SPS w/ Softies and LPS? Monti losing color

[NanoReefer411]

Hello everyone,
I just noticed someone asked a similar question. I have a 40 breeder. I purchased some Monti caps and mine have lost their true colors as well. I bought purple and green monti caps. The thing is, I have a mixed tank. I've got mostly LPS. I am getting more into SPS corals though. I have a yellow fiji leather, some zoanthids, and GSP. The yellow fiji isn't that close to the monti's and neither are the others. Monti's are pretty high in the aquarium and out of the others way. I have a pretty powerful skimmer from what I understand. I have the BM150. I also use carbon as I have read in the Coral book, I think by Anthony Calfo, this can help remove chemicals from the Soft Corals. The purple monti looks brown now, the green monti is a very light green.
Params are:
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
Phosphate levels 0ppm
DKH 9.6
Calcium is 400ppm right now
I have a very high turnover rate. 2500gph or more.
I have a 10k MH bulb and 2 65 watt pc actinics. Temp in the tank does not exceed 80* Not sure if the MH bulb makes all that much of a difference. I have a total water volume of 65 gallons. Please let me know what you all think. TY

Gina

 

[NanoReefer411]

Sorry, I see the book is written by Eric Borneman. Just went and looked at my book. ;-)

 

[NanoReefer411]

Whoops,
I forgot to mention the LPS I have. 2 open brains, lots of micro's, 2 blasto's, Branching Hammer. All of those are out of the SPS's way. SPS are the closest to the light. My LPS are not. I also have a cute little clam.

 

[returnofsid]

Your problem with the Montis could be that they're actually too close to the MH lighting. Montipora are one of the less light demanding SPS. It could also be a problem with chemicals from the soft corals. Running carbon as you're doing will help though. Keep in mind that carbon isn't going to be a "fix-all." Even in the ocean, GSP can harm SPS corals at a distance.

 

[SueT]

Gina, what wattage is your halide. You said 10k but is it a 175 or 250w?? This will help in trying to figure out if the montipora's are getting too much light or what.

 

[kevinpo]

Hi Gina,
Physical location in a small captive environment like our home tanks has little effect in regards to chemical warfare between corals. I have placed a new coral 7 feet away from another coral and seen sweeper tentacles emerge from the resident coral in just a few min. Carbon can be helpful in reducing the effect but it must be changed often (every 10 days or so).

The most reliable way to maintain SPS coral coloration is to duplicate the conditions from where they came. For coloration, light intensity, bulb spectral output, and water nutrient levels are critical factors. As a general rule SPS corals get lighter when exposed to higher light intensity and darken under lower light intensity. They can turn brown in response to sudden changes in environmental parameters. It is a defense mechanism where they increase their resident zooxanthellae (which is most often a coffee brown color) population. It can take up to 6 months to regain their original color in extreme cases. Normally it is less than 90 days and on average 14-21 days.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[Damsel13]

that was very helpful to me kevinpo. I have two monti cap. frags one is doing great the other is ummmm.........well comming along. It is much thinner and has more pronounced (what do you call those things?) polyps. Yes, I think that is right
That is all, thanks

 

[NanoReefer411]

Hi Everyone,
Thank you for responding. I didn't know anyone did b/c I didn't get an e-mail. Oh well, I'm glad I came back to check. My MH bulb is a 150 w hqi. I asked people on RC and they said I should place them higher in the tank since they were used to higher light. I'm going to try and move them around the tank a bit to see if I can get the color back. All my levels are perfect in my tank. I have a feeling though, that there is still phosphate in my tank although my test kit says there isn't. Is there a certain brand of Carbon that is better than others? This new stuff I bought, is really dusty. It's a pain to rinse.
I don't know how to measure bulb spectral output? =/ I don't know exactly what that means. I don't know how to tell. Any ideas? Does that mean getting a light meter? I'd like to know of a good MH bulb. I've heard 14k Phoenix bulbs are good and make colors pop. I think I actually bought a used bulb. =( I didn't know it at the time of course. What color and bulbs would you all recommend?
When I posted on the SPS section of RC some people said Monti's are actually not low light corals like people think. Well, I trust Kevin and I don't know this person.I've actually heard a ton of different things online. I guess I will have to see. I put them under PC's for now. The MH is still in the center of the tank, but I don't know how much MH light the Monti's will still get. Let me know what you all think. Thank you.

 

[Snappy]

In my experience monti caps can certainly tolerate lower light and will darken up but when kept in more intense light they turn a much prettier color over time and do a lot better. A bit of flow their way doesn't hurt either. I have one that in low light turns a dark brown and in high light it turns orange, which I prefer so it gets the light. My green gets almost flouresent under bright light, my purple stays that way-purple, etc. Once they get used to the light they look a lot better IMO.

 

[NanoReefer411]

I am trying them around in different spots right now. The purple one seemed to get a little more purple once I put him under just the pc's. I guess I'll see what happens. Now he's in a little more light. Just a tad of Mh and actinics. I actually had an old PFO Mh pendant that had 2 28watt pc's in them. My boyfriend gutted that and we're going to stick those above the tank as well. In certain spots, my aqualight pro is dark. The pc bulbs do not extend the total length of the tank. So we're going to add those on. I really wanted to try T-5's. I just wouldn't have enough room for them. Maybe next time around. T-5's sure are awesome. I've seen a total SPS tank under just t'5s. The SPS were amazing. Great growth and colors. =)