Green monti caps are now pale pink/beige color but growing quickly
- Thread starter Homeytwist
- Start date
power boat jim
Well-known member
After running an sps tank for nearly 10 years I have to say you have what appears to be a perfect example of what 10,000k bulbs are good at. They grow coral like crazy but tend to wash out some color. I had the same issue years ago. Try shading that coral with another coral or a rock. Some of my monties have regained color color when they start to shade themself. Chasing iron levels is probably asking for trouble, iron can be a cheolating agent and if added to the tank may start to bind up with other elements and then become difficult to break down. So its ok to measure it but be careful after that. I take it all your other stuff is doing well? if so its that coral that is finiky. It is not unherd of for coral to take 6 months or longer to color back up after a change. Good luck with it Hope it all works out.
Homeytwist
New member
Ok, got my Red Sear Coral Colors Pro test kit(s) just before Christmas and finally had a chance to start testing.
Fe: 0 - Undetectable. - Made recommended dose of Kent Marine Iron & Manganese supplement. Will test again in a few days and repeat dose as necessary.
K: 430ppm - No action taken at this time as I'm still trying to find a good target
I2: Approx. 0.05ppm - Pretty close to target, so no action taken.
IMO all evidence so far is pointing toward Iron deficiency so I'm gonna go down that road for a while and see what happens.
Update on the relocated frag: still on the sandbed and out of direct exposure to the MH, so very low light levels. Growth is considerably slowed and coloration is unchanged.
Fe: 0 - Undetectable. - Made recommended dose of Kent Marine Iron & Manganese supplement. Will test again in a few days and repeat dose as necessary.
K: 430ppm - No action taken at this time as I'm still trying to find a good target
I2: Approx. 0.05ppm - Pretty close to target, so no action taken.
IMO all evidence so far is pointing toward Iron deficiency so I'm gonna go down that road for a while and see what happens.
Update on the relocated frag: still on the sandbed and out of direct exposure to the MH, so very low light levels. Growth is considerably slowed and coloration is unchanged.
Be sure to let us know if iron is the ticket. I dose it for macroalgae, but have not generally seen evidence of other benefits. Try to not make any other changes in the near term while doing the iron test.
ecomdesign
New member
I'm very interested in your results as well. I have a red monti cap that is slightly losing colour. I run LEDs but I think carbon Dosing or iron/potassium may be the problem.
Homeytwist
New member
Hey everyone, it's been nearly four months since the OP so I thought I'd update. Long story short, no change. Still have two frags about mid-tank in the middle 1/3 of the footprint, and one near the corner on the sand-bed in very low light. Made 3 doses of Iron & Manganese in an attempt to get a reading on the Iron test kit, but stopped after 3 doses within a couple weeks and no readings (didn't want to go too far). It's been probably 6 weeks since the last dose so I will make a dose here and there and continue to monitor levels.
Now for the results; basicly no change with the monti caps. Still a beige color though the two ones at mid-tank seem to be a little darker than 4 months ago.
On a side note after the 2nd dose of the Fe & Mn supplement ALL of the cyano in the tank had virtually dissapeared and is now completely gone. Interestingly it's not like the chaeto was suddenly rejuvinated as it's still in slow decline but it appears that my tank is now truly at the zero nitrates zero phosphates stage. Not only in the water column but also stored in algae form. I'm guessing the Fe supplemented whatever forms of minor algae were in the tank and allowed them to out-compete the cyano. The only nuiscanse left in the tank is a touch of what I believe are dinoflagellates, but they are not spreading and with every minor water change (5gal every 4 weeks) I am physically removing the remaining small growth areas. The other change I've noticed is that the LPS is really going into feeding mode at night time, way more than in the last year and a half that I've had them. Polyps are starting to open before lights are completely out and are still closing when the lights come back on, which tells me that they're no longer getting their nutrients from the water column and are trying to feed more to compensate. To that end I've started experimenting with occasional spot feeding.
Back to the original topic it apears that the only remaining variable is in fact the lighting, but I think that's going to have to wait until it's time to re-lamp before I run that experiment.
Now for the results; basicly no change with the monti caps. Still a beige color though the two ones at mid-tank seem to be a little darker than 4 months ago.
On a side note after the 2nd dose of the Fe & Mn supplement ALL of the cyano in the tank had virtually dissapeared and is now completely gone. Interestingly it's not like the chaeto was suddenly rejuvinated as it's still in slow decline but it appears that my tank is now truly at the zero nitrates zero phosphates stage. Not only in the water column but also stored in algae form. I'm guessing the Fe supplemented whatever forms of minor algae were in the tank and allowed them to out-compete the cyano. The only nuiscanse left in the tank is a touch of what I believe are dinoflagellates, but they are not spreading and with every minor water change (5gal every 4 weeks) I am physically removing the remaining small growth areas. The other change I've noticed is that the LPS is really going into feeding mode at night time, way more than in the last year and a half that I've had them. Polyps are starting to open before lights are completely out and are still closing when the lights come back on, which tells me that they're no longer getting their nutrients from the water column and are trying to feed more to compensate. To that end I've started experimenting with occasional spot feeding.
Back to the original topic it apears that the only remaining variable is in fact the lighting, but I think that's going to have to wait until it's time to re-lamp before I run that experiment.
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