Montipora Cap Bleaching with good parameters, What is going on?

[ekandler]

Nudis maybe? Or red bugs I’ve had a similar issue when I tried adding a montipora same thing happen and I saw red bugs all over it but by that time I realized it was too late, not sure if they can kill them that fast though

What did you do to solve it? Was it only on a single frag or in your entire system? I’ve never been able to keep a healthy monti cap and I’ve tried maybe 10 frags over the past 2 years. Same with acros, although I haven’t tried many of those since I know they’re harder than montis and I can’t even keep those.

 

[Thor2j]

It’s two Gen 5 blue XR30s over a 4ft tank. I’m running them at a max of 40%.

I can tell you at 40% it is way less light then you think. I have 4 xr15 blues and a PAR meter on a 4 ft tank as well. At about 8" from water at 70% its around 300 PAR.

 

[ekandler]

I can tell you at 40% it is way less light then you think. I have 4 xr15 blues and a PAR meter on a 4 ft tank as well. At about 8" from water at 70% its around 300 PAR.

Yeah agreed, I think at the peak of my rocks it’s 150 PARish which I know is low. But I also know corals don’t die like this rapidity from low light, so when I put my first SPS frags in the tank after getting my new lights and they did this I just thought it might be from too much light. I know it’s a balance of lighting intensity and nutrients, and when I talked to WWC they said my nutrients were twice what they should be for SPS but in my experience my nutrients should be fine. So yeah, im torn ha I’d like to turn my lights up and give it more direct light but it’s also dying super fast.

 

[wareagle]

Did you get it locally or have it shipped ? The summer heat can be brutal on things if you had it shipped.

 

[ekandler]

Did you get it locally or have it shipped ? The summer heat can be brutal on things if you had it shipped.

Purchased it locally. I have a friend that frags quite a bit. He grows montis like weeds ha so I take a piece every now and then to try but always run into this issue of them dying. It was maybe in a bag for 2 hours tops.

 

[Philler]

Yeah agreed, I think at the peak of my rocks it’s 150 PARish which I know is low. But I also know corals don’t die like this rapidity from low light, so when I put my first SPS frags in the tank after getting my new lights and they did this I just thought it might be from too much light. I know it’s a balance of lighting intensity and nutrients, and when I talked to WWC they said my nutrients were twice what they should be for SPS but in my experience my nutrients should be fine. So yeah, im torn ha I’d like to turn my lights up and give it more direct light but it’s also dying super fast.

I got my monti and put it as high in the tank as I could immediately. My lights are on 100% blue intensity and 60% white intensity. It has been super happy since around the 3rd day. Also I have it getting blasted with flow from a 1250 g/h pump in a 20g tank. I think it would be very sad under a ledge, it loves the light.
Your parameters seem optimal imo

 

[jimmypencil]

Did you ever figure this out? Right now I have thriving acros and cyphastrea but some of my montis bleach a little bit from time to time. Really aggravating because montis are my favorite coral lol.