Monti bleaching

[Bleigh]

How long has the monti been in the tank?

I think i put it in at the end of March. So a few months. I thought it had some new growth on it before it started looking bad. I don’t actually know what new growth looks like on a monti though. It may have been a bad sign that I just didn’t recognize as such. I have it circled below. It was much redder at one point.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks! Def slower and gradual is better. I am flummoxed about the alk now. If my water is mixing that around 11-12, it has got to be shocking to have that sudden increase in alk with the water changes - even if it’s just for a few seconds until the new water mixes with the old water. I could add new water more gradually to reduce that. Secondly, I can’t believe how quickly the alk has to be getting sucked up to have not increased anymore since I started doing more frequent water changes to get the nitrates down. Is it a Kalkwasser that people use for alkalinity or something else? I’ll start researching that today. If nothing else, I’ll def need one for the bigger tank if it’s an issue for the smaller one.

I use kalk to alter alkalinity and PH and it works well. Another question is the accuracy of test kit results. I always suggest a second opinion/reading with a water sample taken to a trusted LFS for comparison results

 

[Bleigh]

I use kalk to alter alkalinity and PH and it works well. Another question is the accuracy of test kit results. I always suggest a second opinion/reading with a water sample taken to a trusted LFS for comparison results

My lfs store has tested in the past and I was pretty spot on. Can tests go bad if they were good initially?

At this point, I think there’s 2 things I can do: 1) add water more slowly so that the alk mixes without having any large water pockets with nearly twice the tank water alkalinity. 2) get an alk doser of some sort to keep the alk stable and then allow it to gradually start increasing so all corals can acclimate.

 

[xiholdtruex]

I think i put it in at the end of March. So a few months. I thought it had some new growth on it before it started looking bad. I don’t actually know what new growth looks like on a monti though. It may have been a bad sign that I just didn’t recognize as such. I have it circled below. It was much redder at one point.

I would not take it out. My monti bleached after a swing and is not coming back, I also had a favia do the something and comeback. I would just do what you have been doing. Too big of a wc or too many can mess with the tanks chemistry more than help. Just feed everything like normal and keep a eye on it. I would test the water every 24 - 48 hours to make sure is stable but would not make any crazy change other than the normal routine and make sure it stays steady and consistent

 

[ScottB]

Lol. Yeah. That would be a headache. How big is your tank?

And yes, this is just my first upgrade. I just moved my office out of the front room so that I can put a several hundred gallon tank on there. I wanted to have some experience with something other than the aio biocube before I do that though. Figure out what things I do and don’t like before I make an ever larger more major investment and regret the choices I’ve made.

My display tank is a Red Sea with 139 gallons. Chock full of acros & millis mostly, stylo and cap montis filling the rest. In fact some of that monti got me & my son started in a 16G biocube nine years ago!

My frag system is 150 gallons, but at this point consumes a small fraction of the ALK & Ca that is dosed every day. It is still pretty new though.

 

[Dana Riddle]

I'll throw this into the mix. Metals can affect coloration - this example is of a Discosoma (DsRed) fluorescent protein. Bear in mind, there are a least 4 types of colorful proteins, so this is not applicable to all. In this case, magnesium had no effect.

 

[Bleigh]

My display tank is a Red Sea with 139 gallons. Chock full of acros & millis mostly, stylo and cap montis filling the rest. In fact some of that monti got me & my son started in a 16G biocube nine years ago!

My frag system is 150 gallons, but at this point consumes a small fraction of the ALK & Ca that is dosed every day. It is still pretty new though.

Lol. So mytank should not be taking up nearly as much all as yours is. I need to make a new batch of water today. I have the rodi water already made. I’ll check the alk before I add the salt and after it’s mixed. Is it possible to have a bad batch of salt?

 

[Bleigh]

I would not take it out. My monti bleached after a swing and is not coming back, I also had a favia do the something and comeback. I would just do what you have been doing. Too big of a wc or too many can mess with the tanks chemistry more than help. Just feed everything like normal and keep a eye on it. I would test the water every 24 - 48 hours to make sure is stable but would not make any crazy change other than the normal routine and make sure it stays steady and consistent

Yeah. I may need to back off the water changes. It was well over 50 ppm before I started the super frequent water changes. I’ve got it cut back more than half.

It’s a good thing I enjoy this stuff. I could see how this could become frustrating for someone who doesn’t see it as a fun puzzle to be solved

 

[Bleigh]

I'll throw this into the mix. Metals can affect coloration - this example is of a Discosoma (DsRed) fluorescent protein. Bear in mind, there are a least 4 types of colorful proteins, so this is not applicable to all. In this case, magnesium had no effect.

I love this research! I see what you doand wonder how I never went that direction. I tried to get in a lab that was looking at cichlids evaluation in undergrad, but so was everyone else. I ended up working in a plant tissue culture lab with another professor. I still enjoyed that. But I think my career path would have been different had I been in the first professor’s lab.

 

[sixty_reefer]

I don’t even have a test for potassium. Is that a thing people test for?

Is only one of the main reasons you get the montipora plates to lose colour, a test kit is quite inexpensive to get to, I only test it every so often as I know how much it gets used in my reef.

 

[Tdawg]

Lol. Yeah. That would be a headache. How big is your tank?

