Green Montipora Capricornis Losing Colour!! Help!!!!!

[Eike]

Hi All,

I have a new beautiful green Monti, been in my tank for 2 weeks now and I have noticed its losing colour.my parameters are......

275 litre AquaOne Cube
Salt: 1.026
Alk: 8.9
Calc: 450
Mag: 1410
Phosphates: 0.03
Nitrates: 10ppm
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Lighting: Hydra 52
Skimmer: Bubble Magus G7
Running activated Carbon & Phosphate reactor.
Use Red Sea Reef Energy A&B dosed daily as recommended.
10% water change religously every week without fail.

I suspect it may be lack of trace elements?

Please help since I am at a complete loss!!

Thanks

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Lighting: Hydra 52

Sorry, that really odd.
how high above the tank is the light? and what percentage, or do you have a par meter?
If the controller has an acclimation mode(mine does on AI SOl) maybe try that?

 

[Eike]

Light is 12 inches above the water surface. No parameter but light percentages are as follows:

White 30%
Violet 45%
Red 5%
Green 10%
Blue 85%
Deep Blue 90%
UV 35%

I dont know the overall light intensity percentage.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yea that could be more light than it had befor you got it. As I recall that one is pretty powerful. Its is I believe what replaced the Sol's in the Ai line.

 

[Eike]

All my other corals are doing great.

 

[Reefltx]

It's possible, it needs more light. Looks pretty low in your tank.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

All my other corals are doing great.

yup have they been in as long as the new monti?
it could be simple acclimation to the new tank nutrints. esp if it came from a higher nutrient tank. That's why I wouldnt point at trace elements if the rest are doing well.

that one actually looks like it has new growth

 

[Eike]

The new growth was there when I bought it. Other corals have been in longer. Its not the first monti I have tried to keep that has done this. I have had 2 before this that all basically turned grey / white. Should I move it further up the tank?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It's possible, it needs more light. Looks pretty low in your tank.

The new growth was there when I bought it. Other corals have been in longer. Its not the first monti I have tried to keep that has done this. I have had 2 before this that all basically turned grey / white. Should I move it further up the tank?

usually bleaching means low nutrients or too high a light.
so it possible it color morphing under the new light, or the nutrints are lower, or the light is higher.
though call.

 

[jsker]

Not the lights, and you are correct on the trace elements? Alk could come down a tad. You could check your potassium.
What do you feed the tank and corals?
Here are my Hydra 26 Hd settings

 

[Eike]

I'm not sure what to do in that case lol

 

[Eike]

I feed Red Sea Reef Energy. Used to feed Reef Roids but stopped. I dont test for trace elements, but thinking I need to.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

hahaha. well if you wait, it may be ok just keep an eye on it, you can always pop it off and put it on the bottom.
the acclimation mode of a week wont affect the other corals long or short term.

 

[Eike]

I'm try setting lights to acclimation mode then, see what happens

 

[Brew12]

Monti Caps are strange little critters. I recently picked up 2 from my LFS, one green and one purple. They were side by side in their coral tank and were fragged from corals in the same DT. I took them both home, put them through the same dips and put them side by side in a frag rack. 2 weeks later the purple one was dead and the green one is doing great.

I only tell you this to show that some times these guys just aren't going to do well and that it may have more to do with the coral than your system or lighting.

 

[Reefltx]

Not the lights, and you are correct on the trace elements? Alk could come down a tad. You could check your potassium.

Agreed, I would definitely check Potassium levels. Only time my monti's did poorly was when I had K under 300. I have both the Green & red cap., they're pretty versatile in terms of lighting.

 

[jsker]

Agreed, I would definitely check Potassium levels. Only time my monti's did poorly was when I had K under 300. I have both the Green & red cap., they're pretty versatile in terms of lighting.

I have a red cap, and it is getting pretty big. I had a tank crash in October and almost killed red cap off completely, After 6 months you can not tell and the red cap is spreading faster the a Hollywood stunner. if you are a red sea fan, try dosing the colors, and feed, feed.

 

[Eike]

I think I will buy the Red Sea Colour program and test my trace elements to see if it helps. I always thought that since i do weekly 10% water changes the trace elements would be getting replenished through the salt mix? Light wise its in a very bright spot, probably the brightest in the tank even though its sitting quite low. Could it be light shock? I was going to run my lights on acclimation mode but I am concerned my BTA's will start moving.

 

[Stigigemla]

Maybe it can be low potassium. But test before you do anything. Salifert test is cheap and the best on the market.

 

[Eike]

Yeah I was thinking potassium but assumed with weekly 10% water changes the salt mix would have replenished it. Its turning grey in the centre, polyps seem to still be out. Was also considering changing salt to red sea coral pro. I dont know, I'm breaking my head trying to figure out the cause!