Rainbow Monti Question

[Austin Lee]

Hey R2R!

I purchased an awesome rainbow monti on 6/8 from my LFS, and have a question about how to get the best PE.

The coral overall seems to be fine, and has great PE at night and doesn't seem to be bleaching/receding. It's still on the sand bed since I'm letting it acclimate. However, the PE during the day is minimal and the actual skeleton of the coral is pale so it ends up looking pretty rough. The rest of my tank is LPS, so I'm just dipping my toe into hard corals. Tank parameters below (as of 6/13 - I am testing today):

IM 25 lagoon
Other tank inhabitants: clownfish pair, conch, blue leg hermits, snails, two acans (very healthy + growing fast), blue tip hammer, war coral.
Temp: 79
Salinity: 1.027
pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40
Calcium: 481
Alk: 8.9

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[reef-rc]

I have a rainbow monti that i purchased a while back and noticed that if it does not receive enough light it will slowly turn brown in color over time. If it gets too much light, it will start turning white. I had observed this very shift with my monti within the last few weeks. I think it's at a point where I need to lower it down slightly to avoid over exposure. Of course what I said can be applied to most SPS. I think rainbow monti need close to 100 PAR.

 

[Austin Lee]

I have a rainbow monti that i purchased a while back and noticed that if it does not receive enough light it will slowly turn brown in color over time. If it gets too much light, it will start turning white. I had observed this very shift with my monti within the last few weeks. I think it's at a point where I need to lower it down slightly to avoid over exposure. Of course what I said can be applied to most SPS. I think rainbow monti need close to 100 PAR.

yeah i have it kind off off-center on the sand bed so I'm not sure if that would be my issue or not

 

[Austin Lee]

Bump

 

[Austin Lee]

bump. any help is appreciated

 

[Backreefing]

Nitrate at 40 is to high for many SPS . My rainbow looks best with t5 blue plus , in fact all montipora look best with blue plus bulbs

 

[Dilan Patel]

I find it very hard to kill the rainbow monti with too much light. I was pulling amazing colors and it was under about 500-600 par... move that coral up!

 

[Austin Lee]

I find it very hard to kill the rainbow monti with too much light. I was pulling amazing colors and it was under about 500-600 par... move that coral up!

I was kind of thinking this would be my next move. Especially since what I've read is that lack of PE usually means the coral wants more light.

 

[Austin Lee]

Nitrate at 40 is to high for many SPS . My rainbow looks best with t5 blue plus , in fact all montipora look best with blue plus bulbs

ugh, I've heard that a time or two. Unfortunately I've been battling nitrates in this tank like crazy. Nothing seems to be helping.

 

[Sabellafella]

Hey R2R!

I purchased an awesome rainbow monti on 6/8 from my LFS, and have a question about how to get the best PE.

The coral overall seems to be fine, and has great PE at night and doesn't seem to be bleaching/receding. It's still on the sand bed since I'm letting it acclimate. However, the PE during the day is minimal and the actual skeleton of the coral is pale so it ends up looking pretty rough. The rest of my tank is LPS, so I'm just dipping my toe into hard corals. Tank parameters below (as of 6/13 - I am testing today):

IM 25 lagoon
Other tank inhabitants: clownfish pair, conch, blue leg hermits, snails, two acans (very healthy + growing fast), blue tip hammer, war coral.
Temp: 79
Salinity: 1.027
pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40
Calcium: 481
Alk: 8.9

Any help would be appreciated!

Hey man, could you toss in a photo if you can? Depending on what monti it is, I can most likely share a good opinion =)

 

[Austin Lee]

Hey man, could you toss in a photo if you can? Depending on what monti it is, I can most likely share a good opinion =)

Here’s one from the day after I posted the thread!

 

[Austin Lee]

Updated test results

 

[Austin Lee]

Updated test results

Calcium was 487, alk was 8.8

 

[Backreefing]

ugh, I've heard that a time or two. Unfortunately I've been battling nitrates in this tank like crazy. Nothing seems to be helping.

How old is the aquarium? Usually after a year most aquariums will develop low nitrates.

 

[MTBake]

More flow and more light. Basically, try another spot. It doesn't like that area. And, as you already know, lowering nitrates would help as well.

 

[Austin Lee]

More flow and more light. Basically, try another spot. It doesn't like that area. And, as you already know, lowering nitrates would help as well.

Yeah I think I’ll move it. Was trying to give it some time to see if it was just cranky for a day or two but it’s still unhappy

 

[Austin Lee]

How old is the aquarium? Usually after a year most aquariums will develop low nitrates.

Good point. It’s about 8 months old

 

[Backreefing]

Good point. It’s about 8 months old

Water change is all that can be done immediately.
Years ago at about 9 months my nitrates stabilized on my aquarium. I think the larger the aquarium the longer it takes . But it will happen.

 

[Mtb_reefer]

Rip cleaning your tank may take care of your nitrate issues. I was having the same problem with my rainbow before. Here are a rainbow and electric grape after rip cleaning.

 

[Mtb_reefer]

Rip cleaning your tank may take care of your nitrate issues. I was having the same problem with my rainbow before. Here are a rainbow and electric grape after rip cleaning.

Sand dollar not electric grape