montipora problems

[iriejp1]

I'd say they dont like the new lights or you have pests you're not aware of. I went about a year chasing my tail with drab looking corals/STN issues before I figured out I had AEFW. I am ridiculous with my dipping and had several people eyeball my tank and never see anything. It finally took me dipping a near dead coral in Coral RX before I found them. And I did that just for giggles expecting to not find anything.

Grab some raggedy looking pieces after the lights have been out for a while and dip them hard. What have you got to lose??

BTW, after ridding my tank of the bastards my corals have never looked better. Sounds cliche but it really was night and day.

 

[monkeyman14554]

i second the lights there not right for your system try something new or move them farther away.. i know this thread is old and i am not an expert but it make sommone sense

 

[mc-cro]

I was just about to question the lighting as well since everything else seems spot on.

You have about 200w of T5 over a 75g tank. I have no experience with T5, but that seems a little on the weak side. I see you did have 2x250w on the old tank, so your less than half of what they were used to.

 

[MammothReefer]

I'm having a similar situation but only with a couple types of montis, Green Purple rim caps, and digis.. All other montis thrive in my tank (encrusting, etc)... I can't figure it out for the of my I've got another thread on it.. They just turn sort of gray and die over a couple weeks/month.. Acros growing great, my sunset monti is growing like a weed as are many of my other caps.. bleh Good luck. Hope you find something out. I'm switching my lighting this week for better coverage with less, and I'm hoping this might be the kick in the pants my tank needs.

 

[Potsy]

I was just about to question the lighting as well since everything else seems spot on.

You have about 200w of T5 over a 75g tank. I have no experience with T5, but that seems a little on the weak side. I see you did have 2x250w on the old tank, so your less than half of what they were used to.

The T5s are actually over a pretty shallow 50 gallon breeder (36x18x18). Aquactinics put out about 200 par at the sand, so the montis would be getting more than enough light, especially considering that many species photosaturate at 200 - 300 par. Most 250w hqi bulbs, with the exception of XM 10k & Aqualine Buschke10k, probably put out similar par values.

 

[hans24hrs]

Last year I setup a 50 gallon breeder 36x18x18" to replace our larger 5 year old 75 gallon during a move. The 75 was a high nutrient system - never ran carbon or gfo - but montipora grew like weeds and with good color. I had bright pink digitata, purple rim cap, red cap, and other unidentified branching species. I couldn't kill these coral if I tried. Other corals like frogspawn and zoanthids had rapid growth rates as well. The 75 ran 2x250 watt de halides.

Now, the 50 gallon. When I set it up, I decided to go barebottom for ease of maintenance, and I went with an Aquactinics TX5 5 x 39w T5 fixture. In this system, lps coral that I've had for 11 years over the course of the year in the new tank withered away. My 8 year old hydnophora, which seemed to do just fine in a rubbermaid tub while the tank cycled, slowly started receding, and my montipora developed bald spots and stn.

Anytime I add a frag of digitata within a few days the polyps recede and the coral appears "chalky" in appearance. In general, most coral (zoanthids, lps) seem healthy but don't grow much. Sinularia and stereonephthya grow rapidly. My old tank featured a HUGE sinularia so I don't think it's alleopathy.

Here are the parameters:

alk: 10dkh
Ca: 420ppm both dosed with two-part vs 75's calc. reactor
Mg: 1400ppm
nitrate: 2.5ppm
phosphate: undetectable with salifert and gfo reactor running.
temp: 80 - 82 degrees (my old tank ran up to 85 in the summer)
sg: 1.025 with instant ocean salt
skimmer: Euro-reef CS6-2 with sedra 5000 24" tall from my previous tank (doesn't pull out that much skimmate - it did on my old nutrient rich tank.)

I just started vinegar dosing in the hope of eventually being able to feed coral more heavily. I'm at 3.2 ml per day.

I'm stumped. I love montipora and want to be able to keep them again. On paper, my system should be able to keep them better than my old system. Alk doesn't flucuate beyond/below 10 that much over the span of several weeks so I don't think it's an issue of instability.

I am new to saltwater, but I just added a phosphate and carbon reactors and a denitrator and my corals seem to be doing worse. Maybe to much manufactured science added our tanks is doing the harm? just a thought

 

[Potsy]

I am new to saltwater, but I just added a phosphate and carbon reactors and a denitrator and my corals seem to be doing worse. Maybe to much manufactured science added our tanks is doing the harm? just a thought

Levittown, Pa? I grew up in Yardley and graduated from Pennsbury in '90.

