Cap bleaching...Sunlight?

[jasonrp104]

Just looking for some thoughts as to why a red monti cap would start to bleach. It still has good PE, the acros and birdsnests near it look good, and no flow changes. The only difference is see is that it gets direct sunlight for about 3 hours a day due to the time of year. There are a few branching montis near the cap that are showing no signs of stress either.

1.026
C- 420
Alk-8
Mag-1500
Kalk ATO
GFO and ROX in a reactor
4 bulb T5- 2 blue plus, 1 fiji purple, 1 aquablue special

EDIT: Less than 10 nitrates and undetectable phos

Thanks, guys

 

[hobogato]

not sure if the sunlight would do it, i have a red cap directly under the center of the solar tube over my tank that gets sunlight every day. it is a nice deep red color. now, if this has been an abrupt change, i could see it causing issues with the cap. also, ime, alk swings will show up in monti colors before anything else.

 

[jasonrp104]

I wouldn't think that alk swings would be too much since my ato is kalk on a float valve. The sunlight is kind of sudden since the leaves are off the trees now. I can definetly say the sun wasn't hitting them like that a week ago