Can keep acro don't know what I'm doing wrong

[Eric23]

Hi all I'm hoping someone can give me guidance here. I'm not new to this I've successfully kept sps before but this is a new tank and I can't seem to get it dialed in.. My parameters are good, my test kits are good, my tank remains stable via a calcium reactor, I'm not over stocked with fish, I have plenty of flow I think, the only thing I could see being a possibility is I'm using kessil a360we's that are 3 to 4 years old and maybe there's been a spectrum shift ? I got a par meter just too be sure my light was okay the readings are below with the higher values being towards the top of the rock structure about 6 or 7 inches down from the waterline and the lower values a few inches above the sand bed. The lowest value is in the middle of the tank in between two lights but I'm only keeping low light corals there. Pay no attention to the pH reading in the picture it's way off I'm using a calibrated controller separate from the seneye to check my pH because the seneye always reads really high. I put on a few test Frags a couple of days ago and they look okay but the Monti cap I have a bout half way down is getting pale and I don't have good polyp extension on the acros but they may still be acclimating. The par where the Monti cap is sitting is around 150 and the par where the across are is about 250... The kessils don't seem to put out a lot of par ? I ordered the Aquatic life hybrid fixture which will be here next week and I'm hoping some T5 supplementation will help because I can't see anything else being a problem ?

 

[Crabs McJones]

#reefsquad any suggestions? The only thing I can think of is there's maybe something else in the water that is making them unhappy. Those kessils should be growing those corals no problem.

 

[Brew12]

When is the last time you went a month without making any changes?

 

[Eric23]

I thought of that also... I picked up a triton test kit and I'm mailing it out today. The only thing I can think of is that I was going through DI resin like crazy I was having to change it out way too frequently I think because my RO membrane was really old. I changed the membrane and I'm no longer having to change DI resin anywhere near as frequently. Maybe something was getting through the rodi unit ? I check TDS every time I do a water change and it always read 0 so I thought I was fine but I guess I'll find out.... I was thinking about buying a poly filter and seeing what colors come up but I've never used them and I've heard they can mess with your water chemistry so if there's no need for it I don't want to do it

 

[Eric23]

When is the last time you went a month without making any changes?

Brew12 it's been a while.. This tank is new and I've been trying to get it dialed in. All the rock, livestock, equipment, refugium, etc.. is all from tanks I've had running for years so basically just the glass box is new. I had the same problem keeping hard corals in the tank I upgraded from though also while using the same lights, rock, settings etc..... Other tanks I've had years before I had no problem keeping anything... When they first came out I had a metal halide jbj 28 that I had to trim back every few months because things grew like crazy.

 

[Brew12]

Brew12 it's been a while.. This tank is new and I've been trying to get it dialed in. All the rock, livestock, equipment, refugium, etc.. is all from tanks I've had running for years so basically just the glass box is new. I had the same problem keeping hard corals in the tank I upgraded from though also while using the same lights, rock, settings etc..... Other tanks I've had years before I had no problem keeping anything... When they first came out I had a metal halide jbj 28 that I had to trim back every few months because things grew like crazy.

I think the Triton test is a good step for testing.

I'm not a stickhead like many here are but I always see one theme and that is stability. Many people blame how easy it is to tinker with LED's as the main reason they don't like them. If you look at someone like Adam from Battlecorals, he will tell you that when he puts a new SPS into his system it can take anywhere from a week to a few months before it starts coloring back up. The coral can't adjust to the system if the system is constantly changing.

 

[Bdrake]

How new is the tank and how long have you had them in there? IME acros need an established tank and I've had plenty that didn't show any PE until 3-4 weeks after adding to my tank.

 

[Eric23]

Typically what happens whenever I add a frag is first the tips turn brown and start to crappy then it just slowly dies sometimes from the base up but other times from the tips down but never rapid tissue necrosis it always take weeks of no a few months to slowly die off

 

[madweazl]

You had mentioned flow being adequate but what are you using for flow within the display? What size tank? In regard to the PAR output of the Kessils, how many are you running? To put their (A360WEs) output in perspective, once a Radion XR15 Pro is using the AB+ spectrum and a diffuser too match the coverage and blending of the Kessil, they're producing almost identical PAR values (slightly more for the Kessil actually). While it is certainly possible the spectrum has shifted on the Kessils, I'd be extremely surprised if that was the causal factor of the poor PE on the acroporas and the pale coloring of the monti cap.