Perhaps that's true if the science is used without experience or patience. We couldn't keep a lot of the more demanding stony corals without the help of that technology. My system is pretty bare-bones: big skimmer, two powerheads, vinegar dosing.

After having read a few threads about member's widespread acansthrea lords deaths and their successful use of iodine dips and/or interceptor, I'm starting to think that many coral deaths in otherwise established, stable systems are the result of infection.

 

[hans24hrs]

pennsbury 90

pennsbury 90

graduated from pennsbury in 93. my brother in law graduated in 89 or 90 (shawn mccusker) i lived across from Matt and Jim Grimm. I know that the equipment will help in the long run with the corals. I read that you should start off with a very small amount of phosban, phoslok, ect.. and then slowly add more to let tank adjust to water changes. wish I would have read that before I set up phos reactor

 

[hans24hrs]

I'd take another look at phosphates.
You got any algae?

mo algea and phosphate is 0. Looks like it might just be growing. It is starting to get color in the white area

 

[hans24hrs]

Thanks for the good info. I will try to post some pictures later. If you guys wouldn't mind taking a look and letting me know what you think. I also have a wuestion about adding more live rock. I have about another 60-80lbs i am going to add. The rock came from the same tank as the corals and was up and running for a couple of years. The previous owner is very knowledgable and recommened adding it along with the last of the fish (4 clowns) about a month after the first batch was added.

 

[Potsy]

graduated from pennsbury in 93. my brother in law graduated in 89 or 90 (shawn mccusker) i lived across from Matt and Jim Grimm. I know that the equipment will help in the long run with the corals. I read that you should start off with a very small amount of phosban, phoslok, ect.. and then slowly add more to let tank adjust to water changes. wish I would have read that before I set up phos reactor

I remember Matt Grimm, but don't recall Shawn. I took my phos. reactor offline because my corals looked upset everytime I ran it. I suspect my phos. levels were already low enough. Now I just dose vinegar.

 

[DeathWish302]

I know this is some 8 months late past your dilemna, but I have seen the same problems from dosing AA and Seachem ReefPlus too close together in time period. I relate this recession in ALL corals due to the bacterial bloom and sudden drop in NO3, PO4 & possibly O2. I run a HUGE skimmer for my system, but still this 'bloom' has caused me issues on several occassions. This is only my lessons-learned and thought I would share if you were still pondering.

 

[hans24hrs]

Calcium

Calcium

Does anyone know or have tried to use texas holy rock (limestone) to boost calcium levels in a reef tank. As far as I understand it is basically a calcium carbonate, so I would think if small pieces were placed in a reactor or in sump that would boost calcium. If anyone has any knowledge on this or has tried it please let me know. Also how do you post a new thread on this site?

 

[hans24hrs]

I remember Matt Grimm, but don't recall Shawn. I took my phos. reactor offline because my corals looked upset everytime I ran it. I suspect my phos. levels were already low enough. Now I just dose vinegar.

I turned my phos reactor down so it is just a small amount passing through it. Also I just picked up a 12 bulb CF light, so I am going to see if the light changes help any. Also I am adding the rest of the live rock from my other tank in soon so hopefully that might add some more benificial bacteria to tank. I think Shawn might have graduated before you. And thanks for the reef info, still learning a lot about reef tanks

 

[hans24hrs]

I know this is some 8 months late past your dilemna, but I have seen the same problems from dosing AA and Seachem ReefPlus too close together in time period. I relate this recession in ALL corals due to the bacterial bloom and sudden drop in NO3, PO4 & possibly O2. I run a HUGE skimmer for my system, but still this 'bloom' has caused me issues on several occassions. This is only my lessons-learned and thought I would share if you were still pondering.

thanks for the info. I try not to put to many additives in at the same time, always figured it would shock anything alive in the tank.

 

[hans24hrs]

new light

new light

The new light seems to be helping even though it has only been a day. The leather and birds nest seem to be repondeing to the increase in light.

 

[120reefermadnes]

Im having a problem recently with a couple of my mont caps, their starting to get little dead spots on them cant figure it out all water paremeters are great and stable tanks been runing great for just under a year now since I set it up but I dont know why this is starting now because my acros are all doing great and so are some other sps im gunna try dipping them see how that works