Struggling Monti Caps, tips?

[WetSleeve]

hey everybody, looking for some different opinions.
In my display I’m struggling to keep Monti caps alive, I have some seriatopora,Pocilliopora,stylophora all thriving..the tank is lps dominant.
But I’ll put a piece in and in a few weeks it just starts to get pale and algae grows over it, I’ve tried lower light, higher light, higher flow, lower flow..same results.
Running 6x 54w T5s with a 48” ReefBrite actinic bar.
Perams are:
1.026 salinity
430 calcium
8.3 DKH
1290 Magnesium
Nitrate 10ppm
Phosphate 0.25
(All salifert)
Salt - Red Sea (Blue bucket)
Some may say it’s the PO4 but I’ve got a 75g Frag tank where I’m growing all my montipora to supply my frags..PO4 and nitrate are significantly higher and it’s thriving.

Thoughts, opinions?

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Pics? Whats your potassium level in the tank? What light is on the frag tank that the frags are coming from?

 

[WetSleeve]

Pics? Whats your potassium level in the tank? What light is on the frag tank that the frags are coming from?

Frag tank has 4 54w T5s for lighting.

Just checked, pottasium is 380 via salifert.
Included a picture.

 

[WetSleeve]

Pics? Whats your potassium level in the tank? What light is on the frag tank that the frags are coming from?

This is what they look like in my nutrient rich frag tank..

 

[HB AL]

Monti Caps are bullet proof for me, they grow like weeds which is good as I trade them in to my lfs. I have Kessil 160’s over my tank and they grow the same weather they are up high with high flow or down low with less flow, although the up high ones grow the quickest. Sounds like your params are fine, hopefully someone can give you some tips to help you out.

 

[WetSleeve]

Monti Caps are bullet proof for me, they grow like weeds which is good as I trade them in to my lfs. I have Kessil 160’s over my tank and they grow the same weather they are up high with high flow or down low with less flow, although the up high ones grow the quickest. Sounds like your params are fine, hopefully someone can give you some tips to help you out.

In my previous display I had multiple colony’s the size of large dinner plates and some grafted caps thriving, then eventually i got plagued with MEN and it was the end.

I’ve since upgraded from This tank, only thing I’ve done differently is salt and dosing, I used to use Seachem 2-part and Reef Crystals.
Reef crystals alk mixes to high for me these days so I’ve gone to RS blue bucket, and using EVS (B-Ionic) cal/alk/mag
This has got me stumped, and they’re prettty much my favourite coral lol.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Could be from going into a lower nutrient system from a much higher nutrient system. How old is the tank you are having problems with? Some montipora is more sensitive then corals like stylophora and pocilliopora.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

my understanding is that a lot of soft corals engage in chemical warefare.. sometimes making sps suffer.

are you running carbon?

 

[WetSleeve]

Could be from going into a lower nutrient system from a much higher nutrient system. How old is the tank you are having problems with? Some montipora is more sensitive then corals like stylophora and pocilliopora.

Could be,
The tank is roughly 4 months old, was seeded with a 8” Marine Pure block that’s about a year old so I should have more biodiversity then a regular 4 month old tank.

 

[WetSleeve]

my understanding is that a lot of soft corals engage in chemical warefare.. sometimes making sps suffer.

are you running carbon?

I’m occasionally running carbon, I was running in a reactor but now I just let a bag sit in my sump.

I have a fair amount of softy’s but no more then my previous tank which I wasn’t running carbon and had success.