Monti cap discoloration

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

My levels are
Alk 8.3
Calcium 420
Mag 1350
Temp 78.3
Ph 8
Salinity 1.026 calibrated.
Nitrate <1
Phos 0.02
No sump
No skimmer
No carbon dosing
No gfo
All I use is a little floss for bigger bits. I dose kalkwasser in my ato to keep alk and calcium level at 1tsp per us gallon (2 gallon ato, 1.5 to 2 week supply) I only have 2 clowns, a ywg and pistol shrimp and 3 hermits.
I had cyano, now a little dino i believe.

 

[jda]

Those mostly look fine to me. I would look lights... do you have bulbs that need changed or have you LEDs that are run too high or too low without proper spectrum? Also, I would recommend a skimmer even if it is HOB - the gas exchange is very important and they also remove metals and other toxins bound to organics. Even a partial use skimmer could be of benefit.

Cyano and Dinos are just part of life. They should come and go and there might be patches from time to time. Keep in mind that zoox are dinos too and anything that you do to inhibit dinos in your tank will also reflect somewhat in the coral, but the are protected a bit by the coral. If you don't want dinos, then elevated nitrates can poison them, but then you cause other issues. I get some small patches of diatoms and cyano that stick around for a few weeks and then disappear... no big deal. If you have excessive amounts of any then this can be an issue.

Those montis appear to be coming back, so take this as proof that your N and P levels are OK and do not need to adjusting. If you feel like playing with them, then just feed more. Remember that corals prefer to get the nitrogen from ammonia and ammonium which requires the fish. Nitrate is not a preferred method of getting nitrogen since the coral has to spend a lot of energy getting the nitrogen from the molecule.

Just a small overdose of Kalk can wreak havoc on SPS if the pH goes up just a little bit. Be careful with this in the ATO.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

The cyano and Dino’s are from lack of nutrients. Sterile systems cause dinos. That’s how I got dinos. Too sterile for awhile and pow. Dinoflagellates. Dirty water and no more dinos. .1 phosphate 10ppm nitrates

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Those mostly look fine to me. I would look lights... do you have bulbs that need changed or have you LEDs that are run too high or too low without proper spectrum? Also, I would recommend a skimmer even if it is HOB - the gas exchange is very important and they also remove metals and other toxins bound to organics. Even a partial use skimmer could be of benefit.

Cyano and Dinos are just part of life. They should come and go and there might be patches from time to time. Keep in mind that zoox are dinos too and anything that you do to inhibit dinos in your tank will also reflect somewhat in the coral, but the are protected a bit by the coral. If you don't want dinos, then elevated nitrates can poison them, but then you cause other issues. I get some small patches of diatoms and cyano that stick around for a few weeks and then disappear... no big deal. If you have excessive amounts of any then this can be an issue.

Those montis appear to be coming back, so take this as proof that your N and P levels are OK and do not need to adjusting. If you feel like playing with them, then just feed more. Remember that corals prefer to get the nitrogen from ammonia and ammonium which requires the fish. Nitrate is not a preferred method of getting nitrogen since the coral has to spend a lot of energy getting the nitrogen from the molecule.

Just a small overdose of Kalk can wreak havoc on SPS if the pH goes up just a little bit. Be careful with this in the ATO.

I ran with kalk in the ato for over a year at the beginning when the montipora first started encrusting and growing, then kalk couldn't keep up, it was dropping 1.5 dkh per day when growth was really fast, so I went to 2 part with a doser to keep it stable for another year .

Slowly growth slowed and i spent ages thinking lighting and or water, so i was doing even more frequent water changes to help with the water, that didn't seem to help and growth was still slowing . I was tinkering with lighting as I thought I had bleached them slightly.
I have had the same light, a chinese black box viparspectra for nearly 3 years now. I know it can grow coral as the pics show and is still growing the digi, i haven't adjusted it for 3 months now as I'm getting digi growth so I've left it alone.
But while researching on here for my issues, I kept coming across a low phosphates issue,
my salifert kit led me to believe had had phosphates, but I took a sample to my lfs and tested with a hanna and tested 0.01 so with accuracy could be zero? So since dosing phosphates my pale, bleached frogspawn is now green and the sps is coming back.

A bit of background, The tank was started Aug 2016, the rock I've had in all my tanks so over 14 years old now. I have been skimmerless for over 2 years, the same 3 fish for nearly 3.5 years
(I had a royal gramma for the first year that sadly died) I'm feeding them heavier than I ever have before, since having this suggested to me to feed heavier, I have tried it and have stuck with it.

So with the same 3 fish being in there when things were growing great, also now with extra food going in the nitrates still are low, I'm looking to dose it for this reason. The fish waste maybe keeping the colour and little growth I have, I just don't feel i can feed the 3 fish enough food for them to turn into coral food and not be detritus in the sand. Also running a skimmer will compete with the coral by removing its food.

Put it this way I'm going to take the risk with dosing nitrates aswel as phosphates for the small price of £3.49 for a diy solution of potassium nitrate, and see if it works, as when all my sps died and things looked rubbish I was tempted to give up, but the hammer i have was the first coral i bought all those years ago and I couldn't give in just yet.