Advice needed on a Montipora I purchased.

[DannoOMG]

Here are the latest I had. There are some others in my build thread. Monti is unstoppable. Has killed everything in it's path.

dang. What a bulldozer. It's so devastating yet striking at the same time. =P

I always thought Pulsing Xenia or Green Star Polyp were the worst offenders of taking over real estate. Shows what I know. (I'm still new to the hobby)

PS for those who told me the digitata in the shade was a bad move and now I understand why it got ticked off in the first place... I moved it this morning out of the shade. It isn't in good shape and for all I know isn't alive but we will see what happens.

I thought I lost a cyphastrea (I also was throwing reefroids at it) and now I see some green and orange specs coming back.

 

[olonmv]

Under incandescent lighting they look dull and colorless(brown). It looks ok to me. Keep an eye on it, no more direct feeding (I personally stopped feeding reef roids in my 13.5 because of p03 fluctuations that it caused me) and it should be fine. I keep mine mid to top of tank. Most importantly …….you hear it over n over…..stable parameters, hence the stop feeding of RR. Learn which process works for you for nutrient export THEN resume feeding reef roids. That’s my game plan. A lil over a year in and I’m getting the swing of my parameters. Good luck!

 

[DannoOMG]

Under incandescent lighting they look dull and colorless(brown). It looks ok to me. Keep an eye on it, no more direct feeding (I personally stopped feeding reef roids in my 13.5 because of p03 fluctuations that it caused me) and it should be fine. I keep mine mid to top of tank. Most importantly …….you hear it over n over…..stable parameters, hence the stop feeding of RR. Learn which process works for you for nutrient export THEN resume feeding reef roids. That’s my game plan. A lil over a year in and I’m getting the swing of my parameters. Good luck!

I have actually stopped feeding reef roids and might go to once a month using it rather than twice a week. I am worried it is feeding my GHA problem right now so I am only using phytoplankton and now that the fish is in the tank maybe his poo will feed them too.

=)

Thanks for all the help. I will bump the thread if I noticed any of the coral getting better.

*edit*

Does anybody know the science reason why some corals hate being spot fed reefroids? Or spot feeding in general?

 

[olonmv]

Reef roids raises phosphates which are feeding your GHA. You’re gonna have to reign in your parameters. Best way to do so is with time and goin back to basics. Get your parameters in order. Test often and learn your tank demands and then adjust from there. Then feed reef roids. I’m still not comfortable enough to try but I’m getting close. This is gonna take time. A Tuxedo urchin can take care of GHA.

Changing test kits may be to your advantage also. I test temp, SG , calcium, phosphate, nitrates, and alk with Hanna now. A digital readout and simplicity of test procedure makes life easier.

How old is your tank?

 

[Cheeze]

Here are the latest I had. There are some others in my build thread. Monti is unstoppable. Has killed everything in it's path.

Is there any way to propagate an encrusting monti like that? I ask because I recently added my first 2 monti frags to my tank, attaching their plugs to a smaller rock, but wondered how far they would grow over time. That pic is scary!! (And beautiful at the same time!)

 

[DannoOMG]

Reef roids raises phosphates which are feeding your GHA. You’re gonna have to reign in your parameters. Best way to do so is with time and goin back to basics. Get your parameters in order. Test often and learn your tank demands and then adjust from there. Then feed reef roids. I’m still not comfortable enough to try but I’m getting close. This is gonna take time. A Tuxedo urchin can take care of GHA.

Changing test kits may be to your advantage also. I test temp, SG , calcium, phosphate, nitrates, and alk with Hanna now. A digital readout and simplicity of test procedure makes life easier.

How old is your tank?

Just over a year old. I have an Urchin too.

The GHA was popping up before I started using reefroids. I think it might be preventing it from dying off. I have been taking rocks out and scrubbing it off. The rocks I do that too seem to have trouble growing it back. One rock in particular I am not comfortable taking out and scrubbing cause it has Zoas and stuff on it. Plus it is the snapping shrimps house. So I pick off what I can with my hands.

 

[boacvh]

Is there any way to propagate an encrusting monti like that? I ask because I recently added my first 2 monti frags to my tank, attaching their plugs to a smaller rock, but wondered how far they would grow over time. That pic is scary!! (And beautiful at the same time!)

