Acro Growth - how are my parameters?

[kozik]

Hey everyone,

so i've had an acro in my tank for some time, the tip has coloured up a bit but the lower 2/3's is just white-ish. I also have a digitata in the tank that is growing nicely and a monti but with slow groth (colouration is good).

just wondering if there is anything with my parameters that could help:
salinity 1.026
ph 8.2
Calcium 400
Magnesium 1500
alkalinity 10.5

I'm thinking my mag and alk is a little high and calcium a touch low but is it that off that the acro won't grow?

 

[EmdeReef]

Nothing seems wrong with the parameters. Have you kept alk stable?

What are your nutrients levels at?

A pic also always helps.

 

[Reefpuck]

I'd lower alk a little bit...but other than that just keep them stable and you're good to go.

Other half of the equation is phosphate/nitrates. Have you tested those?

 

[kozik]

Soooo phosphate and nitrate is where I think I have a problem...

0ppm phosphate
0ppm nitrate

Phos with Hanna low range and nitrate with Red Sea Pro.

Not sure how this is possible...

tank has been running for about 8 months It’s an I’m nuvo 20, running 2 ai prime hd’s, Chaeto in the back as well as a Tunze 9001 skimmer and upgraded pumps.

Have a clown, yellow belly damsel, skunk cleaner, emerald crab and an assortment of snails.

On top of that 2 hammers, Monti, digi, blasto, Scoly, trachy, rhodactis mushroom. All surviving, the acro doesnt look too great though and growth on the others is slow as well.

 

[Reefpuck]

If you have a lot of chaeto...start by removing some or most of it. It'll outgrow/out-compete any coral for nutrients.

I had the same problem with 0 phoshates/nitrates which caused some of my sps to take a turn for the worse. If removing the chaeto doesn't work...you might need to start dosing or add more fish and/or heavier feedings.

 

[kozik]

What would I start dosing?

I used Caribsea life rock when I setup the tank, no established live rock, could that be an issue as well?

 

[Reefpuck]

Potassium nitrate and monosodium phosphate.

I use Spectracide stump remover (can get at home depot/lowes) for nitrate dosing, and Swanson monosodium phospate (found online...forget where) for phosphate dosing.

You can find how to mix/dose each at this link:
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

 

[cain720]

In my (limited) experience, acros don't like undetectable nitrates/phosphates with an alkalinity over 10 dkh.

My first acropora actually STN'd when I added it because my alkalinity was around 11dkh with undetectable nutrients. I slowly dropped the alkalinity to ~9dkh and increased feedings to get some detectable nutrient levels, and the acro has been happy and growing ever since.

If you're struggling with low nutrients, I'd remove the Chaeto. My fuge was stripping my water of all nutrients (and possibly trace elements), and my corals look 5x better without it.

 

[kozik]

What’s weird though if I was truly running 0/0 why do I have green film algae all the time? Or is undetectable still enough for film algae to grow? :S

I’m setting up a 120 gallon and plan to use Chaeto there so I don’t want to throw it out just yet :S

 

[PatW]

I dose sodium nitrate and trisodium phosphate. I get it from Amazon and get an analytical grade reagent. For sodium nitrate, I dissolve half a cup of crystals into 1 gallon of RODI. A couple of tablespoons of the solution is a decent dose for a 300 gallon tank.

For phosphate, I put 2 tablespoons of crystals into 1 gallon of RODI. A tablespoon of solution is a decent dose for a 300 gallon tank.

 

[FlyPenFly]

Just get some reef roids or similar and feed every other night, no need to add more chemical nutrients, add food!
Turn off all the pumps at 1am and spot feed for 20 minutes, turn the pumps back on low to allow more broadcast feeding then turn on your main pump in an hour.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

Kozik -

I'd second the idea of feeding a coral-specific food like Reef Roids, BRS Reef Chili or TLF's Zooplan. While PatW's recipe makes sense for a large tank, I suspect that it'd be really easy to overdose a 20g nano with that strength of nitrate/phosphate solutions. But it's something to keep in the back of your mind - dosing inorganic nitrate and/or phosphate solutions is one way to "rebalance" a tank with a lot of nitrate and very little phosphate, or vice versa.

One other thing to keep in mind is that for a reef tank, the drop-type phosphate tests that require you to compare your test solution with a colored card or other visual comparator aren't terribly useful. That's mainly because most reefers want to keep inorganic phosphate in the 50 - 300 ppb range, but definitely not zero. Measuring phosphate in the parts per billion range is best accomplished with an colorimeter, like the Hanna checkers for low and ultra low range phosphorus/phosphate.