Monti cap looks bad

[cooltowncorals]

hey my plating monti looked normal a few days ago and today it has a weird colored patch on it can’t figure out why.

Any idea?

 

[cooltowncorals]

Water Parmeters
Nitrates 2.5
Phos .02-.05
Alk 7.5
Cal 420

 

[tdileo]

I would check your magnesium.

 

[madweazl]

Any idea how much light it's getting? My red monti starts to bleach and die off at 250 PAR but does great with anything less.

 

[cooltowncorals]

Hmm yeah I know it’s 350 possibly 400 par magnesium is in the 1300s been a couple weeks since I checked it has been in that much light for a couple months it’s also encrusted on the rock so I’m not sure I’ll be able to move it

 

[cooltowncorals]

Thanks for the responses how long would you give it before doing something drastic everything else in the area seems ok with the light and I have a clam on the sandbed so I don’t really want to turn down the light...

 

[madweazl]

My opinion is the location is terrible for a plating monti as it will block light from everything below it. I keep them (and tabling SPS) low and off to the sides of the tank to prevent this. You can break it off and epoxy it to a different location.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Did you do or changed anything? Large water change, replaced or added activated carbon, anything that would suddenly increase water clearity? Replaced any bulbs or messed with led settings? What lighting do you have? Is your alk stable at 7.5, is your salt mix higher in alk than you run the tank? Temps stable and under 82°? How old is the tank? Is your rock real live rock and mature dry or man made rock, mature as in at least 1 year in a healthy reef system. How much flow do you have? Your other sps look to be doing well so thats a good, that monti cap may be your canary coral when something is off. If nothing has changed and the tank is mature I would look closely at both lighting and water quality. Do a full test the big 3, ph, potassium and strontium or send off and ICP test.

 

[cooltowncorals]

More tank info

155 bow front 35 gallon sump run maybe 15 gallons in there total water volume around 140

I run ULNS system I use mainly brightwell products

I run brightwell zeolite I introduced slowly over 5 weeks then ran for 6 weeks and just replaced the zeolite for the first time on Sunday

I replace carbon every other Sunday with a water change I run rox .8 use half the recommended dose

I average over last 12 weeks
Nitrate 2.5 +- 2
Phosphate .03 +- .02 Hanna ulr
Alk 7.5 +- .3 currently around 8 after a 2 part adjustment slowly working back to 7.5 Red Sea pro test
Calcium 420+- 10 ppm Red Sea pro test
Potassium dosed week and a half ago to bring up to 400-410 range was 370-380 has held steady
Strontium tested two weeks ago 12 ppm
Don’t test ph very often when I do it’s 8.2

Dosing
Currently use brs 2 part but will be transitioning to aquaforest component 123 so I no longer have to dose trace elements manually beyond most likely potassium corrections

I dose .5 ml of reef bio fuel daily (carbon source)
I dose micro bacter 7 once a week 1.5 ml (bacteria)
I dose vitamin M and vitamin C 2 ml and 1 ml daily respectively (vitamins)

I dose brightwell amino acids 3 ml daily (amino acids)

I feed Corals daily with Phyto used a few different brands currently trying live I also have mixed in reef snow (coral food)

I feed fish Rods nori sheets nori flakes little flake food usually 3 times per day sometimes 2

Only recent change was upping vitamin dose as I noticed I was under dosing them compared to other ulns systems and recommendation of manufacturer brightwell

Flow I run jebeo power heads 4500 gph one on each side alternating every 60 seconds to give back and forth flow I run them at about 35% so approximately 1500 left the 1500 right I do have one power head that runs directly into that coral could that be the issue?

I just assumed those could take lots of par not real keen on turning down light as I have clams in the sand bed how hard are those to remove from live rock once attached there is no plug there.

Other corals (acros mostly) have been growing extremely well lps look good as well

 

[DesertReefT4r]

All seems well and as i said your other sps look good which is a good sign. You dont want to blast any coral with flow. Strong is good but a hard blast for extended periods can be bad.

 

[cooltowncorals]

I could try and move my power head towards the front glass see if that helps