How to go about adjusting an acro

[GHOSTLY]

So my local lfs runs blue bucket coral salt while I run pro salt. How would I go about adjusting the Alk of a 9 to a alk tank of a 11?

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

for acros you need to bring your tank alk down to 8. Do partial water charges with lower alk water until it gets to that lower point. Acros will not do well at all at 11. I’m confused though about your question. who’s tank is at 11? yours or theirs? anyways, if yours is at 7-8 then just float it for temp in the bag and slowly mix your tank water into the bag water for an hour and then put it a spot with similar intensity light as what it was getting.

 

[DrZoidburg]

Can always make water with both the blue and red bucket salts. Do small water changes over time to get it in a good range.

 

[GHOSTLY]

for acros you need to bring your tank alk down to 8. Do partial water charges with lower alk water until it gets to that lower point. Acros will not do well at all at 11. I’m confused though about your question. who’s tank is at 11? yours or theirs? anyways, if yours is at 7-8 then just float it for temp in the bag and slowly mix your tank water into the bag water for an hour and then put it a spot with similar intensity light as what it was getting.

Mine. I prefer higher but I really dont want to switch back to kents marines with salt around 550. coral pro gives me results I like. What happens if I keep it at 11 and get acros

 

[UnderseaOddities]

@GHOSTLY not saying it wont work it's just not a good idea as they will die over time(or get stn rtn) or color down(blue out at that high all or brown out) not what u want as a stick keeper...

Most acro keepers keep their parameters at
1.025
Temperature: 78*
Alkalinity: 8.4-8.6
Calcium: 420-440
Magnesium: 1400

And the key to this is testing daily

America steals sps info from austraillians they only let the alk fluctuate up or down a point either way they key is stability

If u wanna try to raise all which I dont recommend if anything I would lower it as calcium uptake is best at the range of 8.5(ph dictates uptake nutrient availability)you can

The only way that alkalinity increases in a reef tank aside from additions of some sort (even if you do not know what additive or water source might contain it) is if nitrate is falling due to consumption by organisms. Reduction in nitrate of 50 ppm will increase alkalinity by 2.3 dKH.

But it's always best to have a 3 part on hand and knowing the chemistry behind that 3 part

So we want the concept of high nutrient uptake but low output

Alot of acro keepers that dont have a reactor also run aquaforest ABC over esv bionic as it is probiotic amino based aswell and provides trace minerals not just the big three

 

[UnderseaOddities]

@GHOSTLY Rule #1 dont do what other people do find the method that works for u u cant go off of what other people are doing no two tanks have the same uptake...

This will be a downhill battle until you figure out the tanks daily nutrient consumption

Then you have to ask yourself am I dosing to replace what I lost

Is it detrimental to coral health to replace 35% water volume every 2 days
Am I replenishing my trace minerals onto pof keeping alk cal and mag stable


May I ask you the size of your system?

What's your current daily nutrient uptake?

What method of dosing are u currently using?

Are you using aminos?

What is your stock level like

How much rodi is getting topped off daily into the system?

How much flow(52x watervolume turnover rate for acro dom but u want it controlable)

How pure is your rodi base water before you add salt?

 

[homer1475]

Actually if you polled the SPS forum, I think you'll find most acro keepers keep their ALK around NSW levels of around 7 to 8.

Only those following BRS, WWC, or Red Sea recommendations keep their ALK at 11 for "super growth". I did it for a while, all it did for me was to kill more coral then I ever had in my 20 plus years in the hobby.

While 11 DKH can work, you need higher nutrient levels to support the growth or you end up with "burnt tips". Also acclimating to the higher alk can be a PITA too when buying coral.

 

[UnderseaOddities]

@GHOSTLY if youre not sure here is a playlist I compiled a few months ago for a friend that wanted to start an acro tank but skip all the steps

Hope it helps

 

[shadow1013]

Honestly do you really need to worry? I haven’t heard anyone tell me you need to acclimate your corals from the store’s water parameters to your tanks like you have to acclimate fish, I’ve only heard of dipping your corals but that is mainly to get rid of pests.

