Acan Issues

Fatmike92 · Mar 6, 2022

Acan help!

So I’m about 50/50 on acans right now. Some are doing great and the other half not so great and I don’t know why.

I’ve had them roughly a month.

Any advice on getting them back to normal and healthy.

Currently the ones that are struggling are on a frag rack That is low light/ low flow

I use Red Sea Pro Salt

Current readings from today

Salinity: 1.026
Alk: 11.5 (help me get this lower! mainly due to Red Sea Pro Salt)
pH: 8.0
Phosphate: 0.1
Nitrates: 10-15
Calc: 450

blaxsun · Mar 6, 2022

The best way to get your alkalinity down is to do your water changes with a different salt, like Red Sea Blue Bucket.

Fatmike92 · Mar 6, 2022

blaxsun said:
The best way to get your alkalinity down is to do your water changes with a different salt, like Red Sea Blue Bucket.

yeah i am definitely going to change salts. looking into what one currently

DE FISH · Mar 6, 2022

Fatmike92 said:
yeah i am definitely going to change salts. looking into what one currently

I don’t think alk is your issue here based on Red Sea’s coral pro mixed reef recipe @ 34ppt I think your issues are lighting or feeding of the corals

is there any difference In placement flow ect between the ones doing well and the ones doing bad ?

Fatmike92 · Mar 6, 2022

DE FISH said:
I don’t think alk is your issue here based on Red Sea’s coral pro mixed reef recipe @ 34ppt I think your issues are lighting or feeding of the corals

is there any difference In placement flow ect between the ones doing well and the ones doing bad ?

I would say no.

maybe less flow by a little but the lighting is exactly the same level

DE FISH · Mar 6, 2022

Fatmike92 said:
maybe less flow by a little but the lighting is exactly the same level

If alk was your issue surely all your acans would be suffering ? It’s strange! Acans can be tricky even compared to sps that are meant to be harder to keep.

FishyDP · Mar 6, 2022

In my experience acans like being fed, really low par and moderate flow.

Shirak · Mar 7, 2022

Fatmike92 said:
I would say no.

maybe less flow by a little but the lighting is exactly the same level

What is the par?
Nutrients and feeding?

ClownSchool · Mar 7, 2022

Fatmike92 said:
Acan help!

So I’m about 50/50 on acans right now. Some are doing great and the other half not so great and I don’t know why.

I’ve had them roughly a month.

Any advice on getting them back to normal and healthy.

Currently the ones that are struggling are on a frag rack That is low light/ low flow

I use Red Sea Pro Salt

Current readings from today

Salinity: 1.026
Alk: 11.5 (help me get this lower! mainly due to Red Sea Pro Salt)
pH: 8.0
Phosphate: 0.1
Nitrates: 10-15
Calc: 450

In addition to other suggestion to lower alkalinity like changing salt, one of the easiest ways to get your pH up to 8.3 is by adding airflow across the surface of your water, like turning on the ceiling fan if available, or place a small fan close to you tank and let run.

Fatmike92 · Mar 8, 2022

ClownSchool said:
In addition to other suggestion to lower alkalinity like changing salt, one of the easiest ways to get your pH up to 8.3 is by adding airflow across the surface of your water, like turning on the ceiling fan if available, or place a small fan close to you tank and let run.

interesting I need to look into this.

so not exactly disruption at the water surface? but more fresh air cycling over the tank itself?

Fatmike92 · Mar 8, 2022

Shirak said:
What is the par?
Nutrients and feeding?

no idea on par throughout the tank. I would love to get that figured out

But I run a viparspectra. It hangs 10” off the water

Blues run at 30% from 8am to 8pm

Whites run at 5% from 10am to 2pm

Shirak · Mar 8, 2022

Doesn't sound like it's turned up too high on the light but I don't have experience with it. BRS did some videos on different led lights and had par numbers and spread. They are on a frag rack so maybe they are getting too much light? My Acans do best down low in the tank where flow is moderate and light is low and they get fed 2 or 3 times a week with pellets and frozen food.

JaimeAdams · Mar 8, 2022

Micromussa do much better with regular feedings. Try target feeding them twice a week.

Fatmike92 · Mar 9, 2022

Shirak said:
Doesn't sound like it's turned up too high on the light but I don't have experience with it. BRS did some videos on different led lights and had par numbers and spread. They are on a frag rack so maybe they are getting too much light? My Acans do best down low in the tank where flow is moderate and light is low and they get fed 2 or 3 times a week with pellets and frozen food.

I moved them off the frag rack last night and put them in the sand bed out of the way of any commotion.

ill look up the BRS video! and im sure there has to be a PAR video out there somewhere for the Viparspectra

Shirak · Mar 9, 2022

Fatmike92 said:
I moved them off the frag rack last night and put them in the sand bed out of the way of any commotion.

ill look up the BRS video! and im sure there has to be a PAR video out there somewhere for the Viparspectra

There is I am sure. You might be able to get some answers directly in the lighting forum too. Not sure which video it is at BRS They were doing a whole series of led comparisons trying to find the light with the most light for $ spent or something like that. They also did a black box comparision. around the 24min mark they give some data on the Viparspectra.

Fatmike92 · Mar 9, 2022

Shirak said:
There is I am sure. You might be able to get some answers directly in the lighting forum too. Not sure which video it is at BRS They were doing a whole series of led comparisons trying to find the light with the most light for $ spent or something like that. They also did a black box comparision. around the 24min mark they give some data on the Viparspectra.

THANK YOU!