Monti bleaching

[Bleigh]

I gave them a cap full of reef roids a bit ago. About to start all these tests.

 

[Ebslinger]

I would comment on something @Dana Riddle said, and that was the orientation of the coral. I've never seen someone grow their monti that way... Not saying it can't be done. Just might lower the odds of success.

 

[TexasTodd]

I would test and also take a sample to your LFS to test parameters. You may have bad kits etc.
You NEED a TDS meter with an RO/DI, otherwise you can't tell when it stops working, or, if it's working properly. Seems like issues started about the time you purchased the RO/DI unit...
If your N and P are high, I wouldn't add roids, aminos, etc.
Agree with Dana on placement. Can you borrow a PAR meter?
I was thinking something could have stung it, until I saw where it's placed.
How long are you letting your water mix before doing a water change?

 

[Bleigh]

I would test and also take a sample to your LFS to test parameters. You may have bad kits etc.
You NEED a TDS meter with an RO/DI, otherwise you can't tell when it stops working, or, if it's working properly. Seems like issues started about the time you purchased the RO/DI unit...
If your N and P are high, I wouldn't add roids, aminos, etc.
Agree with Dana on placement. Can you borrow a PAR meter?
I was thinking something could have stung it, until I saw where it's placed.
How long are you letting your water mix before doing a water change?

I have no problem moving it. But the Christmas tree Monti doesn’t look great either. That’s super recent that it started look not so great. It’s in a normal orientation. I tried to glue the red one so it stuck out from the wall, but I couldn’t get it to stay. I got frustrated and tried gluing it that way thinking it just wasn’t going to stick to the glue, then to my surprise, it did stay.

Nitrate: 25 ppm
Phosphate: .14 ppm (that’s the highest it’s even been, by about double. That surprised me.)
Calcium: 410ppm
Kh: 6
Magnesium: 1300 ppm
Ph: 8.1-8.2
Salinity: 1.025

So a few things are out of wack. I’d think the phosphates would be coming down not going up. I put in a new Chemi pure elite bag today too.

I could def check out a par meter. I’m letting the water mix for about 2 hours, like the bucket says, but there might be better ways to do it.

Btw, @danariddle, I was able to listen to you talk about lighting and par at the Atlanta reef convention! I took several pictures of your slides. I learned a lot!

 

[Hemmdog]

I have no problem moving it. But the Christmas tree Monti doesn’t look great either. That’s super recent that it started look not so great. It’s in a normal orientation. I tried to glue the red one so it stuck out from the wall, but I couldn’t get it to stay. I got frustrated and tried gluing it that way thinking it just wasn’t going to stick to the glue, then to my surprise, it did stay.

Nitrate: 25 ppm
Phosphate: .14 ppm (that’s the highest it’s even been, by about double. That surprised me.)
Calcium: 410ppm
Kh: 6
Magnesium: 1300 ppm
Ph: 8.1-8.2
Salinity: 1.025

So a few things are out of wack. I’d think the phosphates would be coming down not going up. I put in a new Chemi pure elite bag today too.

I could def check out a par meter. I’m letting the water mix for about 2 hours, like the bucket says, but there might be better ways to do it.

Btw, @danariddle, I was able to listen to you talk about lighting and par at the Atlanta reef convention! I took several pictures of your slides. I learned a lot!

So alk mainly then phosphate. Prob shouldn’t have used the reef roids lol but it’s ok.

 

[TexasTodd]

Get a TDS meter, they're inexpensive.

 

[Ebslinger]

I have to agree with @Hemmdog , you might want to raise you KH and Mag a little, but neither one one seems to be catastrophic.

Perhaps invest in an inline tds meter such as: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/dual-inline-tds-meter-dm-1-hm-digital.html
Not trying to be a shill for a company though.

Lastly, this might be an unpopular opinion but some corals just don't acclimate well to a new tank and die. Often without a clear reason why. I think this is why we all buy frags of a coral and not a whole colony. Even if our small piece doesn't adjust and thrive, the colony will live on.

 

[Bleigh]

So alk mainly then phosphate. Prob shouldn’t have used the reef roids lol but it’s ok.

Guess not. the more you know.

 

[Bleigh]

Get a TDS meter, they're inexpensive.

Will do.

 

[Bleigh]

I have to agree with @Hemmdog , you might want to raise you KH and Mag a little, but neither one one seems to be catastrophic.

