How to Stop an Acropora base Spread

RichReef · Dec 11, 2023

Glue a ricordea frag on it.

Miami Reef · Dec 11, 2023

AKL1950 said:
It’s on the top center rock. Might make everyone else suffer.

Geez that’s a beautiful tank. Great job.

threebuoys · Dec 11, 2023

Out of curiosity, how old is that acro? I've stuck with softies, LPS , and plating montipora so far but I'm ready to jump into SPS. I've had a (mis?)conception that acros were slow growing.

AKL1950 · Dec 11, 2023

Thanks for all the inputs. Okay, so here is what I'm going to do. The coral has beautiful color, so I’m going to let it run. The two little frags close to it are in danger, so I popped them off, reposted them and put them on the frag rack. I think the bigger colonies can stand their ground. When big red starts growing under then it will lose its light source and should stop encrusting it that direction. As it branches up, I’ll just frag out the branches that are too close to the other colonies and keep a small space between them. They should establish a gap between them and all grow vertical to the light. The frags/colonies on the right side of that top rock are about 3-4” away from it, so not in danger now. I’m going to use apiece of tile and build a barrier with epoxy between big red and them about 1.5” high. Hopefully when their bases hit it, they will start growing vertical and stop their lateral base extension. Once again, I can frag any branches the try to cross over the Barrier. By then, the other smaller colonies should have time to grow big enough to fend it off with shadowing. if not, they get re homed somewhere else. I’m thinking the Barrie’s with work and make everyone go vertical.

AKL1950 · Dec 11, 2023

threebuoys said:
Out of curiosity, how old is that acro? I've stuck with softies, LPS , and plating montipora so far but I'm ready to jump into SPS. I've had a (mis?)conception that acros were slow growing.

As with a lot of things, the answer is “It Depends” The red one and those around it have all been in the tank just over a year. First Acro went in the tank Sept 01 last year. Growth rate depend on many things. Stable parameters, good light and health frags and keeping up with trace elements to start with. Also depends on the specific type of Acropora. Some grow fast, but Tenuis Acro’s are normally slow growers. I’ve got a lot of those and most aren’t much bigger than when I got them. Having said that, even for the Tenuis, at some point they all seem to say it’s time and just shoot up like a weed. For my tank, the acros are somewhere between 275 and 450 PAR, but some fast growers are at the lower end and some at the higher end. You just have to find what they like best.

AKL1950 · Dec 11, 2023

threebuoys said:
Out of curiosity, how old is that acro? I've stuck with softies, LPS , and plating montipora so far but I'm ready to jump into SPS. I've had a (mis?)conception that acros were slow growing.

Tanked cycle complete May 2022. First coral were Zoa’s and LPS in June 2022 and Acro’s started going in Sepember 2022.

threebuoys · Dec 11, 2023

Good info and great tank.
Other than phosphates, nitrates, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, what trace elements do you track?

threebuoys · Dec 11, 2023

Also, do you have any fish in the tank or were they all hiding?

hart24601 · Dec 11, 2023

I had to put f aptasia on a pc rainbow every month or two in order to keep it off Oregon tort. Worked well and I just accepted that was what needed to be done as routine maintenance.

AKL1950 · Dec 11, 2023

threebuoys said:
Good info and great tank.
Other than phosphates, nitrates, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, what trace elements do you track?

I do an ICP test every 3-4 months to make sure everything is where it should be. The one thing I dose other than the big three is iodine. With a lot of acro, they seem to use it faster than water changes replace it. I use IO Reef Crystals and do 1.5% WC daily. Alk, Ca and Mag and iodine gets dosed daily. I also use KZ 1234 weekly.

tank parameters:

Temp 79-80, Salt 35.0, PH 8.15-8.35, Alk 8.15, Ca 440, Mag 1480, NO3 14.0, PO4 0.12. Iodine 65-85 ug/l.

hart24601 · Dec 11, 2023

hart24601 said:
I had to put f aptasia on a pc rainbow every month or two in order to keep it off Oregon tort. Worked well and I just accepted that was what needed to be done as routine maintenance.

Here is the link to the post.

Build Thread - Waterbox 100.3 Orphek Back to SPS Reef Madness

Rev you are always too kind!

www.reef2reef.com

AKL1950 · Dec 11, 2023

threebuoys said:
Also, do you have any fish in the tank or were they all hiding?

lol! Absolutely, They are my main algae control. Except the little guys.

Lavey29 · Dec 11, 2023

RichReef said:
Glue a ricordea frag on it.

I've used specific corals at times to stop other corals like zoas from spreading to much but how exactly do rics stop the encrusting? Aren't they getting fried by acro light par?

AKL1950 · Dec 11, 2023

Lavey29 said:
I've used specific corals at times to stop other corals like zoas from spreading to much but how exactly do rics stop the encrusting? Aren't they getting fried by acro light par?

Yeah, I agree. That Acro is sitting at around 420 PAR.

RichReef · Dec 12, 2023

Lavey29 said:
I've used specific corals at times to stop other corals like zoas from spreading to much but how exactly do rics stop the encrusting? Aren't they getting fried by acro light par?

Rics can handle a wide variety of light. Worked for me in a few instances. The SPS doesn't stand a chance against them.