Acropora Help Please

[Flippers4pups]

I second above post... Buy or rent a par meter. I thought my Radions were strong enough at 50% until I bought a par meter and found out my upper level sps areas were only around 160 to 180... I bumped up my power and dialed in 250 to 300 range, and now my sps grow like crazy... Alk is also super stable from CaRx.

Pitcures can look deceiving with lighting, but the OP's pictures look dim to me.

 

[tripdad]

The reason for my suggestion to remove the "ROX" carbon is because of anectdotal comments from stick heads. Several have had unexplained issues when using this particular type. We still use carbon just not the ROX. I have no science, just have seen a number of similar comments. I think the last one was Bubbaque.

 

[DarthSimon]

I doubt it's the carbon, and lean towards the SPS not getting enough light...
Also how stable has your alk been? How much fluctuation do you get?? Have you tried to test 2-3 times a day for a week and see the swings?? Big swings can be bad for SPS....

 

[madweazl]

8xT5 will produce enough light for the corals to live.

 

[DarthSimon]

Yes agreed, but looks like light fixture is a good 18-24 inches away from his corals.... hence getting par levels checked

 

[madweazl]

Yes agreed, but looks like light fixture is a good 18-24 inches away from his corals.... hence getting par levels checked

OP stated 11"

 

[Paul Howard]

Sort of going back to the "how old is tank?" I don't see lots of live rock in DT pic. W/sump and frag tank OP has a little under 400 g I guess? I'd be roughly same volume, well over 15 times that much rock, sps do well.

 

[DarthSimon]

OP stated 11"

Well.... I see 2 different tanks from his photos on page 2. One tank looks like it’s about 18 inches high and the fixture looks to be a good 12-18 inches above if not more and corals On Frag rack are 12-16 inches down. The other tank looks to be the 11 inches like stated and the tank looks deep. Corals seem to be 15-20 inches inches down from surface. I can tell you with my G4 Pro’s running at 66% power and par levels of 250-300, my acros distances are 12 -18 inches away from the light fixture. I would be shocked if his par levels break 175 from what I’m seeing in photos.

 

[Scdell]

Ok. Is that a tunze cleaner magnet in your tank?
I just got my ICP test back. I had high vanadium, molybdenum and nickel.
I attribute that to the cleaner blades. I too left my cleaner in the tank. Lazy. Needless to say it's not in there now. Wait for your ICP test.

 

[madweazl]

Well.... I see 2 different tanks from his photos on page 2. One tank looks like it’s about 18 inches high and the fixture looks to be a good 12-18 inches above if not more and corals On Frag rack are 12-16 inches down. The other tank looks to be the 11 inches like stated and the tank looks deep. Corals seem to be 15-20 inches inches down from surface. I can tell you with my G4 Pro’s running at 66% power and par levels of 250-300, my acros distances are 12 -18 inches away from the light fixture. I would be shocked if his par levels break 175 from what I’m seeing in photos.

One is a frag tank (array mounted higher in that pic) and the other is the display.

Edit: this isnt to say PAR may not be low. I may well be but I dont think it's so low that the corals are dying from it.

 

[gherewolf]

Do your snails do well?

Snails are actually doing very well and I have even witnessed some spawning events resulting in little baby trochus snails.

The corals you've been losing... in the frag tank? If that's the case I too have lost many sps corals in a similar way to you that were otherwise healthy for a solid month. I added some soft corals to the frag taank one of which being a large sarco, I started losing most of the sps corals there after, while I could not prove it was the soft corals I did conclude that nothing else changed except that they were added and so I stopped with the soft corals.
Does the frag tank share the same water with the main tank, if not your main tank dilutes any pollutants in the water much more than your much smaller frag tank. Just some more info to throw out there.

This is very interesting about the sarcophyton. The DT and frag are plumbed together with a shared sump and I have lost acropora in both. My other SPS (digitatas) are doing well though, however, they are not acros. I love my big leather but would give it up as I love acropora more. Are leathers known to give off toxins?

BRS sell the test kit

Thanks! Placed an order today as well as fresh media for the RODI.

