Your thoughts on why my monti caps are bleaching.

[saltyfilmfolks]

Thank you! I will drop it to 35%. What do you use to check your phosphates?

Me, Api.

 

[Mykesocalreef]

Thank you Salty!

 

[malira]

I'm going to take a look online for phosphate tests. Any recommendations on the easiest most reliable test kit or instrument?

The most accurate I've found so far is the hanna phosphorus checker. It measures in ppb. Getting the powder in the vile takes some practice but it is accurate.

 

[malira]

I had a phosphate checker ppm and sold it to buy a phosphorus checker ppb.

 

[Mykesocalreef]

The most accurate I've found so far is the hanna phosphorus checker. It measures in ppb. Getting the powder in the vile takes some practice but it is accurate.

Thank you!

 

[Waters]

I also use the Hanna just because it shows much lower values than a lot of the other tests.

 

[Mykesocalreef]

So the plan is dropping to 35% on the lights. How long should I keep it before I decide to make it lower if need be? Going to get a kit for phosphate and see where I am at. If there aren't any detectable or in the desired range I will need to get some more in there, best practices for that?

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Have your parameters swung from their usual values? I find bleaching almost always occurs due to params swinging

 

[tigé21v]

Do you run GAC? my Monti bleached when I was aggressively changing out my GAC

 

[Mykesocalreef]

Have your parameters swung from their usual values? I find bleaching almost always occurs due to params swinging

The only thing that has changed would be an alk drop of .2 over five days.

 

[Mykesocalreef]

Do you run GAC? my Monti bleached when I was aggressively changing out my GAC

Nope. No reactors of any sorts. No carbon at all in the tank.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Check you potassium, my potassium was low which can cause pale monti especially monti caps. Also found that shortening the duration of the lights at full brightness helped with the color of all my corals. I don't think anyone would recommend API test kits even though some lfs and pet smart sell them. If you are running GFO stop it for a while and see if color improves. Many of us have used it and pellets and found that it is better to use only if levels get to high.

 

[blkhwkz]

I have the same ATI fixture running 4 blue+ and 4 coral + with a Reefbrite XHO. Light is 12" off the water, and I run the lights at 100%:
XHO 11am-12pm
330pm-530pm
8pm-9pm

ATI
All 8 bulbs 12pm-7pm
2 Blue+ 7pm-8pm

Tank is 22" tall and monti is about halfway down. Only time mine got pale and looked bleached was when nutrients were way to low. Took biopellets and gfo offline, started dosing potassium nitrate and it came back to normal within a few weeks.

 

[Mykesocalreef]

I have the same ATI fixture running 4 blue+ and 4 coral + with a Reefbrite XHO. Light is 12" off the water, and I run the lights at 100%:
XHO 11am-12pm
330pm-530pm
8pm-9pm

ATI
All 8 bulbs 12pm-7pm
2 Blue+ 7pm-8pm

Tank is 22" tall and monti is about halfway down. Only time mine got pale and looked bleached was when nutrients were way to low. Took biopellets and gfo offline, started dosing potassium nitrate and it came back to normal within a few weeks.

So it seems as if the majority believe that my nutrients are to low. Potassium nitrate? I will have to look into this. I'm assuming you test phosphates to dose the correct amount.

 

[Cory]

My monti bleached once. Strange thing is i dosed 5 ml of vodka in 20ish gallons and it came back to life! Everything was covered in snot lol. I don't recommend you try this. But i believe it used bacteria as a food source.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So it seems as if the majority believe that my nutrients are to low. Potassium nitrate? I will have to look into this. I'm assuming you test phosphates to dose the correct amount.

My monti bleached once. Strange thing is i dosed 5 ml of vodka in 20ish gallons and it came back to life! Everything was covered in snot lol. I don't recommend you try this. But i believe it used bacteria as a food source.

It why I would wait before buying changin messing with anything too soon really.

 

[ezell_tonya]

Have your parameters swung from their usual values? I find bleaching almost always occurs due to params swinging

Toadstool Leather is there a way to bring the color back if you have a coral beach out due to parameter swings?

 

[Mykesocalreef]

It why I would wait before buying changin messing with anything too soon really.

I like that idea! I've dropped the lighting to 35%. I'll wait at least a week and see if anything starts to look deeper in color. In the meantime I'll be getting a phosphate test kit. After doing some reading it seems that I could possibly have a ulns going right now. I'll tackle one issue at a time so I know what actually helps if/when things color up.

 

[blkhwkz]

So it seems as if the majority believe that my nutrients are to low. Potassium nitrate? I will have to look into this. I'm assuming you test phosphates to dose the correct amount.

Yea I use Spectracide tree stump remover when I need to dose nitrates. I mix it up and dosed enoug to get to about 5ppm, sometimes 10ppm. Phosphates I test with Hanna ULR.

 

[Mykesocalreef]

Yea I use Spectracide tree stump remover when I need to dose nitrates. I mix it up and dosed enoug to get to about 5ppm, sometimes 10ppm. Phosphates I test with Hanna ULR.

Does the spectracide only raise nitrates? If so what will raise phosphates?