montipora capricornis starting to bleach

[tattoooedlex]

Hi folks,
Looking for a little advise please. I am currently going thorough a tank upgrade from a 90 to a 125. I slowly purchased all new equipment including lights. I was running marineland 10000k reef capable LED's over the 90, but a few weeks ago i upgraded to the maxpect razor 16000K Led's. Pretty much went from using a match to light the tank to spotlight. So ofcourse everything reacted within a few days.My leather pulled in its polyps, but hasnt gotten slimey or shrunken. I pretty much lost my birdsnest but stillhave him on sandbed with high hopes. My main conern is my montipora cap. he showed signs of bleaching so i moved his rock down to the sandbed.Although not very big it is my favorite coral. The lights are cuurently running at 20% white and 25% blues. i take 3 hours to ramp up to that power, then 4 hours at 20+ 25 then three hours to ramp down.
I started running them at max 60% for about a week, that was my first mistake. They have been runnng at the lower power for week and a half now. I included a pic, sorry it is not very clear the lights are currently ramping down. Any advice on what i can do to help?
my params are
ph 8.3
nitrates undetectable
phosphates undetectable
alk between 8-9 ( i usually keep it @10 just added some sechem sdditive)
calcium between 300-350
salinity 1.024

 

[Charlene]

Salinity, photo period, flow, or possibly potassium. Can you test your potassium levels (be prepared this test is a PIA)? I've read washed out monti's can indicate a potassium deficiency. I am assuming you have had this tank up for a long period of time and you have been employing strong skimming. Another thing to look at is your flow. Do you have a power head that is not working? I'd do these things in order of the following:

Salinity (calibrate and recheck)
Photo period (slowly ramp up to at least 8 hours light)
Double check flow, power head not working or blocked by coral growth
Check potassium, if low dose additional (slowly raising over several weeks)

Dont make any drastic corrections. If anything is amiss go slowly and don't make any sudden corrections

 

[Reef Bass]

8 - 9 is fine for your alk. Personally I prefer 7.5 - 8.5. Your calcium is very low. Also check your magnesium.

I grew a purple Monti cap from a potato chip size to a 24" calcium sponge. They're fairly hardy and can grow fairly quickly.

 

[Reefvet]

You nuked it with light. It'll come back in a few weeks. Caps are pretty indestructible.