About a year ago, I almost killed the monti cap. Tank parameters were all fine and I couldn't pinpoint any cause. I maintained my typical maintenance schedule with one additional water change and everything came back around (three 25% changes spread out over three weeks). Outside of the tank being about six months old at the time, I still have no idea what caused the issue or what was responsible for the turn around but I think many people underestimate the value of a mature system (this was setup using almost all dry rock with two pieces of Fiji live totaling about six of the 55lbs of rock used).

Last year after it started coming back from the dead (it was in extremely bad shape)

Last month

 

[Armydogracing]

Not sure if I missed it but what are you using for flow in the tank?

What fish do you have?

Size of tank?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Ime , my little tank kept acros alive but that’s it. Meh.

One day, it just changed. From then on they grow like weeds.

Same deal. Just a new box , Rock I’ve had for years.

They started growing so well, I started dosing. NSW I was using when they took off is only like 7.5.

 

[Eric23]

How new is the tank and how long have you had them in there? IME acros need an established tank and I've had plenty that didn't show any PE until 3-4 weeks after adding to my tank.

The tank has only been set-up for a few months but as I said the rock, livestock, and all equipment has been running for years. I have literally no change in parameters or light from one tank to the next and I've been checking three times a week. I realize this can still cause a problem but like I said I was having this issue for the past year in the tank I just upgraded from. Also for example I was just at a guy's house yesterday who's tank was only 9 months old and was started with dry ceramic Rock and seeded from his old tank and he had small colonies that he grew from frags all over his tank. I know every tank is different but he started adding corals two months in and they're all growing like weeds

 

[Eric23]

You had mentioned flow being adequate but what are you using for flow within the display? What size tank? In regard to the PAR output of the Kessils, how many are you running? To put their (A360WEs) output in perspective, once a Radion XR15 Pro is using the AB+ spectrum and a diffuser too match the coverage and blending of the Kessil, they're producing almost identical PAR values (slightly more for the Kessil actually). While it is certainly possible the spectrum has shifted on the Kessils, I'd be extremely surprised if that was the causal factor of the poor PE on the acroporas and the pale coloring of the monti cap.

About a year ago, I almost killed the monti cap. Tank parameters were all fine and I couldn't pinpoint any cause. I maintained my typical maintenance schedule with one additional water change and everything came back around (three 25% changes spread out over three weeks). Outside of the tank being about six months old at the time, I still have no idea what caused the issue or what was responsible for the turn around but I think many people underestimate the value of a mature system (this was setup using almost all dry rock with two pieces of Fiji live totaling about six of the 55lbs of rock used).

Last year after it started coming back from the dead (it was in extremely bad shape)

Last month

Tank is 47x20x21 LxWxH... I have a Gyre 230 on the right side set at about 30% because any more and it blows things around to much at the bottom and I have an MP 40 on the left side which is the side I'm trying to keep hard corals on and is a few inches above where the frags are mounted and maybe 10 inches to the left so not directly on them but close....It's set to reef crest mode and again at about 30%...

 

[madweazl]

Tank is 47x20x21 LxWxH... I have a Gyre 230 on the right side set at about 30% because any more and it blows things around to much at the bottom and I have an MP 40 on the left side which is the side I'm trying to keep hard corals on and is a few inches above where the frags are mounted and maybe 10 inches to the left so not directly on them but close....It's set to reef crest mode and again at about 30%...

For comparison, I have a pair of MP40s on my 75g (48x18x21) and they're running at 85% (step 10 of 12), Reefcrest, anti-sync. Increasing flow would certainly be a step in the right direction.

 

[Eric23]

For comparison, I have a pair of MP40s on my 75g (48x18x21) and they're running at 85% (step 10 of 12), Reefcrest, anti-sync. Increasing flow would certainly be a step in the right direction.

How far away are your corals from the MP40 ? Is there anything at the same level of where the MP40 is ? Also at 80% are they blowing the sand around ?

 

[madweazl]

How far away are your corals from the MP40 ? Is there anything at the same level of where the MP40 is ? Also at 80% are they blowing the sand around ?

Six to eight inches from the corals. The sand gets blown around a bit. The left side MP40 is at the same height as the corals on the top of the rock structure and the right side MP40 is about an inch above them.

 

[Bigbaby]

Where are you sourcing your water from?

 

[Eric23]

Maybe that's my problem.. I'll try and bump up the flow.

 

[madweazl]

Maybe that's my problem.. I'll try and bump up the flow.

Certainly wont hurt but cant say it's the sole causal factor either.

 

[Eric23]

Where are you sourcing your water from?

I'm not sure I understand your question... I have an RO filter hooked up to my sink that I use for water changes