How to feed acros?

[ScottR]

All my older systems all ran real reef rock, Fuji, Tonga whatever I could get and looked full of stuff... this current system I used most of that rock, but it was dry for a few years and filled in with dry florida rock.. my first year with this tank was the worst ever, fought coral deaths, crazy algaes and cyano, a bacterial bloom. My fish got bacterial infections. It was crazy. I honestly attribute almost all of it to the fact that I used all dried clean rock.. not that I'm over 3 years in it's pretty much good, and I'm glad I was able to manage to keep alot of pests out. But I dont know if I'd do it this way again. Theres alot we dont know and understand about the micro biologicals and their specific impact on corals and fish in a closed system. But I believe, like everything else we've learned in the last 20 years (we've truely have come light years from where we were in the 90s) that the next 20 years will really be some true scientific backing to our anecdotal knowledge. Bc we may be corals last chance on this planet.

I’ve been in the same boat as you. Unfortunately our hobby deals with so much science and we rely on anecdotal experience as well as past experience. It’s so easy these days to start up a system and have fish in the next day. And it’s easy to buy an acro and throw it in and wonder why your fish lived but acro died.

 

[motortrendz]

I’ve been in the same boat as you. Unfortunately our hobby deals with so much science and we rely on anecdotal experience as well as past experience. It’s so easy these days to start up a system and have fish in the next day. And it’s easy to buy an acro and throw it in and wonder why your fish lived but acro died.

The problem even for experienced guys, is what worked perfectly for a previous system, even if you think you replicated it 100%, is different. And will react differently, mature differently and grow/kill things differently. That's where the micro biologicals come in. And for the most part, its something we cant measure, see or know what strains we have or are growing.

 

[ScottR]

The problem even for experienced guys, is what worked perfectly for a previous system, even if you think you replicated it 100%, is different. And will react differently, mature differently and grow/kill things differently. That's where the micro biologicals come in. And for the most part, its something we cant measure, see or know what strains we have or are growing.

Something odd that I do and not sure if it works... I have two tanks. I feed LRS and mysis daily, as well as homemade food. Both tanks were started with LR. I will use water from both tanks (not at the same feeding) to thaw out food. I’m trying to mix bacteria from both systems. One has various SPS and one is mostly FO. Trying to prep the newer FO system for SPS.

 

[SyracuseMatt]

I would:

1) rent or borrow a par meter. If you don’t, you’ll just be guessing on your lighting levels and your eyes ( or at least mine) are a terrible judge of intensity;

2) early on, it is way easier to over feed rather than under feed. I would just feed the fish until you have some success.

3) consistently watch alk and calc levels. Your corals and coralline algae should be consuming alk and calc at a pretty decent rate. Consistent alk and calc consumption is a sign that things are moving in the right direction.

4) don’t forget about flow. SPS generally like pretty high, but irregular, flow. It can be hard to have a mixed reef, balancing the lighting and flow needs of acros with other corals that want/need lower light and flow.

You might try some easier SPS than acros, birds nests, montipora, stylophora, pocillopora, etc. Acros may be the most difficult type of commonly kept corals so, it’s tough to start with those on a new tank.

Matt

 

[Uncle99]

Fish poop feeds everyone.

 

[Daddy-o]

Fish poop feeds everyone.

Yes, Please!

 

[SeaDweller]

proper lighting and N and P levels in the tank is all you need. Get your fish fed well, and their excrement and NH3 produced from breathing and what not is enough to feed the acros.

 

[magikfly]

also, it’s not recommended to add acros to a tank younger than 8mo to a year for newer reefers and at least 4 mo or more for sps experienced reefers.

I disagree with this statement. Not all acro's are created equal. Seriatopora's, most encrusting monti's and poci's are cheap and function as a sort of "canary in the mine". If you can get these to grow and color up you can safely switch over to more finnicky specimens. That's how I start my SPS tanks and it has always worked great. Drawback is that you'll end up with different sized acro's throughout the lifetime of the tank since you'll be adding them in staggered fashion.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I disagree with this statement. Not all acro's are created equal. Seriatopora's, most encrusting monti's and poci's are cheap and function as a sort of "canary in the mine". If you can get these to grow and color up you can safely switch over to more finnicky specimens. That's how I start my SPS tanks and it has always worked great. Drawback is that you'll end up with different sized acro's throughout the lifetime of the tank since you'll be adding them in staggered fashion.

All depends on you experience, whether you used live rock or dead rock, etc. I for one don't like adding corals in the hopes that they will live, and rather wait to be sure. If you use a lot of good, matured live rock, you could add stuff really quickly, but if you are going mostly dead/dry rock, I would not recommend adding acropora that quickly.