Yes. I glue small plugs or rocks in it's path and then pull those rocks or plugs out when the monti encrusts them.
That's why I was suggesting instead of gluing to main rock, glue it to a smaller rock and glue that small rock to your main rock. Then you keep the option to remove that smaller rock later

 

[olonmv]

Just over a year old. I have an Urchin too.

The GHA was popping up before I started using reefroids. I think it might be preventing it from dying off. I have been taking rocks out and scrubbing it off. The rocks I do that too seem to have trouble growing it back. One rock in particular I am not comfortable taking out and scrubbing cause it has Zoas and stuff on it. Plus it is the snapping shrimps house. So I pick off what I can with my hands.

About the same age as mine. I got too comfortable and thought I could “eyeball it”. Parameters got away from me in a bad way. I’m a few months into stable alk mag n calcium with testing AND an auto doser with all for reef. Nitrates have been undetectable for a month and phosphates are under .1ppm. I dosed carbon for my first time since in the hobby on Sunday…….tested yesterday and nitrates are at 5.6 and phosphates are at .09. Dosed nothing except my usual AFR and aminos and feed schedule. I’ll test again today and see if theres a change. If it lowered then I’ll know my daily consumption and can dose for that. That’s what I did for my other parameters. I reeled myself back in.

I’m letting the urchin naturally take care of the little GHA I got from my experience. Did notice that when nutrients are low but detectable, GHA looses footing and is easier to remove.

 

[DannoOMG]

About the same age as mine. I got too comfortable and thought I could “eyeball it”. Parameters got away from me in a bad way. I’m a few months into stable alk mag n calcium with testing AND an auto doser with all for reef. Nitrates have been undetectable for a month and phosphates are under .1ppm. I dosed carbon for my first time since in the hobby on Sunday…….tested yesterday and nitrates are at 5.6 and phosphates are at .09. Dosed nothing except my usual AFR and aminos and feed schedule. I’ll test again today and see if theres a change. If it lowered then I’ll know my daily consumption and can dose for that. That’s what I did for my other parameters. I reeled myself back in.

I’m letting the urchin naturally take care of the little GHA I got from my experience. Did notice that when nutrients are low but detectable, GHA looses footing and is easier to remove.

My phosphates have been 0. Some spots it comes off easy. Other spots its very hard. It is forming on the glass too which is odd. I keep scraping it off hoping it will start dying down over time.

 

[DannoOMG]

Digitata is coming back since I stopped with the reefroids and took it out of the shade...

And this guy is on the warpath. Every day now I notice a little bit more growing.

 

[Borgan weekend reef]

Do not let it dominate your reef

 

[JoeinLA]

not to derail the thread, but why is target feeding reef roids to montipora a bad thing? Is this something specific to montipora?

 

[damsels are not mean]

Is spot feeding the Digitata worthless? I got phyto/reefroids etc...

*edit * I havent had a fish in the tank for a while now and feeding has commenced for the little guy. I'm hoping to keep my nitrates in the 2-5 range...

I've never seen any "coral foods" cause a feeding response in any sps corals, even with spot feeding.. Tbh the only time I see a clear feeding response from ALL corals even sps and zoas and leathers is when I let my glass get really dirty and run the magnet over it. I suspect live phyto dosing would have a similar effect.

 

[olonmv]

not to derail the thread, but why is target feeding reef roids to montipora a bad thing? Is this something specific to montipora?

Not sure if it’s a common thing but, in my experience I had a monti that was encrusting beautiful until the day I target fed reef roids. Now I have the skeleton of what use to be. Not sure if there was a correlation but I’ve read other stories of same outcomes.

 

[DannoOMG]

Not sure if it’s a common thing but, in my experience I had a monti that was encrusting beautiful until the day I target fed reef roids. Now I have the skeleton of what use to be. Not sure if there was a correlation but I’ve read other stories of same outcomes.

Disclaimer :

I am not an expert in any of this stuff. I am just theorizing what it could be.

Since they apparently are very good filter feeders, spot feeding them with reefroids is like force feeding a person high protein shakes. Eventually it doesn't workout for you and makes you sick.

I guess?