no luck with monti

[Scots_art]

this is really starting to annoy me now .
I am not one for SPS corals , but i do have a soft spot for all Montiporia species.

i bought an orange plating monti , and a branching blueberry monti a while back.
Started them off on the sand bed so i could acclimatise them to my lighting , then lifted them up over the next few days.

The orange plate has its polyps out all the time , i noticed a section bleaching but put that down to being covered by a bit of rock causing shade. i have moved it into the open so all of it gets light.
It is almost directly under one of my PAR38 bulbs , and sits in one of the stronger flow sections of the tank.
But i have noticed an other section bleaching now , and the blueberry has bleached completely and that is ontop of a tower directly under the bulb by 7 inches or a bit more .

My water readings are all present and correct.

temp 75F
SG 35ppt
PH 8.3
dKH 11
Po4 hardly causes a reaction on the test kit.
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 5
Nitrite 0
calcium 450

the flow in my tank is not constant as i have an MP10 on reef crest set to the 9th LED at max. and i have a small surface skimmer pump which adds a constant 300 LPH flow.


yet i know of someone else who never test his tank for anything , does water changes as and when he can be bothered . has less lighting than me ( he still uses the old T8 bulbs ) and his SPS are going nuts in growth .

 

[kbuser92]

I only have a green birdsnest and a red monti, but mine both did well under T5 and are doing better under LED's now. If they are both bleaching, it's possible that you moved then up to fast. Try moving them down and dimming the light until they show colour, and if it can't dim, turn the cycle down by a few hours and then lengthen it by a half hour a week until it's back to normal after they colour up again.

 

[Scots_art]

i moved them up slowly over the course of a week . the blueberry is at the highest point in the tank , and the plating is further down what would be mid way almost. cant dim the LED's .
my lighting period is 11 hours .
plus i cant move them as they are both stuck in place.

will reduce the lighting period see if that has any effect.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

They need to be lower in the tank. Monti seems to do really well in my tank on lower to mid levels away from the light

 

[monique]

I think you are going to fast. I have monti and acro under my lights but they are probably 12 in away. I use the guisemann teszla leds on full power for 12 hr day. Fade in and fade out. These lights are brite. Me anemone is 32 in from the light of to the side slightly and get all the light he wants. I put him there and he has never moved[ year and a half]. His color is exellent and he never streches out for light Your corals would stand a better chance with less light rather then more. If you really want them in that location the place 2 or 3 layers of window screen over the tank to shade them. Give it a wk or 10 days and then remove 1 layer, wk to 10 then 2nd layer, etc. If you have glass or something on top you can place the screening as to only shade the area you want to.

 

[Scots_art]

who mentioned more light ?
you cant compare an anemone with SPS , as an anemone will always move until it finds a spot it likes . my tank cloned moved then settled , then moved , settled for months . and has settled more or less centre of tank.
its not as simple as moving the corals they cant be moved as they are 100% stuck .

no way of putting anything over as the tank is open top no brace bars to sit anything.

sps are funny old things , as i have seen some inches under 300 watts of LED and ive seen them way down on the sand bed almost in tanks with T5's.
i used to know someone who kept nothing but SPS and she used 1000 watts of MH had some of her sps almost growing out the water .

think i will stick to LPS from now on.

 

[monique]

I am not saying MORE LIGHT. I am saying take more time to adjust the corals to the light you have. If you want something to use to support the sun shade see if you can find or buy a framed window screen of the proper size to cover the part of the tank you need to cover and be supported by the sides of the tank. Most people have an old one sitting in the garage. Or you can buy one. Over here in canada you could purchase one for 20 or 30 dollars. Lay your extra screen on top and there you go.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Scot,
The monti is an sps but has the same characteristics as lps. Same light reqirements anyways. Don't give up that quickly to sps, I think the stuff is amazing. All coral that you put in your tank will take a while to figure the best place for it, but it will work. That's what we are here for.

 

[ccCapt]

Exactly which PAR38 bulb do you have? Some are OK for reef tanks, some are not.

 

[Scots_art]

i use lighting that is specifically made for marine lighting. it is well and truly tested in the UK.

this is the UK we do not get framed window screen as we dont usually get enough sun shine that needs blocking .
their are a few stores that import the kit from America but because they do so they charge a premium and the ones that are sold in the UK have very little if any effect on reducing lighting and mainly bought to stop carpet surfing fish.

 

[Scots_art]

just done a quick search for solar window screens that will reduce the amount of light , and the company will only do 1 standard size at £70 in my money plus a further £18 for shipping .. £88 total .. thats over $160 dollars lol.


the company just replied back straight away , saying they can sell the solar mesh per meter without any framing material. i could buy enough to cover the end where the monti are and peg it to the tank.
but i believe the blueberry has gone completely as their are no signs of any polyps at all.

