Superman monti questions

[Fish2me]

1. What is growing in the middle of Superman?
2. Is my Superman getting too much light?

[TysTanks]

Most likely just some sponge. Doesn’t look harmful.

It looks a little bit pale which may be an indication of too much light. You may also want to share your water parameters.

A sure way to know if it’s receiving too much light is to rent or borrow a par meter.

[vb_reefs]

I agree with Ty to find out your water parameter. From my experience when a coral looked pale, either phosphate or nitrate was low. In my case, my nitrate was reading zero. You could feed more if that’s your issue, but you would have to watch phosphate levels also. I started to dose nitrates and the coral began to color back up. Definitely go slow to prevent any ugly algae growth with the increase nutrients though.

[dizzyjay]

Agree with everything said; my Superman monti does well at the bottom of the tank under a frag rack so it definitely does well in lower light. The spot in the center is a dead spot that has been overcome with either a sponge or an algae of some type. If you can remove it there are options. If it’s a sponge, a touch of rodi on the spot and air should kill it (then scrape off). If it’s algae rodi works and you can use a dip that addresses algae. I like professor polyps bubble bath coral dip for algae- it is hydrogen peroxide based. I think revive also has an algaecide.

The paleness is either light or nutrient related but since it looks like the whole coral is pale I’d lean towards nutrients; def check your nitrates and phos.

[Fish2me]

Thanks everyone. I’ll lower the monti. I’ve been dosing phosphate and nitrates. The spot in the middle is getting bigger, so I’ll remove it. Nice to have a wealth of experience on this forum.

[vb_reefs]

I was trying to post this sooner, but the site was down. This was a before and after of a Miami hurricane chalice. I too thought it was bleaching from too much light. Zero nitrates was my real issue. Now phosphates are between 0.05-0.08 and nitrates are currently 8-10. I’ve been playing around in increasing nitrates slowly, but 8-10 has the corals looking happy so far. Hopefully this helps.