The reason for my suggestion to remove the "ROX" carbon is because of anectdotal comments from stick heads. Several have had unexplained issues when using this particular type. We still use carbon just not the ROX. I have no science, just have seen a number of similar comments. I think the last one was Bubbaque.

I have seen Bubbaque's corals and that's enough to be convinced. What is everyone else using?

I doubt it's the carbon, and lean towards the SPS not getting enough light...
Also how stable has your alk been? How much fluctuation do you get?? Have you tried to test 2-3 times a day for a week and see the swings?? Big swings can be bad for SPS....

Alk has been between 8.5 and 9.5 this month. There was a period of 5 days where it went from 8.5 to 9.5 as you can see in the graph below. Using a hanna to check.

Sort of going back to the "how old is tank?" I don't see lots of live rock in DT pic. W/sump and frag tank OP has a little under 400 g I guess? I'd be roughly same volume, well over 15 times that much rock, sps do well.

I do have a bunch of rock in the sump on the right side of sump. Sorry, may be hard to see in the sump picture but maybe 30 pounds down there.

Ok. Is that a tunze cleaner magnet in your tank?
I just got my ICP test back. I had high vanadium, molybdenum and nickel.
I attribute that to the cleaner blades. I too left my cleaner in the tank. Lazy. Needless to say it's not in there now. Wait for your ICP test.

This is something I can definitely check now as those blades have been in there a good 8-12 months. Thanks!

Lighting

Do you have any idea of what par your getting with your T5's?
In over abundance, they can fuel nuisance algaes, fuel bacterial blooms and cloud the water collum.

I second above post... Buy or rent a par meter. I thought my Radions were strong enough at 50% until I bought a par meter and found out my upper level sps areas were only around 160 to 180... I bumped up my power and dialed in 250 to 300 range, and now my sps grow like crazy... Alk is also super stable from CaRx.

Pitcures can look deceiving with lighting, but the OP's pictures look dim to me.

8xT5 will produce enough light for the corals to live.

Yes agreed, but looks like light fixture is a good 18-24 inches away from his corals.... hence getting par levels checked

Well.... I see 2 different tanks from his photos on page 2. One tank looks like it’s about 18 inches high and the fixture looks to be a good 12-18 inches above if not more and corals On Frag rack are 12-16 inches down. The other tank looks to be the 11 inches like stated and the tank looks deep. Corals seem to be 15-20 inches inches down from surface. I can tell you with my G4 Pro’s running at 66% power and par levels of 250-300, my acros distances are 12 -18 inches away from the light fixture. I would be shocked if his par levels break 175 from what I’m seeing in photos.

One is a frag tank (array mounted higher in that pic) and the other is the display.
Edit: this isnt to say PAR may not be low. I may well be but I dont think it's so low that the corals are dying from it.

Great news! I just connected with a local reefer who is going to bring his meter over tomorrow to test.

The DT light is a 8 bulb ATI fixture mounted 11" above the water. that blue surf and turf stag from my earlier picture is 22" away from the light.

The frag tank lights is a 6 bulb grow light mounted ~18" above the water on a 11" deep tank. Frag rack is at the bottom of this tank.

 

[Scdell]

I had sort of the same problem, but only when I added new acros. Some would survive, most would stn. Puzzled the heck out of me because the ones that survive are doing really well. Could not figure it out. Got my ICP test back with the high metals. Those tunze blades are Stainless. But cheap stainless. Good stainless isn't magnetic. Those blades are. I'm pretty sure all those metals are in stainless. Although I did drop a small stainless screw in the tank about 8 months ago. I'll be danged if I can find it! I'm going to be doing weekly water changes for 6 weeks, change carbon every two weeks and skim wet and heavy. Take that tunze cleaner out.

 

[dwest]

Snails are actually doing very well and I have even witnessed some spawning events resulting in little baby trochus snails.



This is very interesting about the sarcophyton. The DT and frag are plumbed together with a shared sump and I have lost acropora in both. My other SPS (digitatas) are doing well though, however, they are not acros. I love my big leather but would give it up as I love acropora more. Are leathers known to give off toxins?