 

[ReeferRob]

i moved them up slowly over the course of a week . the blueberry is at the highest point in the tank , and the plating is further down what would be mid way almost. cant dim the LED's .
my lighting period is 11 hours .
plus i cant move them as they are both stuck in place.

will reduce the lighting period see if that has any effect.

A week is WAY too fast for acclimating a coral. It takes me a month to settle one in on lights. Then if I see it lightening it goes to the bottom of the tank and starts a climb up the rocks for another 3 weeks till it looks right.

 

[Scots_art]

really there is no real answer as such.
i have been talking to people who never have and never will acclimate coral , they just stick them straight into their tank from shipping and they seem to get away with it.
others only acclimate to light for 1 day and stick in place and get away with it.

everyone will have their own experiences , answers .


one other person i spoke to said he was told acclimate to light for 2 weeks but the coral he had started to die off , bleach only after 48 hours in his tank despite all readings being spot on. since then he has given up marine keeping completely and now keeps a breeding group of 20 poison dart frogs lol

 

[kbuser92]

Not to be offensive, but you came asking for advice and we are offering it. Just because one person does something doesn't mean it will work again. Every tank, every coral is different. Some people have two or more of the same thing in the same tank and they act differently.

The consensus is that you acclimated too quickly and I would suggest cutting your light to 4-y hours and adding a half hour every week until you are back to where you want it. Also, 11 hours is a little long in my opinion.

 

[monique]

window screen in canada is usually placed in a window so you can open it and keep the bugs out. don't you guys over there open your windows. don't you have bugs over there. framed window screen is a screen already framed for the said window that is removable.Thats why its called "window screen". You can buy rolls of the stuff 30 inches wide and miles long. Even in the british isles it wouldn't be that expensive.

 

[Scots_art]

i know i came asking for advice , what i am saying is that everyone will have their own answer based on experience for their own tank . that is what i am saying.
just like Rob is the only person i have seen who takes a month to acclimate his to lighting . here in the UK a week is seen as long enough - to long to acclimate to lighting.

Yes we open windows but window screens / mesh is not such a big deal here i dont know of 1 single person that uses it . you have various kinds of mesh available , some to stop insects of set size , mesh that wont stop insects what so ever but will cut out UVA , UVB , heat from the sun , and mesh that will stop bugs and light , heat .
for years people with open top tanks wanted a way to stop fish from jumping . but now a few shops in the UK have imported a kit from the states that comes with frame for set sizes of tanks with a mesh that has almost next to no effect on lighting what so ever going by the few who have tested it on lighting.

thanks for the replies.
will go back to barely posting if at all , as the term lost in translation springs to mind.
people are not understanding the way i word things , and getting the wrong end of the stick by what i say.

 

[monique]

i know i came asking for advice , what i am saying is that everyone will have their own answer based on experience for their own tank . that is what i am saying.
just like Rob is the only person i have seen who takes a month to acclimate his to lighting . here in the UK a week is seen as long enough - to long to acclimate to lighting.

Yes we open windows but window screens / mesh is not such a big deal here i dont know of 1 single person that uses it . you have various kinds of mesh available , some to stop insects of set size , mesh that wont stop insects what so ever but will cut out UVA , UVB , heat from the sun , and mesh that will stop bugs and light , heat .
for years people with open top tanks wanted a way to stop fish from jumping . but now a few shops in the UK have imported a kit from the states that comes with frame for set sizes of tanks with a mesh that has almost next to no effect on lighting what so ever going by the few who have tested it on lighting.

thanks for the replies.
will go back to barely posting if at all , as the term lost in translation springs to mind.
people are not understanding the way i word things , and getting the wrong end of the stick by what i say.

The kind i use is for keeping bugs out. 3 or4 layers over the corals, take one off a wk. it blocks enough light but doesnt make it too dark. and no 1 month is not really too long. i've had coral good to go in a couple days and coral that took 3 wks. just depends on where it came from. you could also use plastic egg crate to support the screen and use plastic sheeting that a little milky looking for the layers.

 

[monique]

i think i deleted your last response. if you really want to open your windows and can't get readymade screens just buy the screen in a roll and and a construction staple gun. away you go. a little bit of light wood trim to cover the frame. works great.

 

[ReeferRob]

I've looked at 2 different LED manufacturers sites that said 6 weeks. I'm trying to keep you from making some of the mistakes I made over the last 30 years. Corals are slow growing and slow to adapt to conditions they're not used to or don't grow in in the wild. I'm in uncharted territory here with LEDs, I can tell you how to do it with VHO lamps, but I'm learning these things myself and taking notes as I go. I tried to speed it up on a Lobophillia and damn near killed it so I'm doing it 1 month minimum.

 

[monique]

thats strange ah, my son is into the tech end of the hobby. constantly tweecking. if he leaves it alone everything dies. i am the opposite, i leave it alone, everythings great, if i start playing around everything dies.