Montipora requirements?

OpenOcean33 · Jun 27, 2019

So I have attempted to keep montipora corals in my tank for the past year after starting the hobby. I figure its a hardy sps corals and should be fairly easy to care for. However, I can't keep one alive I have tried 3 two red montiopras and a seasons greetings and each lasted different lengths one for 5 months before turning white and dying, another for one month, and now my last one only two weeks and its fading in color. I have a Red Sea maxe260 with hydra 26s running at 30% whites and 65% blues 0% red and green. Lights are on from 1030am and max at noon and max untill 530 and off at 730. My last parameters haven't been perfect N-8 Phosphates (Red Sea gave me range from 0 to .6 after 3 tries and API read less than .25, I need to get a new test kit here) AlK was defenitly low at 7.6dkh, calcium at 38o (both replaced after water change today) slowly raising over the next few weeks to 10dkh-11dkh 400-450. All my LPS, zoos, and softies are thriving but I have never been able to keep a SPS coral alive for long. Im just curious on requirements and just suggestions/adivce for succesful sps/montipora keeping. Thank you guys !

Crabs McJones · Jun 27, 2019

Are you doing only water changes or are you dosing anything to replenish your alkalinity and calcium as the sps use it up?

OpenOcean33 · Jun 28, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Are you doing only water changes or are you dosing anything to replenish your alkalinity and calcium as the sps use it up?

I'm dosing red sea alk and calcium

Crabs McJones · Jun 28, 2019

OpenOcean33 said:
I'm dosing red sea alk and calcium

How often?

OpenOcean33 · Jun 28, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
How often?

Weekly, however the past two months I was on vacation and couldn't

Crabs McJones · Jun 28, 2019

OpenOcean33 said:
Weekly, however the past two months I was on vacation and couldn't

Depended on their demand, it's possible that alk swings is what was causing your issues. As alk and calcium are depleted during the week and then instantly raised back up when you dosed. Just a theory

OpenOcean33 · Jun 28, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Depended on their demand, it's possible that alk swings is what was causing your issues. As alk and calcium are depleted during the week and then instantly raised back up when you dosed. Just a theory

Is it possible that the demands gets higher for alk with tank age cause the first montipora lasted 6 months. And now a year later it only lasts 2 weeks

Crabs McJones · Jun 28, 2019

OpenOcean33 said:
Is it possible that the demands gets higher for alk with tank age cause the first montipora lasted 6 months. And now a year later it only lasts 2 weeks

Yes if you added more lps corals. While they don't utilize as much alk and calcium they do utilize some

OpenOcean33 · Jun 28, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Yes if you added more lps corals. While they don't utilize as much alk and calcium they do utilize some

Hmmmmm maybe alk swings I can keep in mind any more advice for future attemptsbwould be great too!

Crabs McJones · Jun 28, 2019

OpenOcean33 said:
Hmmmmm maybe alk swings I can keep in mind any more advice for future attemptsbwould be great too!

Do you have or can you access a par meter? Making sure your sps are receiving proper par levels is another thing you could look at. Your hydra is more than capable of delivering the light it needs, just a matter of the right settings. If you're not auto dosing in would also recommend figuring out your element consumption and switching to daily or every other day calc and alk dosing. Stability is key with sps, they dont like swinging parameters

also sps like higher flow. If your tank is lps and soft coral dominated flow may have been to low.

OpenOcean33 · Jun 28, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Do you have or can you access a par meter? Making sure your sps are receiving proper par levels is another thing you could look at. Your hydra is more than capable of delivering the light it needs, just a matter of the right settings. If you're not auto dosing in would also recommend figuring out your element consumption and switching to daily or every other day calc and alk dosing. Stability is key with sps, they dont like swinging parameters also sps like higher flow. If your tank is lps and soft coral dominated flow may have been to low.

No par but maybe in the future and auto dosing may be key it's just more supply's lol

Crabs McJones · Jun 28, 2019

OpenOcean33 said:
No par but maybe in the future and auto dosing may be key it's just more supply's lol

You can pick up a lux meter as well, they're relatively cheap (around 15 bucks I believe) and use that to get an approximate par number

OpenOcean33 · Jun 28, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
You can pick up a lux meter as well, they're relatively cheap (around 15 bucks I believe) and use that to get an approximate par number

I haven't heard of the lux meter maybe that's something I can look into. I mostly just try spots out for a week or so and see how happy a coral is.