Perhaps invest in an inline tds meter such as: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/dual-inline-tds-meter-dm-1-hm-digital.html
Not trying to be a shill for a company though.

Lastly, this might be an unpopular opinion but some corals just don't acclimate well to a new tank and die. Often without a clear reason why. I think this is why we all buy frags of a coral and not a whole colony. Even if our small piece doesn't adjust and thrive, the colony will live on.

Agreed. Unfortunately, they can’t tell us what is wrong, we can only guess based on symptoms.

I do have some kh bugger that I’ll add. Is 1400 not a good number for mg tone at? I thought that was a great number. But maybe not good enough for monti’s?

 

[Bleigh]

So alk mainly then phosphate. Prob shouldn’t have used the reef roids lol but it’s ok.

So I know what to do for the kh. I have a buffer for that that I can start using again. But how do you lower phosphate???

 

[Hemmdog]

Agreed. Unfortunately, they can’t tell us what is wrong, we can only guess based on symptoms.

I do have some kh bugger that I’ll add. Is 1400 not a good number for mg tone at? I thought that was a great number. But maybe not good enough for monti’s?

1280 minimum 1500 max on mag ime. Mines usually 1380. Alk I would bump up to at least 7.5, I like mine a little higher at 8.6. Do you have some 2 part you could dose alk up with or how have you been dosing that ?

 

[Hemmdog]

So I know what to do for the kh. I have a buffer for that that I can start using again. But how do you lower phosphate???

How many gallons is that chemipure elite bag you got rated for. That’s my go to. It will gradually drop you from .1-0.02 in about 2 weeks ime if appropriately sized.

 

[Bleigh]

How many gallons is that chemipure elite bag you got rated for. That’s my go to. It will gradually drop you from .1-0.02 in about 2 weeks ime if appropriately sized.

It’s for 25 gallons. I’d guess there’s about 20 gallons of actual water in the tank.

This is what I got for kh increase. Is there a better option? The instructions say it raises kh when ph is already at 8.3.

 

[Ike]

Unless your LFS said it was Red Sea to increase price per gallon, when it was really IO.. I wouldn’t put it past them!

It would be one of the more beneficial scams in the industry

 

[Hemmdog]

It’s for 25 gallons. I’d guess there’s about 20 gallons of actual water in the tank.

This is what I got for kh increase. Is there a better option? The instructions say it raises kh when ph is already at 8.3.

Your reef has been living off that stuff ?! What ! Lol. Impressive, but grab this stuff, It’s 2 part, one for alk one for cal(there’s some mag in the cal), super easy to use.

ESV B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System

Each ESV B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System has two components - Alkalinity and Calcium. When used in equal parts, easily maintain calcium and alkalinity levels with no mixing of powders, disruption of ionic balace or addition of organic chemicals. Formulated to provide all the proper ratios to...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Bleigh]

Your reef has been living off that stuff ?! What ! Lol. Impressive, but grab this stuff, It’s 2 part, one for alk one for cal(there’s some mag in the cal), super easy to use.

ESV B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System

Each ESV B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System has two components - Alkalinity and Calcium. When used in equal parts, easily maintain calcium and alkalinity levels with no mixing of powders, disruption of ionic balace or addition of organic chemicals. Formulated to provide all the proper ratios to...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Lol. Glad I asked if there’s better stuff.

 

[Hemmdog]

It’s for 25 gallons. I’d guess there’s about 20 gallons of actual water in the tank.

This is what I got for kh increase. Is there a better option? The instructions say it raises kh when ph is already at 8.3.

Do you have a media rack in your biocube? Or where is the chemipure bag.

 

[Ike]

It’s for 25 gallons. I’d guess there’s about 20 gallons of actual water in the tank.

This is what I got for kh increase. Is there a better option? The instructions say it raises kh when ph is already at 8.3.

Yes, straight sodium carbonate or bicarbonate from BRS or anywhere else... That's either really expensive sodium bicarbonate, or sodium bicarbonate with boron, which is not a good thing.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Lol well I didn’t have any issues until I started using my own mixed water. I’m worried that I need to get a better ro/di station, even though other reefers (some even on r2r) who live in the area said that the 3 stage would be good for city water.... it may even be a 4 stage. I can’t remember. I know I was looking at higher filtration levels and got the advice from multiple places that it would be over kill.

(The lfs I prefer buying from actually has 401k plans for their employees. It is a grade A. Though, no one can surpass the knowledge found here on r2r.)

As suspected - change in water. Add carbon to sump. Should help a little