 

[homer1475]

If an acros is used to 7 or 8 DKH, you can certainly kill it dumping it in a tank with an ALK of 11 without some time of acclimation. Seen many a post on here telling this same exact scenario, and the acro ended up RTNing.

 

[GHOSTLY]

@GHOSTLY Rule #1 dont do what other people do find the method that works for u u cant go off of what other people are doing no two tanks have the same uptake...

This will be a downhill battle until you figure out the tanks daily nutrient consumption

Then you have to ask yourself am I dosing to replace what I lost

Is it detrimental to coral health to replace 35% water volume every 2 days
Am I replenishing my trace minerals onto pof keeping alk cal and mag stable


May I ask you the size of your system?

What's your current daily nutrient uptake?

What method of dosing are u currently using?

Are you using aminos?

What is your stock level like

How much rodi is getting topped off daily into the system?

How much flow(52x watervolume turnover rate for acro dom but u want it controlable)

How pure is your rodi base water before you add salt?

13.5
Not sure
Calcium bottles
Yes 4 ml each week
4 fish 1 getting rid of
Around 2 shot glasses
Upgraded stock pump along with 25g powerhead
Not sure

 

[UnderseaOddities]

Honestly do you really need to worry? I haven’t heard anyone tell me you need to acclimate your corals from the store’s water parameters to your tanks like you have to acclimate fish, I’ve only heard of dipping your corals but that is mainly to get rid of pests.

Yes it all depend softcorals shouldnt really need acclimated with the exception of some zoa species an ricordea Florida and yumas as most can handle stress pretty well but you will wanna test the salinty the alk cal and mag usually most people that keep coral on a commercial scale keep their params at Salinity: 1.025
Temperature: 78*
Alkalinity: 8.4-8.6
Calcium: 420-440
Magnesium: 1400
But that doesnt mean all are the same every tank has different uptake daily and is usually dosed accordingly

While soft coral with a few exemptions probably wont die or melt without acclimating it adds extra stress that is un neccessary and may be detrimental to coral health long term

Now I believe all lps sps should be drip acclimated to your system for 30 mins to 2 hours depending on how different the numbers are between your system and the system in which it came from(many lps are sensitive to change in salinity and temp many sps are sensitive to swing in water chemistry like the big 3 alk cal mag).i also believe you should dip and rinse before you put the coral in the display(even better if you have a coral qt where you can observe the coral for a month and target feed,and watch closely before it is put in your display tank

Usually at most stores corals are organized and staged in sections maricultured and wild stay for a month or 2 get rid if all pest bacteria get moved to conditioned section were they are fragged up frags are then considered conditioned frags they grow the frags into new colonies that become aquacultured around the 4 to 6 month mark in captivity

I believe we should be doing the same in our home to any wild or maricultured specimens...or even specimens in which we haven't seen the sale tank in which it came, the coral should always be dipped and observed we never know what the plugs or rock can be harboring some people will even remove the coral from the plug or rock...

 

[UnderseaOddities]

Honestly do you really need to worry? I haven’t heard anyone tell me you need to acclimate your corals from the store’s water parameters to your tanks like you have to acclimate fish, I’ve only heard of dipping your corals but that is mainly to get rid of pests

If your waters the same params as lfs(mine is close enough) you dont really have to acclimate but always test salinity alk cal and mag just to make sure especially with demanding sensitive sps

Always dip to and know what your dipping for whether its iodine,revive,rx,peroxide,freshwater,bayer,cipro know the how and why and what you are dipping for and your dilution rates and which corals are more sensitive to dipping

Also note that zoas and montis have the most pests and should never go undipped,certain corals should get bastered while dipping aswell just be careful not to tear any tissue

 

[UnderseaOddities]

13.5
Not sure
Calcium bottles
Yes 4 ml each week
4 fish 1 getting rid of
Around 2 shot glasses
Upgraded stock pump along with 25g powerhead
Not sure

I would work on slowly getting the alk down to the 7-8 range 8.2 to 8.4 is were I run mine,I would try to do this over a month not overnight

How long has your system been up and running?

