rainbow montipora care

lolgranny

The DQ King
Hey all,

I got a Frag of a rainbow monti a few months back and its recently been looking unhappy (polyps are browning out / im losing the blue skin) I have a bunch of spa and the rest are thriving. Both colors and growth are excellent. Para's are all in check. Might it be my lights? Not enough? Its not bleaching so I know its not too much. Its sitting about 20" directly under a 250w 14k halide in medium flow. Any suggestions on placement? Ideas?

Thanks,
dave
 
What are your numbers for your water chemistry?

Make sure Phosphates and Nitrates are low, and that PH, Alk, Ca, Mg are all balanced and in good shape.

How old is you're bulb on the halide?

A new bulb, or moving the coral up a bit may help, but I hate to move a stressed coral unless it's really necessary. Mine are usually happiest under Moderate to Moderate High Light.
 
What are your numbers for your water chemistry?

Make sure Phosphates and Nitrates are low, and that PH, Alk, Ca, Mg are all balanced and in good shape.

How old is you're bulb on the halide?

A new bulb, or moving the coral up a bit may help, but I hate to move a stressed coral unless it's really necessary. Mine are usually happiest under Moderate to Moderate High Light.

Phos-0 (salifert) I know its obviously not 0, but i dont have my hanna phos checker yet
Nitrates-0(salifert) Same deal here, we all know nothing is 0
Mg-1400
Alk-10
Ca-420

Im not having alk swings
Ph is staying around 8.2, have fuge lights opposite of DT

Bulb is a 14k phoenix, 4months old

All the other sps are thriving, this guy came in in very good shape. Acclimated him to the light then brought him about half way up the tank, in medium flow. Out of no where the polyps began to brown out and now its closed at night and in the daytime its open, but verrrry minimal. I have no bugs in the tank or anything agitating it.

Completely blows my mind. This exact same thing happened to my pokerstar a few months back. Its as encrusting montis are the hardest things for me to keep. I have a setosa which is doing good, and a digi which is also doing amazing. Damn encrusting monti!

Any thoughts whatsoever because im lost as to whats going on with it.
 
Mine is about 22 inches below the lights in the bottom 3rd of the tank. It is about 6 inches from the Mp40 but 8 inches below it. I am using 10k XM with superactinic vho suppliments. Thing is growing like a weed. In my experience encrusting montis are finicky with their placements. Took me about 3 months of moving my Jedi mind tricks around to find the perfect spot where it colored up.
 
I might say too much flow or too much light. I've found these don't love flow as much as acros (obviously) but not even as much as other montis. Same thing with lighting.

Maybe post a pic so we can see the set up of the piece as compared to the layout of equipment.
 
I might say too much flow or too much light. I've found these don't love flow as much as acros (obviously) but not even as much as other montis. Same thing with lighting.

Maybe post a pic so we can see the set up of the piece as compared to the layout of equipment.

If it was too much light wouldnt it bleach out though? Nevertheless i did lower it in the tank and reduced the flow for it to see what happens. Ill get a pic up tomorrow or sunday. Im working a 13hr shift currently so :/ haha

It just doesnt make sense to me, i know everything is in check and im having no issues with anything else, but the encrusting montis.
 
Mine seems happy at 7-8 dkh. When my dkh goes up the polyps tend to brown. But no matter what I do the base isn't as blue as when I first got it
 
I've had a couple of rainbow and superman montis strip and brown out when they first get introduced but with good conditions they soon recovered. I think its shipping stress as the same corals when acquired from other tanks seem to not suffer and don't strip or loose colour. It may well be shipping stress or adaption stress to artificial conditions they experience within our tanks.
 
I've had a couple of rainbow and superman montis strip and brown out when they first get introduced but with good conditions they soon recovered. I think its shipping stress as the same corals when acquired from other tanks seem to not suffer and don't strip or loose colour. It may well be shipping stress or adaption stress to artificial conditions they experience within our tanks.

This was my initial thought as well. I have had it in the tank and happy for months now and just recently this has happened so it makes me think otherwise.

I thought it was possible that i have a ULNS, so ive been feeding more. Everything is coloring up even more then before, yet the monti still looks ****ed off. I lowered it below the halide on the bottom of the tank (40g breeder). Light sits 4" above the surface, so approx. 20" from the light.

Do you think i should possible raise it higher? It was about 12" from the light when this started happening. I just moved it after my water change lastnight.
 
Mine seems happy at 7-8 dkh. When my dkh goes up the polyps tend to brown. But no matter what I do the base isn't as blue as when I first got it

I think encrusting montis are the most fragile to alk swings of any kind. I try to keep my alk at 11 and mine usually looks great. But my Ca reactor clogged and it dropped causing some stress.

So stable alk is a big help IMO. Plus target feeding Fruity Pebbles cereal. :celeb1:
 
I think encrusting montis are the most fragile to alk swings of any kind. I try to keep my alk at 11 and mine usually looks great. But my Ca reactor clogged and it dropped causing some stress.

So stable alk is a big help IMO. Plus target feeding Fruity Pebbles cereal. :celeb1:

Nothing like those delicious pebbles! haha

Ive been target feeding roti feast / oyster feast 3x's a week typically. As for the Alk swings, i honestly dont think im having any and if i am, what would be the best way to find out when i work 13hr days? Wouldn't i see signs in my other sps? Im going to start kalk in my topoff once i get my ATO, but as for now i dose nothing and everything stays in check from water changes. I test weekly and things aren't fluctuating.
 
What could i do to lower it in this case then?

If I were you, I wouldn't lower your alk for the sake of the one monti, if everything else is thriving. Just keep yours as stable as possible, which it sounds like you are. I picked up a rainbow monti a few months back. It was doing great until 2.5 weeks ago. The base bleached, but the polyps still have their colors. Now it's hiding under an overhang at the bottom. Encrusting monti's can definitely be challenging to keep happy!
 
My rainbow is 4" above my sand bed under my 250w halides and iDisk doing great for months. Alk is 9-9.5, Calc 420, nitrates/nitrites/ammonia/phosphate all 0
 
Missed autocorrect blunder and edit window

My rainbow is 4" above my sand bed under my 250w halides and it's been doing great for months. Alk is 9-9.5, Calc 420, nitrates/nitrites/ammonia/phosphate all 0

I don't feed it but supplement my tank with red sea energy a and b (amino acids, proteins, etc).
 
Heres a link to pics of my rainbow from when I first got it and put it in the sand bed, then I moved it a little higher, and then a little higher to where it is now (last pic)

It has really colored up!
 
Back
Top