Thanks! Placed an order today as well as fresh media for the RODI.



I have seen Bubbaque's corals and that's enough to be convinced. What is everyone else using?



Alk has been between 8.5 and 9.5 this month. There was a period of 5 days where it went from 8.5 to 9.5 as you can see in the graph below. Using a hanna to check.

I do have a bunch of rock in the sump on the right side of sump. Sorry, may be hard to see in the sump picture but maybe 30 pounds down there.



This is something I can definitely check now as those blades have been in there a good 8-12 months. Thanks!

Lighting








Great news! I just connected with a local reefer who is going to bring his meter over tomorrow to test.

The DT light is a 8 bulb ATI fixture mounted 11" above the water. that blue surf and turf stag from my earlier picture is 22" away from the light.

The frag tank lights is a 6 bulb grow light mounted ~18" above the water on a 11" deep tank. Frag rack is at the bottom of this tank.

The reason I asked about snails was to rule out dinos. I saw some dark spots on your sand that looked like it could possibly be amphidinium dinos. If your snails are doing well, dinos aren’t likely a problem from my experience. I’m bowing out. Good luck.

 

[gherewolf]

I had sort of the same problem, but only when I added new acros. Some would survive, most would stn. Puzzled the heck out of me because the ones that survive are doing really well. Could not figure it out. Got my ICP test back with the high metals. Those tunze blades are Stainless. But cheap stainless. Good stainless isn't magnetic. Those blades are. I'm pretty sure all those metals are in stainless. Although I did drop a small stainless screw in the tank about 8 months ago. I'll be danged if I can find it! I'm going to be doing weekly water changes for 6 weeks, change carbon every two weeks and skim wet and heavy. Take that tunze cleaner out.

Thank you for the great eye and seeing this magnet in the pictures. My ICP test kit should be here today or tomorrow so that should be really telling. In the mean time, I have pulled all of the stainless blades and will replace with new ones. This time I will set a reminder to switch out every 3-6 months.

That's so annoying about the screw! I hope you find it.

The reason I asked about snails was to rule out dinos. I saw some dark spots on your sand that looked like it could possibly be amphidinium dinos. If your snails are doing well, dinos aren’t likely a problem from my experience. I’m bowing out. Good luck.

ah I see! yes I do have that dino growing on the sand and it's annoying as I always wish to have pure white sand. I have a few conch down there doing some cleaning and some nassarius snails. Are there any other snails you suggest using?

 

[gherewolf]

This morning I tested the phosphates and they are at 0.11. I have not added any GFO yet and am probably not going to unless the numbers get higher than where they are now. I am going to monitor this closely and test every one or two days.

Alk has been stable at 8.8 using the hanna tester for the last 5 days.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Thank you for the great eye and seeing this magnet in the pictures. My ICP test kit should be here today or tomorrow so that should be really telling. In the mean time, I have pulled all of the stainless blades and will replace with new ones. This time I will set a reminder to switch out every 3-6 months.

That's so annoying about the screw! I hope you find it.



ah I see! yes I do have that dino growing on the sand and it's annoying as I always wish to have pure white sand. I have a few conch down there doing some cleaning and some nassarius snails. Are there any other snails you suggest using?

If Dino's, it usually doesn't end well for snails. Toxins from the Dino's

 

[gherewolf]

These have been in here awhile...

I don’t see any rust on the blades though. All are currently in a vinegar bath and after a good scrubbing I should be able to see anything that could be potentially causing a problem.

 

[gherewolf]

If Dino's, it usually doesn't end well for snails. Toxins from the Dino's

Ok, now I am seeing the correlation. thank you.

 

[Guttersnipe]

These have been in here awhile...

I don’t see any rust on the blades though. All are currently in a vinegar bath and after a good scrubbing I should be able to see anything that could be potentially causing a problem.

I never leave my magnet cleaners in the tank. Always take them out when you’re not using them.

 

[Scdell]

These have been in here awhile...

I don’t see any rust on the blades though. All are currently in a vinegar bath and after a good scrubbing I should be able to see anything that could be potentially causing a problem.

You may not see anything, but they are leaching into the tank.