having trouble with monti caps...

[dailydriven911]

I recently purchased a couple monti caps one red and the other green (w/ purple edge) and for some reason I've lost most of the true color and algae has started growing on them. I have the worst luck with caps! I currently have 5 sps frags (pink/purple mili, pink w/blue tip mili, purple acro, and a couple of different acro's that are doing great. My parameters are:

temp-78-79 degrees
alk-9.8dkh
calc-450 ppm
ph-8.0-8.1
nitrate-less than 10ppm
phosphate-less than .04ppm
mag-testing tomorrow not sure.

I dose c-balance everyday and feed cyclopeeze, and coral plankton every other day or so. No skimmer just water changes 10%-15% every week. 1000 gph of flow mostly from the (2) hydor koralia's 400 gph each. random flow not direct. Actually my caps are under lower flow and about 12" away from the light. I'm using a sunpod 150 watt m/h w/ 14k bulb. I also have a toadstool, frogspawn, gsp, green and purple mushrooms, ricordia, small xenia frag in the tank as well, all toward the bottom of the tank. Should I provide them with more flow? Should I lower the caps from the light? Are they just adjusting to my tank conditions? These are both from herefishyfishy's tank and they look awesome in his tank but awful in mine. I've had them for about 2 weeks as well. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jayson

 

[Damsel13]

ooohh I'll be lurking here.

 

[SueT]

leathers are hard to keep with most sps corals. They can give off a chemical warfare that sps can't handle. That jumped out at me first. Other than that phopshates are too high IMO and IME. I wouldn't move them down anymore. More flow may help but if algae is growing on them they may be past saving.

 

[LakeEd]

Jayson,

It sounds like there may be a "Flow" thang that your Cap's aren't liking. I'm sure you have configured your tanks flow so your other SPS's are receiving most of the benifit from that... and further down in your tank your Cap's aren't getting as much flow as they would like. See if there is a way to give them slightly more flow, and hopefully they will respond to that.

There could also be a problem with some chemical battles going on in your tank... especially with it having such a small water volumn. Toadstools & Star Polyups seem to be VERY toxic to SPS corals, and can release numerous chemicals that just overpower our SPS's. Very heavy use of Carbon can help with that chemical war, but it is still going to happen, making a "Mixed Reef" something hard to keep going... especially in the smaller tanks.

 

[LakeEd]

Sue beat me! *grinz*

 

[kevinpo]

I would also recommend removing the leather and GSP's as they produce chemicals (terpenes) that many LPS and SPS corals cannot tolerate. The lighting is fine but the nutrient levels need to be reduced. Both nitrate and phosphate should be undetectable. 5-10ppm of nitrate you might be able to get away with but expect some algae growth.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[CCR]

Move the caps to more lighting and flow.Mine are under 400wt 15k. When i moved my green, purple gim down, it had a fit.

about 6" down

about 5"down

 

[danno14]

another consideration

is the lack of skimming... This would benefit in the removal of whichever compounds from the leather may skim out. FWIW. D

 

[dailydriven911]

Wow guys thanks for all the help/feedback! I noticed they were turning white and losing their color so that is why I moved them away from the light fearing light shock but that can't be the case. I think the best thing for me to do is either remove the gsp/toadstool or buy a hang on skimmer. I have an eclipse 25 gallon tank with the built in filtration (removed bio wheel). I think I'm going to remove the top and stick with a hang on skimmer. Any recommendations?
I will also move the caps into more flow as well. Should I still remove the softies?

Thank You,

Jayson

 

[SueT]

if you are wanting to keep sps corals I'd remove anything that is not sps. I agree with your idea to add a HOB skimmer. I think that'll help with your sps. If you had a much larger system I then might consider trying to keep them but I think I'd remove whatever isn't sps and go from there.

Hey Ed we all got to it..

I actually keep all but about 2-3 of my plating montipora under a good amount of light. My purple, both Idaho grape and Charlie's purple plating sure do like the light. The fade if not given good lighting.

 

[dailydriven911]

if you are wanting to keep sps corals I'd remove anything that is not sps. I agree with your idea to add a HOB skimmer. I think that'll help with your sps. If you had a much larger system I then might consider trying to keep them but I think I'd remove whatever isn't sps and go from there.

Hey Ed we all got to it..

I actually keep all but about 2-3 of my plating montipora under a good amount of light. My purple, both Idaho grape and Charlie's purple plating sure do like the light. The fade if not given good lighting.

Thanks for the advice. I've actually decided to sell all the corals in my tank as well as the sps. I've got a 75 gallon in wall project I will be working on as soon as we get into a new house (should be soon). I want to make sure my new tank is absolutely ready for sps this time!

 

[stonycorals]

I've kept sps with nitrates around 10-15ppm, at least according to Salifert. That's not the issue. I think the key is that you just recently purchased them. It can take months for sps to adapt to your system. Always start them lower in your tank, when they start looking good, then move them up.... Since most caps are much hardier than most acros, I'd say it's simply an acclimation issues (though your alk is a bit high for my taste).

Most HOB skimmers are pure crap. If you can build a real skimmer, a large counter current or something, that would be ideal.

 

[dailydriven911]

Thanks for your help stonycorals I will keep that in mind when setting up my 75. I actually decided to sell all my sps that were currently in my tank to class clown who already is keeping sps sucessfully for awhile.

 

[Dragonfly]

White patches appearing ?? Have you checked for Monti eating Nudi's ?