Montipora setosa losing color.

[The_Skrimp]

Hey guys.
I got a Montipora setosa frag the other day that was a bright pink. It’s starting to look a little dull now and browning out. I’m wondering if this is either a result of my lights being too low or my nitrates and phosphates being near zero. I know I need to raise my nitrates and phosphates but would giving it more light help? I’m using a radion Xr 15 at 50% intensity right now.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate close to 0
Phosphate close to 0
Calcium 430
PH 8
Alkalinity 9

 

[SamMule]

Mine doesn't seem to be very picky about light.
Do you have other corals in your system? If nutrients are bottomed out, one would expect to see a lot of unhappy pieces.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Nitrate is too low I think. Might want to dose up to around 5

 

[vetteguy53081]

Check alk and ph as well as salinity. Too high will make monti very happy.
Mine grow quickly and temp range 77-79. ph range 8.1-8.3, alk 8-9, good water flow and good light heavy in blue

 

[SifuMemphis]

As the others have mentioned, nitrate and phosphates are a bit low. You want to aim for 5-10 ppm nitrate and 0.03 to 0.09 phosphate.

As far as lighting goes, 50% is a bit irrelevant to us since we do not know your tank dimensions. How high is the light over the tank, width, etc etc. If you're able to provide us with the par value, that would also help.

Montipora setosa if I recall, love high par (250-350 par) and medium to high flow.

 

[The_Skrimp]

My other corals seem to be doing great but they’re easier hardy corals like a hammer, acans, zoas etc. I plan to skip a water change or two and feed a little heavier this week to see if I can start getting more nitrates and I’ll definitely dose if not.

my light is 9 inches above the water and it’s a 24 inch deep tank. The coral sits about 8 inches into the tank. I don’t have a par meter so I’m just going by a BRS video when they tested the light on a similar sized tank. They ran their light at a higher intensity but I was worried about burning my coral so I started at 50%.

I appreciate the advice guys!

 

[Adorai]

Hi Skrimp, wondering how your setosa is doing?
i just got one placed similarly 7" down below water level, with XR15 Blue 9" above at 60% intensity.

Thank you!