the acan is plump with feeder tentacles out all night (every so often I feed it)

I'm glad that everything is doing great for you! Your parameters look fine to me. We'll see how the coral looks in about a week. I remember giving you that coral for free as an SPS tester and it will give you experience valuable if you want to keep other SPS corals.

A good way to gauge the light is to look at the zoas and palys. If they're stretching higher than normal than you don't have enough light reaching them. If they're leaning really far to one side then the coverage isn't sufficient. Browning out is another indication of insufficient lighting, but could also happen in elevated nutrient conditions.

You're right about the phosphate test. There is almost no reason to test for PO4 because the tests are unreliable at best. Any phosphate test will give us PO4 minus consumption and what we really need is PO4 production. A better way to gauge phosphate is to look at your corals and the algae growth rate in the aquarium. The water change schedule you have is a good one and you likely don't have any problems with phosphate.

Yes this is the free setosa you gave me. The zoas and palys are doing what they always do, look lovely and bask in the light.

[nvrEnuf]

I don't keep up with names as well as I should, so, I'm not sure if what I have is setosa or not.

I do know I have a red monti and he broke in "half" on two rocks when I moved from 46 to 90 gallons. After new rocks were added in and 'scaping was done I ended unp with one "half" far right 6-8 inches off the sand bed(30-36 inches from light), and one 3/4 up center right (12 inches from surface water and 24 inches from light).

The lower half now has typical plate like growth of a monti and is deep red; the higher piece shows far more "stems" while the plate growth is less agressive and more bleached out down to a light red almost pink.

I also have a couple forest fire dig that have reached thier max intensity as I have been trying to find my tanks' prefered setting. I do think when I raised the light off the surface of the water (from 8" to 12") I got a better gradient of intensity in the tank. I only think this because the lower monti and a nearby chalice colored up after the lift despite a slightly more intense setting on the light. I'm not sure if I made sense of that!

[LarryD]

I got the lights turned down and all of the zoas and palys are out and happy. We shall see how the setosa reacts.

[LarryD]

My devil's hand (also from Sascha) seems to be much happier with the lower light levels, it is fuzzier than it has been before.

[Timfish]

So I just finished testing my water results are as follows

Salinity 1.025 (refractometer)

Mg 1440 (Red Sea magnesium pro)

pH 7.9 (api)

Phosphate . 25ppm (api)

Nitrate ~5ppm (api)

dKH 11 (api)

Calc 440 ppm (api)

I do not trust the API phosphate test because I always read .25 ppm even on ro water, however I have not had a reason to mistrust the others as of yet and I have no other tests to verify the results with.

Are you using a DI final stage on your RO? Phosphates in the tap water will usually be in the .2 mg/l range and it will make it through the RO membrane but DI resin will remove it. When comparing API's phosphate to Elos low range phosphate I've always found them to be pretty close. You should always guestion the accuracy of test kits though. I regularly get new kits and compare them or borrow a test kit or take a sample to a pet shop to reduce the chances of getting faulty readings.

[LarryD]

So I just finished testing my water results are as follows

Salinity 1.025 (refractometer)

Mg 1440 (Red Sea magnesium pro)

pH 7.9 (api)

Phosphate . 25ppm (api)

Nitrate ~5ppm (api)

dKH 11 (api)

Calc 440 ppm (api)

I do not trust the API phosphate test because I always read .25 ppm even on ro water, however I have not had a reason to mistrust the others as of yet and I have no other tests to verify the results with.

Are you using a DI final stage on your RO? Phosphates in the tap water will usually be in the .2 mg/l range and it will make it through the RO membrane but DI resin will remove it. When comparing API's phosphate to Elos low range phosphate I've always found them to be pretty close. You should always guestion the accuracy of test kits though. I regularly get new kits and compare them or borrow a test kit or take a sample to a pet shop to reduce the chances of getting faulty readings.

I actually just ordered a brs dual di set up to add to my ro system.