Monti Frags help

[ReeferWarrant]

So I ordered a couple of frags of Montipora online and they havent really looked that great since the beginning. I'm starting to worry as one has algae on it now and they really dont show much color. I have only had them for about a week and not really sure if I should blame myself or that they just didnt make it in the shipment. I just swapped out some frags with a buddy and the monti's he gave me are polar opposites in coloration in comparison to what I got. I'm just curious what I should do.

Salinity: 1.026
Ca: 420
Mg: 1280
Alk: 8.9

 

[Marc2952]

If they are full of algae they are dead, algae cant grow on healthy corals. Always acclimate them on the bottom first. Also what are your phosphate levels?

 

[ReeferWarrant]

.2 last I checked, I put Phosguard in recently to reduce that.

 

[Marc2952]

yea thats pretty high but not enough to kill a coral that fast, if it where me i would do an ICP test, and next time try to acclimate them on the bottom for atleast a week. What lights are you using? And have you checked the PAR?

 

[Miller535]

So I ordered a couple of frags of Montipora online and they havent really looked that great since the beginning. I'm starting to worry as one has algae on it now and they really dont show much color. I have only had them for about a week and not really sure if I should blame myself or that they just didnt make it in the shipment. I just swapped out some frags with a buddy and the monti's he gave me are polar opposites in coloration in comparison to what I got. I'm just curious what I should do.

Salinity: 1.026
Ca: 420
Mg: 1280
Alk: 8.9

If they did not look good when you got them, I would be suspicious. I do not have a lot of experience with Montis, I only have two, but even in the bag the looked really good.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Out of bag to now, 1 week difference

 

[ReeferWarrant]

The two frags my buddy gave me are super bright though. Left and right closest to camera.

 

[Henryb9]

They look dead, how did you acclimated it?

 

[ReeferWarrant]

yea thats pretty high but not enough to kill a coral that fast, if it where me i would do an ICP test, and next time try to acclimate them on the bottom for atleast a week. What lights are you using? And have you checked the PAR?

Using Steve’s Led upgrade on a biocube. I haven’t done a PAR test, probably should get around to that to find out.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I suspect a water parameter or too much light intensity issue. But without knowing what type of montipora we are talking about here, could be major stress event from shipping. 1st picture looks to be a red color, but it could very well be green color turned brown.

Do you have a picture of the coral that was for sale by the seller?

I would definitely turn down your light intensity either way at this point to try to save them. Bleached isn't a good sign.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Low in the tank, I always put them in the sand. They started growing algae though, when the blues are on I can see the green and blue from both polyps.

 

[Miller535]

While the monti looked to have come alive, it also didn't look great. Monti that are doing well should have a white ring from where they are growing. And I do not see that in the picture.

But there must be water parameter issues as @Flippers4pups said, or lighting issue.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

They were only $10 so I bought them on a whim. Just sucks because I want to start adding some to the tank.

 

[Miller535]

Again, I have little experience with Monti's. But if your water parameters are in normal seawater range, and you are giving them enough flow and light, they should do well. Unless they came in with some issue.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

We’ll see if it’s me with the frags my buddy just gave me. Thanks for everyone’s help!

 

[ReeferWarrant]

So, it's definitely something to do with my tank and I still cant figure it out. Going to do a water test in a second, are there other things that I should be checking outside of Alk, Ca, and Mg? I have been doing a lot of reading on this seeing as I'm frantically trying to save the 2 new frags my buddy gave me.... I read that Nitrates are needed at some level and I'm pretty sure I'm at 0 ppm now.

 

[homer1475]

ALk, CAL, MAG, Nitrates, and Phosphates.

All your other numbers look fine, I would be curious what your nitrate and phosphate readings are?

 

[homer1475]

FWIW....

While your "Big 3" look fine, you do not want 0's with regards to nitrates and phosphates, but they can also be too high too.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Too much phosguard, gfo, carbon dosing etc can kill sps.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

What are the ways that you keep nitrates and phosphates at marginal levels? I dialed back feeding, I think thats why my Phosphates are at .2.