Montipora Coral Help

[rgardner]

My montipora "red" frag I got seems to be losing its color. I am currently running 2 250watt 20k halides and its position is currently high up close to the lights. Is this a low light coral? My water params are good but dont have test for calcium. I am going to have my calcium tested soon. Should I lower the coral?

Thanks

 

[jcusmarine]

How long have you had the tank setup, and is the frag a monti cap or digitata?

 

[dannybradley]

That can be a bit much for newly introduced Montipora capricornis. Though they can take that much, and thrive in it, they will bleach if introduced to that much light too quickly.

They are variable light coral. They will grow in as low as 30 PAR, but I've kept them at over 200 PAR.

 

[rgardner]

the tank has been running for 3.5 months and its a monti cap very small. I will lower the frag and see what happends

 

[derek_s]

Good advice. And from my experience corals often recover from a brown out state a lot more rapidly than a bleached out state. So lower to begin with is a good idea in most cases.

 

[dannybradley]

I had a nice green Merulina turn completely white after I changed a client's bulbs. I moved it down about a foot and it's recovered to a brown state and I expect it to start turning green again soon.