At this point do I just start over?

[LegendaryCG]

End of the day follow a method that works for YOU and your tank.

 

[ReefBeta]

If you kept the lights off for a month I assume you had no fish? If that is the case I would not expect that you had any detectable levels of the bad stuff.
On the other hand I had five medium sized fish in the Tank for two years and did zero water changes.

I had fish in there right after cycle. Room light is enough to see the fish. By the time light is on with low, the tank is fully stocked, or some would say overstocked.

 

[Acros]

Well thats my 2 month old tank with 95% new rock and sand, 5% was established from previous tanks. There’s 10 acros in there. People keep telling me how it’s going to fail though despite it being the 4th tank I started this way.

What is your secret? Please share!!

 

[atlantean]

Personally, I think keeping the lights off for too long at the beginning or letting tanks just sit relatively idle for a long time don't help in some circumstances (referring to letting aquariums just passively age). How does a tank mature at the beginning if you don't tend to supporting the microfauna that result in a stable, established tank?

Some approaches that are circulating feel akin to not watering your lawn so you don't grow any weeds. Sure that can help prevent weeds, but you're also not probably growing much grass either in the meantime.

While throwing tons of expensive corals in there early on might not be wise, I don't think trying hurts. I think having some livestock in their "prematurely" can lend itself to different husbandry during the early stages of the tank.

 

[LegendaryCG]

What is your secret? Please share!!

I’ll start a new thread on it and link you
My method thread

 

[stephj03]

[QUOTE="Creggers, post: 8585299,
I guess the reason why I'm frustrated is the quick success I see so many others have. Thought if I did everything right and used live rock I'd be able to stock my tank before the year mark which I've seen plenty of folks do.
[/QUOTE]


No you haven't..... You just think you have....

You've been given a lot of feedback and advice to the contrary but it doesn't change the fact that it is overwhelmingly the rule not the exception that success in the first yr of a tank with high end Acros is very difficult to achieve.

 

[stephj03]

Ppl don't like to hear things like a 1yr standard especially if they trend contrarian bc it's a rule without a clear reason.

Ppl refference that rule of thumb bc they got sick of listing all the tangible evidences of a mature tank only to be disregarded, challenged or bogged down in the weeds about how many pods and how much coraline and fauna reflects a tank fit for acros.

 

[stephj03]

1yr is about how long the avg rig takes to find it's balance assuming normal build, maintenance, hiccups etc.

Go to the sps forum, find someone that has a photo thread older than a yr populated with acro growth progression pics.

PM them and ask how long it took them on their first tank to grow Acros....

That will set a much more realistic expectation for you if your goal is to grow mini colonies from +$300 acro frags.

 

[stephj03]

Also keep in mind that SPS is a broad category, and acro is a broad slice of that category today.

Any acro that cost you more than $60-$80 is a coral that likes to get ticked off and die while convincing other corals to jump off the cliff with it.


That is a fundamentally different use case than other Acros and sps (stags, slimers, Montis, OG strains) especially if anything you bought was wild/mari.

 

[shadow62672]

Ammonia? Nitrite?
Could you have re - cycled? It sounds like you got out of the gate pretty fast, putting stress on a young biofiltration system.
My advise would be that it is a marathon and not a race. Start slower, check your levels, what is your lighting? Maybe start with some softies before getting back to SPS?
Hang in there... we have all crashed and burned. It's how you rise from the ashes that counts.

I had velvet go through my tank.... twice..... I was Fallow first time for over 3 months. Same thing when I repopulated it. I too felt/feel like throwing in the towel, starting over etc. personally I say baby steps. I found my new love of corals and invertebrate. My last crash was end of January. Lost $600.00 in fish. First time lost $800.00 in fish. It’s expensive and heart breaking. But I absolutely love this hobby. Stay strong my friend.

 

[stephj03]

The good news is, you're actually right in the middle of the typical error bars for a new tank.

At about this age you should be able to keep easier lps (torches, frogspawn, candy canes) happy as well as most softies.

Appreciate this phase.

 

[LegendaryCG]

Triton recommends adjusting the dose, equal for all elements, until the dkh is around 8. This assumes their standard method and not `other methods`.

Perhaps your dkh of 9.5 to 10 is altering their intended results.
Is there a need to be above 8?

I run triton with elevated Alk. It’s fine but you won’t want to run low nutrient at the same time. High alk encourages rapid calcification but it require the coral to consume higher amounts of nutrients. They can’t produce enough tissue to cover the skeleton with high alk and low nutrient.

 

[FishTruck]

It's o.k. to try acros in the first year, so long as your ugly phase is over. And, the more knowledge and experience you have, the more likely it is that it will work out.

But - if it doesn't - don't get discouraged or feel ashamed. Just take your time to figure it out. If you can't figure out what went wrong - don't worry... just wait, and try again later. You are not alone... many many reefers just found that after a year or so things got a lot better.

And don't be surprised that when your acros take off... you lps starts dwindling.

 

[Creggers]

The good news is, you're actually right in the middle of the typical error bars for a new tank.

At about this age you should be able to keep easier lps (torches, frogspawn, candy canes) happy as well as most softies.

Appreciate this phase.

The bad news is my LPS has nearly completely melted over the past few weeks. Had both my hammers bail out and my torches are looking abysmal.
I’ve been testing my parameters every other day and have yet to see any swings over 10% on any given test.

I have a triton test that I’ll be sending out soon to test the water again for any major issues that can be caught on that test.

I can accept that my tank wasn’t ready for acropora and other SPS, but it still confuses me that I had everything growing one day, then a downhill slide the next.

the only thing that’s still growing in my tank and thriving is corraline. Even my zoanthids stopped sprouting new heads...

 

[stephj03]

You might want to check your magnets and impellers. I think that ICP test is gonna show contamination.

Strat voltage and chloramines have been ruled out?

 

[Creggers]

You might want to check your magnets and impellers. I think that ICP test is gonna show contamination.

Strat voltage and chloramines have been ruled out?

All magnets stay outta tank - all pumps were brand new and have only been wet for about 150 days but I can absolutely check them.

I run RODI water that comes out at zero tds so I’d hope there’s no chloramines, but if there’s another source lmk and I can check.

stray voltage in the tank with everything in is around 30 on a voltmeter. When I shut everything off it’s around 25 so my assumption is there isn’t an issue any longer. I did have a stray voltage issue about a month and a half ago but it’s been sorted out.