Is this monti dead?

[tidefanjam]

This is the first monti I’ve put in my tank, it was green when I put it in the tank, but I’m afraid it was t getting enough light where I had it in the first pic for the last few months, and it turned faded red, I moved it out into the light more now and can really see the red color more, is it dead? Or would it be more white if it was shot?

 

[tidefanjam]

its not quite as dark red as it looks in the pic, more faded light red

 

[Crabs McJones]

How old is the tank and what are your parameters? What lighting is it under and are you using ro/di water? I ask because there is quite a bit of algae going on there.

 

[tidefanjam]

How old is the tank and what are your parameters? What lighting is it under and are you using ro/di water? I ask because there is quite a bit of algae going on there.

tank is 10 moths old, i do use rodi,
nitrates 6
phosphate .04
calcium 380, i dosed some calcium last night after testing, so should be around 400 now
alk 8
sg 1.025
ph 7.9
temp 78
i have been fighting gha the last few weeks...
i have the 32" sbreef light over my 65 gallon display, its 24" deep and i have the monti about 12" under water with the light about 10" over the tank, whites at 25%,blues 70%, right now I'm running the blues 9 hours and whites 5 hours

 

[tidefanjam]

Full tank
Edited with clearer pic

 

[tidefanjam]

crappy phone pic...i was using the auto feeder for several months and think i was prob overfeeding, now i feed them by hand frozen 3 days a week and flakes 2 days

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Funny looks like a purple cap to me from the pic. Something is off with your water first off. Thus the bad hair algae issue. I dont think its from over feeding if you no3 and po4 testing is accurate. Another possibility is if you started with dry rock and not good live rock your system may be algae driven and not bacterial driven. In other words algae is the systems main form of nutrient export not bacteria. Dry rock is void of life and all rhe good bacteria that is needed to support a healthy reef. It can take a long time, 1-2 years for the system to become stable with a large and diverse enough bactieral population to support sps. The "uglies" tend to last longer with dry rock as well. Doing a long cook, cure and cycle of the rock in a dark covered container for several months imo is the best way to prep dry rock for use. I would even add a piece a live rock and dose multiple types of bacteria to the rock as it cures.

 

[tidefanjam]

I h

Funny looks like a purple cap to me from the pic. Something is off with your water first off. Thus the bad hair algae issue. I dont think its from over feeding if you no3 and po4 testing is accurate. Another possibility is if you started with dry rock and not good live rock your system may be algae driven and not bacterial driven. In other words algae is the systems main form of nutrient export not bacteria. Dry rock is void of life and all rhe good bacteria that is needed to support a healthy reef. It can take a long time, 1-2 years for the system to become stable with a large and diverse enough bactieral population to support sps. The "uglies" tend to last longer with dry rock as well. Doing a long cook, cure and cycle of the rock in a dark covered container for several months imo is the best way to prep dry rock for use. I would even add a piece a live rock and dose multiple types of bacteria to the rock as it cures.

I have regretted not using live rock , I believe my test results are correct, I have the Red Sea nitrate and phosphates kit and have re tested several times with the same results, my GHA is actually much better than it was a few weeks ago, and phosphates are down from .08 to .04, and I actually dosed nitrates, they were 0, I have a block of marinepure in my sump that sucks up nitrates, along with the algae. Would it be a bad idea to add some live rock now? Swap out a piece or two of my existing rock?

 

[tidefanjam]

I h

Funny looks like a purple cap to me from the pic. Something is off with your water first off. Thus the bad hair algae issue. I dont think its from over feeding if you no3 and po4 testing is accurate. Another possibility is if you started with dry rock and not good live rock your system may be algae driven and not bacterial driven. In other words algae is the systems main form of nutrient export not bacteria. Dry rock is void of life and all rhe good bacteria that is needed to support a healthy reef. It can take a long time, 1-2 years for the system to become stable with a large and diverse enough bactieral population to support sps. The "uglies" tend to last longer with dry rock as well. Doing a long cook, cure and cycle of the rock in a dark covered container for several months imo is the best way to prep dry rock for use. I would even add a piece a live rock and dose multiple types of bacteria to the rock as it cures.

I have regretted not using live rock , I believe my test results are correct, I have the Red Sea nitrate and phosphates kit and have re tested several times with the same results, my GHA is actually much better than it was a few weeks ago, and phosphates are down from .08 to .04, and I actually dosed nitrates, they were 0, I have a block of marinepure in my sump that sucks up nitrates, along with the algae. Would it be a bad idea to add some live rock now? Swap out a piece or two of my existing rock?

 

[tidefanjam]

No idea why that posted 3 times

 

[Mattrg02]

Funny looks like a purple cap to me from the pic. Something is off with your water first off. Thus the bad hair algae issue. I dont think its from over feeding if you no3 and po4 testing is accurate. Another possibility is if you started with dry rock and not good live rock your system may be algae driven and not bacterial driven. In other words algae is the systems main form of nutrient export not bacteria. Dry rock is void of life and all rhe good bacteria that is needed to support a healthy reef. It can take a long time, 1-2 years for the system to become stable with a large and diverse enough bactieral population to support sps. The "uglies" tend to last longer with dry rock as well. Doing a long cook, cure and cycle of the rock in a dark covered container for several months imo is the best way to prep dry rock for use. I would even add a piece a live rock and dose multiple types of bacteria to the rock as it cures.

How does algea process ammonia and nitrites?

 

[jda]

Processing ammonia and nitrites is only the first, most obvious and well-known step in the N cycle - it is also the easiest. The more important step is converting NO3 into N gas or otherwise getting the nitrogen out of the tank. I think that was he is saying relates to the last part, not the first.

Algae exporting these is not all bad, since they can export some P as well. However, most super healthy tanks do have a nice population of anoxic bacteria to handle most excess N just leaving a trace behind to both drive the equilibrium and also to be absorbed as building blocks by growing creatures.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Processing ammonia and nitrites is only the first, most obvious and well-known step in the N cycle - it is also the easiest. The more important step is converting NO3 into N gas or otherwise getting the nitrogen out of the tank. I think that was he is saying relates to the last part, not the first.

Algae exporting these is not all bad, since they can export some P as well. However, most super healthy tanks do have a nice population of anoxic bacteria to handle most excess N just leaving a trace behind to both drive the equilibrium and also to be absorbed as building blocks by growing creatures.

Exactly. See in my post "bacterial diversity". The bacteria that converts ammonia is what comes in the bottles of quick cycle and bacteria suppliment, grows much faster and shows up sooner than denitratifying bacteria. Live rock normally has this diverse bacterial population. If there is not a fast growing bacteria to consume nutrients or daily manual removal ie large water changes then algae will fill the roll that you want bacteria to take care of. In some cases manual removal or the algea, grazers and time are the only fix.