And yes, this is just my first upgrade. I just moved my office out of the front room so that I can put a several hundred gallon tank on there. I wanted to have some experience with something other than the aio biocube before I do that though. Figure out what things I do and don’t like before I make an ever larger more major investment and regret the choices I’ve made.

Bigger tank is easier to manage

 

[Bleigh]

Is only one of the main reasons you get the montipora plates to lose colour, a test kit is quite inexpensive to get to, I only test it every so often as I know how much it gets used in my reef.

Definitely wouldn’t hurt to know where mine is. I normally use Red Sea for my tests. Is that good for testing potassium too?

 

[Dana Riddle]

Definitely wouldn’t hurt to know where mine is. I normally use Red Sea for my tests. Is that good for testing potassium too?

That's the only 'hobby grade' test I use (the rest are EPA-approved Hach reagents and a colorimeter/digital titrator.) The Red Sea K test takes about 30 minutes to perform since filtration is involved. Titrate slowly as the color shift from purple to blue is sometimes difficult to see. Use a full spectrum lamp (or sunlight) and a white background to see the result. K is low on the list of consumed metals in my tank. Consumption, in descending order: 1: Inorganic carbon (alkalinity.) 2. Calcium 3. Magnesium 4. Potassium. I can test for elevated concentrations of Total and Ferrous Iron (Ferric by calculation) by haven't bothered to do so, but should since I add a 'coloration enhancer' product occasionally. What I need to do is test the products said to enhance color. There goes half a day in the lab. LOL.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

@Bleigh, what are you using to test ALK, the RedSea Pro kit or the regular kit? Also, are you performing the test, or is it an automatic test system? Your ALK just isn't making any sense to me.

As far as adding the new water more slowly goes, I think that is more complicated than it needs to be. I know what I want my ALK to be, 7-8 dKh. I like that range because it gives me room to make some small errors without causing to many problems. Coincidentally, the water that I buy at my LFS mixes to a range of 7.8-8.3 dKh. They use the RedSea blue bucket. I would recommend picking an Alk that you want, and then picking a salt that mixes close to that range. It makes water changes a lot less stressful.

 

[Hemmdog]

@Bleigh, what are you using to test ALK, the RedSea Pro kit or the regular kit? Also, are you performing the test, or is it an automatic test system? Your ALK just isn't making any sense to me.

As far as adding the new water more slowly goes, I think that is more complicated than it needs to be. I know what I want my ALK to be, 7-8 dKh. I like that range because it gives me room to make some small errors without causing to many problems. Coincidentally, the water that I buy at my LFS mixes to a range of 7.8-8.3 dKh. They use the RedSea blue bucket. I would recommend picking an Alk that you want, and then picking a salt that mixes close to that range. It makes water changes a lot less stressful.

+1

You can manual dose the esv too. I manual dose my 40b, 5ml morning 5ml in the afternoon, 10 ml of cal every 3rd day. Keeps me rock solid. My 90 is on a doser of 44ml alk split up to 12x a day, cal is 36 split 12x a day.

 

[Dana Riddle]

Here are a couple reports about Montipora coloration and metals (these in addition to the private conversations I had with Simon Garratt in the UK):

An intimate look at the amazing Montipora | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

While the rest of the world is currently going gaga for shrooms and fuzzy sticks, we’re rekindling our love interest with Montipora. In some ways, the multicolored polyps and nodules and growth forms…

reefbuilders.com

How To Grow The Most INTENSE Purple Rim Monti Cap | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

The purple rim Leng Sy cap is one of the most desirable and recognizable coral strains in the hobby of SPS reef keeping. Like zebra plecos and peppermint angelfish, images of the purple rim cap have…

reefbuilders.com

 

[homer1475]

FYI,
ESV can get expensive depending on how much your adding daily.

Personally I like plain old Arm & Hammer baking soda mixed with RO/DI. Google Randy's 2 part for the recipe.

FWIW I also have a red monti cap, my nitrates are usually rather low(around 5 to 10ppm), when they start climbing(above 10ppm) it starts to bleach out. Lower nitrates back down, and it colors back up. Not saying this is your problem, just something I've noticed with my red monti and my tank.

 

[Double monti 61]

Is there a specific brand you’d recommend? Yours looks great!

Seachem reef plus and Kent marine nano reef calcium and buffering system I use nature’s ocean Nutri seawater 2 gallon water change once a week no protein skimmer

 

[Hemmdog]

Here are a couple reports about Montipora coloration and metals (these in addition to the private conversations I had with Simon Garratt in the UK):

An intimate look at the amazing Montipora | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

While the rest of the world is currently going gaga for shrooms and fuzzy sticks, we’re rekindling our love interest with Montipora. In some ways, the multicolored polyps and nodules and growth forms…

reefbuilders.com

How To Grow The Most INTENSE Purple Rim Monti Cap | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

The purple rim Leng Sy cap is one of the most desirable and recognizable coral strains in the hobby of SPS reef keeping. Like zebra plecos and peppermint angelfish, images of the purple rim cap have…

reefbuilders.com

Side question, are all purple rim Monti’s Leng Sy monti’s? I’ve had this purple rim for awhile but it doesn’t get as “chunky” of nodules as the link you shared.

 

[Dana Riddle]

We saw vastly different growth forms on the same Hawaiian Montipora species when I lived there. I suspect these were due to flow since the hillocky bumps act as speed breakers to flow and allow for better particle capture. Light can influence the form as well but I think flow was the difference.