Acropora & Maxi-Mini Carpet Concerns...

Maritimer · Mar 10, 2016

Hi, All!

Picked up lots of fun frags and smaller 'nems at FFM, including my first attempts at SPS. Most of them have come out to play in my tank, and look anywhere from OK to magnificent ... except for the Acroporas. I think I might have seen one or two polyps peeking, but only just barely. Two different birdsnests and a Stylophora are wide awake . . .

Parameters measured on Sunday showed:
Temperature - 76 degrees f
Specific Gravity - 1.0255
pH - 8.0
Nitrates - 0.0
Phosphates - 0.0
Magnesium - 1600
ALK - 3.0/8.4
Calcium - 430

pH measured with API, all others with Red Sea.

The tank is what I would consider relatively new, having gotten wet around the end of November/beginning of December. Green algaes, from GHA to Ulva are banging pretty hard, and the first spots of coralline are showing up on the glass. Anything you can think of to make life better for the Acros?

Possibly unrelated, rock-flower anemones eat greedily, but maxi-mini carpets (including the one I've had for a few weeks) let LRS stick to them a while, then drop it. Any thoughts on what might help their appetites?

Thanks,
~Bruce

Lowstorm · Mar 11, 2016

You set up with rodi water, right? What's your nitrite and trate at? Acros are extremely sensitive to nutrients so, with your algae issues I'm thinking you have high nutrients, somewhere somehow.

Lowstorm · Mar 11, 2016

Oh. And raise your temp up to 80. 76 is way too low for most reef inhabitants

Salty1962 · Mar 11, 2016

As mentioned, bring up your temp to 79~80 SLOWLY. Your Mg is a little high as well. Your tank may not be mature enough for acros. They need a mature and stable tank to be successful. I use Reef Frenzy's food for LPS corals and my RBTA, Scolys and other LPS love it. I takes a couple of tries to get them to recognize it but after they do, they mow it down and come out for more. It doesn't take that much and I only feed 2x a week. Good Luck!

Maritimer · Mar 11, 2016

Thanks for responding, Lowstorm & Salty1962!

Yes, I do use RO/DI - I've got the SpectraPure with just one canister of resin. (A bit more research before purchase might have meant two resin canisters and a TDS meter, but I was researching a lot of stuff back then...) Use that for set-up, water changes and top-off, which adds up to seven or eight gallons a week, I think . . . Also use it to wipe the surrounds for salt creep.

I know the Mag is a bit high - don't know why, nor what I could do about it... Haven't tested Nitrite in a while, but could, with an API kit. API (simple and easy, if not precise) was showing zero Nitrate, but I was still surprised when the Red Sea "Algae Control" test showed zero-point-zero! I know there's nutrient in the tank, because I feed it three times a day for the motile inverts & corals - but I'm thinking that all that energy must be bound up in the algae, both in the display and in the two 'fuges, and in the zooxanthellae within the corals. I serve "Formula One" or "Two" in the morning, freeze-dried cyclopeeze, micro-pellets and flakes in the afternoon, and another cube of frozen yumminess in the evening, which rotates between several varieties. When I hit LRS in the rotation (every third day or so), LPS and 'nems get target-fed with a turkey baster. It's amazing what a blasto or acan can engulf! I'll keep trying with the maxi-mini carpets.

I nudged the heater upwards a tad after reading this, will try for that 80-degree mark. Degree a day? Every other day? How slow is slow?

I think it's already too late for one of the four acros, and know it's too late for another - but there are still two I'd like to see wake up and thrive.

Thanks again,
~Bruce