Ok so I have had a 30 gal solana set up for almost 2 years now and I have had my up's and down's. Made more than a few mistakes despite what I have read on here and other places. But in the last 2 days or so I have been having major coral issues. My purple monti that has been in the same spot for 8 months or so is all of a sudden flaking off its outer skin. My frog spawn (also been with me for a while) has had 2 of the 3 heads totally vanished. All other inhabitants seem to be doing ok. Checked all my parameters today and the pH was low 7.8ish, but all other levels were good. My bulb was changed about a month ago. Any ideas as to what is going on would be great. Tank breakdown: 30 gal current solana, 150 watt Sun Pod, factory skimmer, cheato in 2nd chamber in the back, 35-40 lbs. live rock, 30 lbs sand. Black clown fish, yellow watchman goby, few crabs, brittle star, squamosa clam, feather duster and snails. Few zoo's and muchrooms, candy cane, ric's, cup coral, stubby leather, purple and orange montis, frogspawn, blasto's, acan's, green and yellow polyps.
That's a toughy. I got a montipora digitata that just won't do worth a flip, while the frag I got at the meeting of blue cap is doing fine. Go figure.
In my experience montiporas start to look bad when the calcium gets too low. Alkalinity is also important. Are you having temperature swings? That may do it also. Any missing fish?
No missing fish. I have 2 heaters in the tank, and no temp swings as far as I have seen. Calcium seems ok and the other monti is fine. This may just be a case of bad luck. I really appreciate the replys.
I don't have exp w/Montipora, but regular waterchanges really help to head off alot of problems. My 135 gal. is alot easier to keep than my 29 gal Biocube. The main challenge I have is keeping the temp from fluctuating in my small system. Temp can cause problems w/corals. I'd just do a large water change and double ck all parameters incl. salinity as well as temp. and alk. Sometimes we don't have explanations for these things.
Post the calc., alk., and salinty readings, and if the salinity is with a calibrated refractometer. Is the temp getting above 84 to 86???
Cal. good, no refact. but SG 1.023. I always make up my water changes in advance, and heat them to match the tank. No heat fluctuations, the tank has no canopy so heat has never been an issue 78-80 all day everyday. Not sure about alk. will need to dig deeper in my box of stuff and see if I have a test kit. Sorry for the late reply been real busy.
