First attempt at acros

Robertellis30 · Feb 13, 2020

Well my first attempt with acros was a bust. Been working my tail off getting my levels just right. Guess I’m not just there yet. Or could of been my newb mistake of acclimating them. ‍Guess I’ll wait a while before making another attempt.

phosphate- .08ppm
Nitrates- 1.0ppm
PH- 8.3
Alk- 8.5
Salinity- 1.025
calcium- 435
Magnesium- 1450
Temp- 78-79

all Hanna and Red Sea pro test kits

NanoDJS · Feb 13, 2020

whats the flow / ligthing , spectrum , intensity /photoperiod, height off water, tank size ect , if your water "seems" perfect it could be alot of things. I would try and run 1.026 ish

Joel Franco · Feb 13, 2020

How long has your tank been running?

dank reefer · Feb 13, 2020

How old is the tank?

Robertellis30 · Feb 13, 2020

I’m nuvo fusion 20gal w/ im mighty jet 538 return pump. (Dailed back)

2 current Felix wave pumps 660gph

AI prime HD. Running David saxby settings with slight adjustment to to lower intensity.

placement of frags was too to center of the tank directly under light source.

Robertellis30 · Feb 13, 2020

Tank has been running solidly for 2 years. Lps thrived. Roughly 2 months ago I introduced some stylophora coral. Both frags doing well and growing.

dadnjesse · Feb 13, 2020

Sps are tricky. Some people start a new tank and put Sps in right away without problems, most people struggle until they get some diverse bacteria established in their tank. Some real live rock will give you a good start.

NanoDJS · Feb 13, 2020

Why you running Saxby on a 20L , I would suggest picking the easy setup , make your max white 25 and green 15 red 20 and all the rest 100 thats 20k you need the 660nm red spike to get best colors red/pink/purple then use acclimation and start with 75% intensity and let it ramp up from there. also no more than like 5 hours peak intensity, the rest should be ramping all blue channels with the UV turned down. You prob smoked em with the PUR.

dadnjesse · Feb 13, 2020

Your tank being 2 years old should be fine.

ReefGeezer · Feb 13, 2020

At the very least, light acclimation is probably a good idea. Start the frags at the bottom away from the center of the light, move them a little each day or so toward where you intend to mount them. Go slow. The slower the better.

DHill6 · Feb 13, 2020

Just my opinion but SPS don’t need to be over lit to grow. I have a 37g, radion G4 pro, 8 inches above tank on their arm. Running AB program at only 35%. I found messing with Spectrum settings didn’t work out as well as lowering the intensity. I’m not a stick head as people refer to, but I have a few nice ones.

DHill6 · Feb 13, 2020

I also light acclimate for 2 weeks when adding new, doesn’t seem to hurt anything

Robertellis30 · Feb 13, 2020

Thanks for the tips guys! I did adjust my light. Not 100% sure I lost them yet. Tips still have some color. There all on the whiter side. But nothings brown yet.

ajjw0828 · Feb 13, 2020

Could just be the coral. What were they? I know I got a bunch of frags recently and all rocking but a Horrida. After doing research I've seen guys like Adam from Battle corals mention he has a hard time with that kind in particular even though everything else is rocking. I'd gets some cheap frags of something, make sure to dip them, and try again. Sounds like all your parameters and setup shouldn't be a problem. I'm actually surprised they didn't grow. Good Luck!

Robertellis30 · Feb 13, 2020

I purchased them from reef lounge. They were only 7$ frags. Acropora #1,2,6,7 & 8. Wasn’t anymore information besides that.

2Wheelsonly · Feb 13, 2020

Robertellis30 said:
Well my first attempt with acros was a bust. Been working my tail off getting my levels just right. Guess I’m not just there yet. Or could of been my newb mistake of acclimating them. ‍Guess I’ll wait a while before making another attempt.

phosphate- .08ppm
Nitrates- 1.0ppm
PH- 8.3
Alk- 8.5
Salinity- 1.025
calcium- 435
Magnesium- 1450
Temp- 78-79

all Hanna and Red Sea pro test kits

I have to say, I am not ranting at you in any way shape or form but it gets old when the narrative for SPS success leads people to believe all they need to do is control those basic levels to be successful. Making sure those params are stable and accurate are required but there is so much more to it than making sure some dosing pumps are configured right. I look at maintaining ALK/Calcium/Mag for SPS success as I look at making sure you're wearing shoes as a requirement to becoming an NBA player. Yes, you need them but that's far from the hard part.

Bacteria population, nutrient export practices, nutrient balance, consistent water changes/dosing/trace upkeep. Salt, water filtration, water change practices. What types of filters are in your sump? Do you have enough rock, are you growth coraline? Are there sponges, how is the diversity of your livestock? What's your aquascape look like? Do you have nutrient pockets? Do you have areas with poor flow? Is your lighting up to par for what you're trying to grow? How old is the tank? Do you have a sand bed, if so how does it look? Do you have pests? Do you QT? Do you buy from the same vendor? Are the source corals showing success in other's tanks? Are you placing SPS corals downstream or too close to other corals only to be stung at night while you're sleeping?

I could go on and on and on.