losing montipora

[crfish2001]

i recently purchased a m.digitata, it was growing very fast and doing fine then the bottom started turning white, i made some frags to save it in case it dies.can somebody help me this is my first sps.

sg.:1.023
nitrite:0
nitrate:10ppm
temp:78f
clcium:350

 

[MIKE NY1]

Your nitrates are alittle high and your calcium is low, bring it up to about 400-450. What type/wattage of lighting do you have? What's your Alk level? What kind of current is there around it? Also I keep my S.G around 1.026.

Mike

 

[crfish2001]

i figured my nitrates might be the causes of it, im in the process of raising the calcium as far as the alk im waiting for an alk test kit to come in the mail should be here in a couple of days. i kind of jump the gun On gettin the sps,i never worried about it much since i did not have any stony corals. i also slowly lowered the sg. it was a bout 1.026 i thought that woul be too high.i thank you for your help I STIILL HAVE ALOT TO LEARN

 

[XXX]

10 nitrates will not harm corals. Yes, bring your calcium up. If you haven't done so cut off the bleached area and re-mount the coral.

What do you mean "jumped the gun"? How old is your tank?

 

[crfish2001]

What I meant by "jumped the gun" was that I should have bought a alk test before trying to keep sps corals,I currently have 4x160w vho lighting over a 125g tank(2 actinic and 2 white.)maybe youre right about not getting enough light at the base,it was kind stuck in a piece of rock.Thanks.Oh this tank has been running since april 2001 which was transfered from my 75 gallon which had been running for about 1yr.

[ January 09, 2002: Message edited by: crfish2001 ]</p>

 

[Ben1]

Again what type of lighting?

raise the CA, lower the nitrate. I dont think 10ppm of nitrate would kill a montipora.

FWIW I keep all my systems at 1.026 and feel this is more natural.

 

[davelin315]

Nitrates at that level and calcium at that level will not cause bleaching in montipora IME. They are a fairly easy species to keep and lighting is not a huge concern. That said, however, you do need to still have good lighting. Since it is bleaching from the bottom up, I would hazard a guess that the problem is that the bottom is not getting enough light and that is what is causing the bleaching. I have several species of montipora in my tank and I don't have especially strong lighting, but I do have 6x96W PCs over it. It's not MH, but the montipora does well under it. IME over the years with sps (and I don't have a ton of it) the bleaching from the bottom is a sign of weak or insufficient lighting, so I would check your bulbs out. There's also the possibility which has been raised that you simply may not have enough light.

 

[chris_h]

I do not think that nitrate is the problem.