help with montiporas

[Jackwkahn]

Acros are doing fine. tank was going through a rough patch but my red planet is now getting back to its old self and coralline is exploding after a few weeks of focusing on the tank

I run C balance on dosers, haven't tested in a while but today alk was 8.6
(I think the consistency this number from the dosers would point to cal and mag being in line as well)

2x t5 on for 11hrs 2x150w halide on for 5 hrs over 40 breeder

temp rarely hits 81 with temp controlled fan

just calibrated refractometer with 35ppt solution and salinity was spot on- 35ppt

I do 5 gal weekly water changes with red sea coral pro

I had issues with montis all the time but corals i couldnt keep before were starting to live so i thought I'd have some luck this time around

I traded some corals with Ian at Nova last weds and he hooked it up with some killer acros and montis

Its been one week and the acros are looking nice, some more than others but nothing decreasing in health

And, without failure, every monti has faded and started dying. tissue starts leaving and Algae starts growing. I've had issues with nudis but i think 1 week is too fast for nudis to cause so much damage (besides the fact that my tank was monti free prior to this transaction and i just visually inspected the frags and found no evidence of nudis)

There must be something off with my setup to cause such consistent and rapid decline in any and all montiporas i add to the tank. I would describe it as "fading"

hopefully someone can offer some advice

thanks

 

[Hyperion1337]

how was the acclimation period for the monti? Other than that its pretty odd that they would decrease in health.

 

[Jackwkahn]

I don't acclimate my corals- at first it was out of ignorance and then I saw this video
http://************.com/2013/12/12/acclimating-corals-wrong-2/

 

[dread240]

I'm curious to this one myself. About 2 years I could keep any monti I wanted, now I can't put any in the tank, they just die. One of my favorite corals too so I'm at a loss, every number I can test for should be spot on

 

[rps3]

Change your RO/DI filters with chloramine ones.

 

[Jackwkahn]

already did that when dealing with acropora issues... acros have since recovered

 

[rovster]

Didn't you have birds nest issues as well?

 

[Jackwkahn]

yes rovster- those are starting to go away. I now have blue stylo, purple pocillipora, rainbow birdsnest, and ponape birds that are doing fine. The ponape from tray is even growing wouldn't you know. funning thing is when i was killing birds, i had a sunset and setosa that were doing great (stilled killed every other monti though)

 

[rovster]

Any pics?

 

[Jackwkahn]

 

[Jackwkahn]

All recede like this

 

[Jackwkahn]

 

[bobby65]

Be sure you aren't having ph swings, montis are very sensitive to that. Also don't start the frags under super bright lights.

 

[rps3]

I agree with Bobby65, had a recent weird swing from the cold weather and my Jedi Mind Trick and another monti started to die off. I'm still trying to level it off but the swinging has slowed down.

 

[rovster]

My JMT also reversed a bit. I think it was from an alk spike secondary the temp fluctuations. My capitate also completely lost its color.

 

[ANFPO]

Monti, especially the plating ones, are really sensitive to high alkalitnity. Make sure your alk level is accurate. If youre doing any carbon dosing ie, biopellets, vinegar, vodka, Prodibio, zeovit, etc. Make sure you supplement potassium and Iodine. K+ gets depleted by massive probiotic growth and Iodide gets over exported via much more skimmate output.

I would try a huge water change with Oceanic salt (high in potassium).