Lights or Water Chemistry? Killing Montipora

cjpitt80 · 05/17/2019, 11:19 AM

So I have a few Montipora frags that have died over the past month and a half (in addition to a birdsnest). Basically, they seem to be okay for about 2-3 weeks then over the course of a week or 2 fade white and the polyps just kinda vanish like Thanos snapped his fingers. Based on the pics can anyone tell if it's lights/flow or water chemistry?
I keep them in constant medium flow. When I initially noticed the bleaching from the base, I was concerned that I light acclimated them too fast(I place them in desired location and use screen netting to darken that portion of the tank), so I moved them to the bottom of the tank (standard 75gal). My lights are the Current Marine PRO IC LED (2x) which I know everyone says are crappy, but I've been able to be successful keeping plating Monti capricornis and encrusting sunset Montipora (they both have grown) which, from my reading have about the same light requirements. So I'm unsure if it's not enough light, too much light too fast, nutrient issues, incorrect flow, or I just basically suck at reefing and should find another hobby.

My Triton Report is here
https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroo...icp-oes/71285/

Hanna has my phosphates at 0.09-0.1ppm and my nitrates stay at 1ppm according to Red Sea. No ammonia or Nitrite. Temp is 77-79 Alk is 7.9-8.0 dkH for 6 months now

This is what my frags look like. Formerly beautiful green Monti digi on the top, red Monti digi on left and orange Monti setosa on right. (Forest fire Digi did the same thing...bleached over a week then polyps poof)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vSQ3319Qsfj15ukM9

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I want some branching corals!

cjpitt80 · 05/22/2019, 11:11 PM

Nobody?
Should this be over in the SPS thread?
I still consider myself new to the hobby

mcgyvr · 05/23/2019, 04:30 AM

The lights are certainly not helping.. They are very weak for SPS corals even when placed within 12" of the light source..

Parameters look fine.. Like 99% of questions like this we just don't know what really caused the coral deaths..

cjpitt80 · 05/23/2019, 08:43 AM

Yeah taking everything in to account I would say that is the "weak part" of my system. Again though I've been able to grow a Monti cap and an encrusting sunset monti pretty well. The digi frags were placed HIGHER in the tank than these. My understanding was that Monti digi and Monti cap had very much the same lighting requirement, so if my Monti cap and Sunset have been growing, the lighting should be adequate for Monti digi. Am I wrong in this thinking or do Monti cap have lower lighting requirements than Monti digi?

Sk8r · 06/03/2019, 07:50 AM

One fix might be to get a rock to stack the corals closer to the light, but there's also the possibility of a coral pest. Get a magnifying glass and look at the edges of the bad areas. I'm an old-school reefer, so I'm having a little trouble reading your parameters. I have had good success with monti at a dkh of 8.3 alk; 420 cal. Your mg is fine. OTOH if you are dosing the microtraces, one of those might be off. I usually go with a high-mg salt mix like Oceanic, and their composition of the micro-elements has worked well for me. Using Instant Ocean right now and thinking of going back to Oceanic, pita though it is to handle in bulk, since I had best success with it.

cjpitt80 · 06/03/2019, 08:48 AM

I certainly HOPE it's not a pest. I have ZERO experience identifying anything. I did dip in Coral Revive when I got them and turkey basted them pretty well. I had a bad experience with the Bayer dip a while back, ugh. Once you guys glue corals to your rockscape, how do you take them out to dip?? All the Monti frags are bleached and gone. There's a tiny tiny 2mm spot on the setosa that's still orange, but It's pretty much a goner. My cherry red Monti cap started bleaching, but I think I've managed to stop it. I had an Alk swing. The encrusting sunset Monti is looking beautiful and slowly covering the entire plug. LPS look fine

>I managed to get a killer clearance deal (miss-marked) on a Coralife T5 dual fixture. I swapped the bulbs for a ATI Coral+ and Blue+. I'm running them about 6hrs a day. The plan is to swap out the ballast for a HO one and I can take full advantage of the 54W lights. Hopefully a dual T5 HO fixture supplementing my LEDs are adequate enough for some SPS. Maybe I can catch a nice Black Friday sale on some Kessils/Radion/Reefbreeders in fall

Sk8r · 06/03/2019, 10:24 AM

When I was running Metal Halide, I used a 10,000 k with 2 actinic supplements and had good success with montipora. I don' t know how to translate to T5-speak.

