Montipora bleaching...

[oneradtek202]

darn canaries still acting up in my system. it seems most on my monti species, esp the caps are even more sadder than ever and more are following suit. Monti digis are fine though. But my superman monti is starting to take a bleaching hit as well. my alk has been up at 9 for over a month and stable, my sal 1.025 (recently checked refract) ca-390 and STILL an issue. hmmm i know they are the canaries of a system, is this something that i should be worried about i mean geesh.

meanwhile i add new acros and they encrust and color up? weird, only certain things are taking hits. this sucks

 

[sedorusc]

I can frag you some orange or purple cap if you need. free of course. I have to much. any issues with the salt blend you are using? dosing with the pumps right? are you running them off the reefkeeper? I check my and increase dosage time by 5 minutes if needed. I also have mine dose the tank more than once a day.

 

[oneradtek202]

yea chris got it dosing like 5 small times a day. nothing wrong there, this has been an ongoing issue for awhile even before my dosing pumps.


bulbs are 9 mos old??

 

[frofan]

I overdosed alk a couple months ago and the corals still haven't recovered in my system. All params are spot on, dosing BRS 2 part over 6 doses a day, ATO runs from midnight to 11am. Everything has been stable, but almost all of my hard corals are still bleached.

 

[Conesus_Kid]

I would make sure that alk is steady and check your magnesium.

 

[Capt_Cully]

I would make sure that alk is steady and check your magnesium.

That's what I was thinkin'. What's your Mag?

Did you move to the new tank?

 

[oneradtek202]

i swear my mag test is wrong, says im like 1400, but i dont dose it that often at all, and in my sps dominated system, i should be dosing it more often


mark how often did u dose mag for ur system?

 

[frofan]

What salt are you using? Salts like Oceanic have a mag level over 1400

 

[Capt_Cully]

I had previously dosed either Tech M, Reef Complete, or mixed up some BRS Mag. I never got into mixing 10:1 Chloride to sulfate (or vice versa ). My mag always seemed to be in the 1300's. But, I was consistently doing 40Gallon water changes with Reef Crystals. I used to test new batches and it was pretty consistently around that 1300.

Once we decided to sell and the baby came along, my discipline suffered greatly. I haven't tested Mag in about 6 months, and will get all new test kits for the new house. It's been so long, I won't count on them even though they might be perfectly fine.

Once your system grows out the way yours has it definitely becomes a Ca, Alk, and Mag SPONGE! If you're not consistent with your waterchanges or you change salt, or alter the system it really can go haywire like a spinning top right before it topples over.

If you look far back enough, RandyO states that ominous word "Kaboom" for SPS dominated systems. Eventually something's got to give. As the size of your corals grow tho the freakish size yours have, intuitively, the volume of water they are in, becomes less. It's an inverse relationship that favors mayhem. Demand goes up, more toxin in a diminishing body of water.

Most of the long lasting stony reefs I've seen, i.e. several TOTM's, require almost constant pruning.

I've obviously gone into this way beyond the scope of your question, but, when you begin to have swings in your system, you need to be on your toes.

Bring a sample of water to ABC, or use one of Jay's test kits or something. You wanna be sure because the alternative is a surplus of white coral skeletons.

A low Mag can create falsely elevated Ca and altered Alk readings. If you get a solid read on your Mag and it's low, you can bet your Ca is too low too, and that your Alk is not reliable either.

I'm blathering on now......:mtool:

 

[oneradtek202]

good point mark, well i need an accurate freakin mag test haha


thats why i cant wait to get a larger volume of water, and ill be "pruning" some SPS corals that are boring and just nothing special. who wants a HUGE olive green acro? 40 bucks! lol

 

[Capt_Cully]

Ah, they're all beautiful in their own right. A wise old reefer once said " nature ain't always pretty ".

 

[oneradtek202]

well i have a hannah meter and salifert mag test comin next week, should be a good couple of things to get lol