Do you have a substrate?(if so I would reccomend removing it and going bare bottom or with crushed agronite or gravel,as there will be no sand moving,no chance to trap detritus and no anaerobic spots you can focus on optimum flow)

Have you battled algae yet, is their coraline in your tank(most people say wait 8 month to a year as this gives time for the coraline to engulf the tank if you had a tank with a bunch of acro and it was getting x now x is getting up taken by calcerous algae it can throw the chemistry off and your acros can die,stn rtn or dull out over the change and nutrients not being available in contrast creating inconsistent chemistry(rapid influx which in turn is a environmental stress in correlation to full scale algae bloom calcerous or non calcerous)certain algaes can also take up nitrates and phosphate which in turn can raise or lower alkalinity depending on the species(turf can raise alk a point or two when in full bloom as its consuming nitrogen rapidly)

Do you have a sump and a skimmer?(you will definitely want a good skimmer and a nice amount of fish,and the extra water volume to add stability and not dose directly to the tank you'll also wanna invest in a float valve and tie it into the sump or an ato system to keep the water stable

You're also gonna want return pump with a flow rate of 5 to 7 x 13.5(so 95 to 100gph return pump) then a controllable 600gph of flow whether in power heads or wavemaker or movers

And detritus removal once or 2 times a week aswell as scrubbing the rock work, walls and hardware with some kind of brush when the rock gets dirty,remove the rock and let it set in the sun to cook off sponge and algae and put back into tank

This is the first step imo in converting your setup to sps dominate nano tank

 

[GHOSTLY]

I would work on slowly getting the alk down to the 7-8 range 8.2 to 8.4 is were I run mine,I would try to do this over a month not overnight

How long has your system been up and running?

Do you have a substrate?(if so I would reccomend removing it and going bare bottom or with crushed agronite or gravel,as there will be no sand moving,no chance to trap detritus and no anaerobic spots you can focus on optimum flow)

Have you battled algae yet, is their coraline in your tank(most people say wait 8 month to a year as this gives time for the coraline to engulf the tank if you had a tank with a bunch of acro and it was getting x now x is getting up taken by calcerous algae it can throw the chemistry off and your acros can die,stn rtn or dull out over the change and nutrients not being available in contrast creating inconsistent chemistry(rapid influx which in turn is a environmental stress in correlation to full scale algae bloom calcerous or non calcerous)certain algaes can also take up nitrates and phosphate which in turn can raise or lower alkalinity depending on the species(turf can raise alk a point or two when in full bloom as its consuming nitrogen rapidly)

Do you have a sump and a skimmer?(you will definitely want a good skimmer and a nice amount of fish,and the extra water volume to add stability and not dose directly to the tank you'll also wanna invest in a float valve and tie it into the sump or an ato system to keep the water stable

You're also gonna want return pump with a flow rate of 5 to 7 x 13.5(so 95 to 100gph return pump) then a controllable 600gph of flow whether in power heads or wavemaker or movers

And detritus removal once or 2 times a week aswell as scrubbing the rock work, walls and hardware with some kind of brush when the rock gets dirty,remove the rock and let it set in the sun to cook off sponge and algae and put back into tank

This is the first step imo in converting your setup to sps dominate nano tank

Firstly Im not looking For SPS dominate I'm looking for a clean, even mixed reef with a bit of everything. LPS, SPS, Softies, NPS. I already try to scrub and suck up any dirty spots and Im getting lots of coralline. My tank started Cycling in December so 7 months

 

[GHOSTLY]

Im also planning on getting a skimmer. I made a new thread so maybe you could help there with choosing