05/17/2019, 11:19 AM	#1
cjpitt80 Registered Member Join Date: May 2018 Posts: 158	Lights or Water Chemistry? Killing Montipora So I have a few Montipora frags that have died over the past month and a half (in addition to a birdsnest). Basically, they seem to be okay for about 2-3 weeks then over the course of a week or 2 fade white and the polyps just kinda vanish like Thanos snapped his fingers. Based on the pics can anyone tell if it's lights/flow or water chemistry? I keep them in constant medium flow. When I initially noticed the bleaching from the base, I was concerned that I light acclimated them too fast(I place them in desired location and use screen netting to darken that portion of the tank), so I moved them to the bottom of the tank (standard 75gal). My lights are the Current Marine PRO IC LED (2x) which I know everyone says are crappy, but I've been able to be successful keeping plating Monti capricornis and encrusting sunset Montipora (they both have grown) which, from my reading have about the same light requirements. So I'm unsure if it's not enough light, too much light too fast, nutrient issues, incorrect flow, or I just basically suck at reefing and should find another hobby. My Triton Report is here https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroo...icp-oes/71285/ Hanna has my phosphates at 0.09-0.1ppm and my nitrates stay at 1ppm according to Red Sea. No ammonia or Nitrite. Temp is 77-79 Alk is 7.9-8.0 dkH for 6 months now This is what my frags look like. Formerly beautiful green Monti digi on the top, red Monti digi on left and orange Monti setosa on right. (Forest fire Digi did the same thing...bleached over a week then polyps poof) https://photos.app.goo.gl/vSQ3319Qsfj15ukM9 Any help would be greatly appreciated as I want some branching corals! __________________ 75 gal display running since 5/14/18--29 gal sump Ocellaris Clown Pair, Flasher Wrasse, Bangaii Cardinal, Fire Shrimp pair, Skunk Cleaner, Blue Coral Banded Shrimp, Euphyllia, Monti Cap, Monti Digi. C

05/22/2019, 11:11 PM	#2
cjpitt80 Registered Member Join Date: May 2018 Posts: 158	??? Nobody? Should this be over in the SPS thread? I still consider myself new to the hobby __________________ 75 gal display running since 5/14/18--29 gal sump Ocellaris Clown Pair, Flasher Wrasse, Bangaii Cardinal, Fire Shrimp pair, Skunk Cleaner, Blue Coral Banded Shrimp, Euphyllia, Monti Cap, Monti Digi. C

05/23/2019, 04:30 AM	#3
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	The lights are certainly not helping.. They are very weak for SPS corals even when placed within 12" of the light source.. Parameters look fine.. Like 99% of questions like this we just don't know what really caused the coral deaths.. __________________ Who me?

05/23/2019, 08:43 AM	#4
cjpitt80 Registered Member Join Date: May 2018 Posts: 158	Yeah taking everything in to account I would say that is the "weak part" of my system. Again though I've been able to grow a Monti cap and an encrusting sunset monti pretty well. The digi frags were placed HIGHER in the tank than these. My understanding was that Monti digi and Monti cap had very much the same lighting requirement, so if my Monti cap and Sunset have been growing, the lighting should be adequate for Monti digi. Am I wrong in this thinking or do Monti cap have lower lighting requirements than Monti digi? __________________ 75 gal display running since 5/14/18--29 gal sump Ocellaris Clown Pair, Flasher Wrasse, Bangaii Cardinal, Fire Shrimp pair, Skunk Cleaner, Blue Coral Banded Shrimp, Euphyllia, Monti Cap, Monti Digi. C

06/03/2019, 07:50 AM	#5
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	One fix might be to get a rock to stack the corals closer to the light, but there's also the possibility of a coral pest. Get a magnifying glass and look at the edges of the bad areas. I'm an old-school reefer, so I'm having a little trouble reading your parameters. I have had good success with monti at a dkh of 8.3 alk; 420 cal. Your mg is fine. OTOH if you are dosing the microtraces, one of those might be off. I usually go with a high-mg salt mix like Oceanic, and their composition of the micro-elements has worked well for me. Using Instant Ocean right now and thinking of going back to Oceanic, pita though it is to handle in bulk, since I had best success with it. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%. Last edited by Sk8r; 06/03/2019 at 07:56 AM.

06/03/2019, 08:48 AM	#6
cjpitt80 Registered Member Join Date: May 2018 Posts: 158	Added Supplemental Light I certainly HOPE it's not a pest. I have ZERO experience identifying anything. I did dip in Coral Revive when I got them and turkey basted them pretty well. I had a bad experience with the Bayer dip a while back, ugh. Once you guys glue corals to your rockscape, how do you take them out to dip?? All the Monti frags are bleached and gone. There's a tiny tiny 2mm spot on the setosa that's still orange, but It's pretty much a goner. My cherry red Monti cap started bleaching, but I think I've managed to stop it. I had an Alk swing. The encrusting sunset Monti is looking beautiful and slowly covering the entire plug. LPS look fine >I managed to get a killer clearance deal (miss-marked) on a Coralife T5 dual fixture. I swapped the bulbs for a ATI Coral+ and Blue+. I'm running them about 6hrs a day. The plan is to swap out the ballast for a HO one and I can take full advantage of the 54W lights. Hopefully a dual T5 HO fixture supplementing my LEDs are adequate enough for some SPS. Maybe I can catch a nice Black Friday sale on some Kessils/Radion/Reefbreeders in fall __________________ 75 gal display running since 5/14/18--29 gal sump Ocellaris Clown Pair, Flasher Wrasse, Bangaii Cardinal, Fire Shrimp pair, Skunk Cleaner, Blue Coral Banded Shrimp, Euphyllia, Monti Cap, Monti Digi. C

06/03/2019, 10:24 AM	#7
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	When I was running Metal Halide, I used a 10,000 k with 2 actinic supplements and had good success with montipora. I don' t know how to translate to T5-speak. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.