Montipora might not be looking so good.

[d2mini]

This is from when i first got him a couple weeks ago...

Now he seems to be a little less green... the color is getting a bit drab, more around the edges. And the green polyps might not be extended quite as far as they are in that pic. It's just a slight difference and hard to tell but if my life depended on it and I had to choose between whether he's looking better, the same or worse, I'd choose worse.
It's currently sitting at about half way up in my tank. I have 6-36 watt T5's with individual reflectors. Calc is good, Mag is a little low, salinity is good, temp is currently swaying up and down about 4 degrees during the day/night. It's usually somewhere between 76-80 degrees.
I need to do the full barrage of tests tonite.
Anyway, i've read that these are one of the easiest corals. Should I be worried? Should I move it? Am i just over worrying?

 

[daugherty]

i would maybe move it up a bit and try and figure out the temp swings you really want to keep it down to 1 or 2 degrees in a day 1 is by far the best.

 

[d2mini]

Ya, i don't have a heater because my lights in the canopy are so hot.
I have a couple fans on a timer to keep the temps down.
I guess I should get a heater for my sump.

 

[daugherty]

i would use a heater but get a heater controller so that as soon as the temp drops it turns the heater on and off when it gets to temp that way you dont have to mess with the settings on the heater and be worried about it being set wrong.

 

[dustin_P74]

also it mights just be that all corals look different under different lighting and it might just be losing a little bit of its color because of your lights but it could still be perfectly healthy

 

[ccCapt]

I think it's just that you tank is still virtually brand new. It's been running what...2 months? There are countless chemical actions and reactions taking place in the tank. A new tank is not "stable".
Looking at the pics you just posted, I don't really see any coralline algae on the back glass. Algae is 1 of the most simple forms of life and coralline uses the elements in the water, just like the more complex corals, and excretes them as calcium carbonate. If you don't have a good growth of coralline, I wouldn't expect to see any hard corals prosper.
Give it time. Nothing happens fast in this hobby except bad things.

 

[d2mini]

I think it's just that you tank is still virtually brand new. It's been running what...2 months? There are countless chemical actions and reactions taking place in the tank. A new tank is not "stable".
Looking at the pics you just posted, I don't really see any coralline algae on the back glass. Algae is 1 of the most simple forms of life and coralline uses the elements in the water, just like the more complex corals, and excretes them as calcium carbonate. If you don't have a good growth of coralline, I wouldn't expect to see any hard corals prosper.
Give it time. Nothing happens fast in this hobby except bad things.

Cool, yeah i understand.
I am getting little pencil eraser size spots of corraline on my glass/overflow now and the coralline on my rocks is increasing. This is why I was trying to start with the easy stuff but I do fully expect to have some growing pains.
Just want to make sure that there isn't anything easy i can do like move him or something like that to make him happier. I just want to keep stuff alive at this point, not even hoping for growth. haha

 

[Gooseman]

Be careful or some of those growing pains are gonna be quite expensive :twocents:

This is why I was trying to start with the easy stuff but I do fully expect to have some growing pains.

 

[JAG107]

I'd wait at least a couple more months before getting any more SPS. My first monti went into a 5 month old tank under halides and is doing fine. 2 months is kinda iffy. Hopefully it will like your flow and lights and hang on through the barrage of chemical and temperature changes it's certain to endure until things settle down. Montis are fairly hardy for SPS, but "hardy" is relative. SPS are more fragile than most average tank additions. Good luck with your frag! The color is likely to change with time until things settle, and maybe you'll be lucky and not have it begin bleaching.

 

[JAG107]

Also it would be better to keep your temp at MINIMUM 78, corals prefer 80 or so. My tank was between 82-85 all summer and had great success with growth and coloration. Even a cheap ($30) heater controller from Ebay would be a great idea and help stabilize those temps.

 

[dustin_P74]

if you feel that your monti might bight the dust then see if your LFS will hold it while you tank settles down

 

[Oscarsdad608]

If any thing I would not move it up. I have 4 colors of monti cap and the green seems to want the least amount of lights.

 

[Bifferwine]

I agree with Jag, in that yeah, montis are considered "hardy" SPS corals, but out of all the corals to keep, SPS are widely considered the most challenging. So even the "hardy" montis are much more difficult to keep that some of the "difficult" softies and LPS corals, which, overall, are much more tolerant of new tanks.

 

[Oscarsdad608]

When I first switched to sps my tank had been running for 3 and a half years, I lost more than a few frags. I tried doing everything I could but My water was good for softies. After I started testing and dosing I started to get the sps dialed in.

 

[Gooseman]

when my tank was 6 months old i bought a 3" poker stars montipora for $140 and it lasted a whole month ... the blue bleached and the green stars turned red ... there are still some red polyps on there but the nice color is gone ... costly lesson i guess

 

[JAG107]

Wow that sucks, Gooseman.
My first SPS was a browned monti cap frag 1" square I bought for $5 in April of this year, now its neon orange and has whorls, 3"x3". Funny how the cheap ones fare better than the really costly ones...
Now I have softies that struggle to live amongst the thriving SPS. I don't get it.

 

[d2mini]

Here's my full set of tests taken at 77.4 degrees.
Salinity 1.024
PH 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Mag 1250
Cal 420
kh 105ppm

 

[Gooseman]

i have to agree with others on the fact that you need to get your temp up to 80 degrees and try to keep it there if possible

 

[d2mini]

Ok cool, next purchase = heater and then a controller.
Thanks!

 

[JAG107]

raise your kh also, 105 is too low. you should get it up to at least 140 IMO
You shouldn't even have to test nitrite and ammonia unless some holocaust happens like a major die-off. Most important tests for SPS are:
pH
Calc
Alk dKh
Mag
nitrate
phosphate
Also, make sure your salinity doesn't get too far below 1.024, natural sea water is usually around 1.025 to 1.026