Ready for acros? Help with tank setup

[ReadyForAcros]

Hi all! First time poster (but long time lurker) here. I have quite a few questions about a new tank setup being ready to drop some sticks in. The tank itself is new, but I've had quite a bit of equipment lying around that I pulled together for this build. The tank has been up for almost a year now with no corals; fish were added last ~August.

Build
- Tank / Sump: Reefer 525XL (~110g display, 30g sump)
- Lighting: 2x AI52s, 3x AI 26s arranged as 26 | 52 | 26 | 52 | 26. These run the BRS AB+ "matching" spectrum adjusted 80% I found online.
- 6 Vortec MP40s (2 on left side, 2 on back, 2 on right side). These currently run in various random patterns with the sides peaking at around 75% and with the back peaking at ~40% reef crest. Most of the time they are set to reef crest or similar settings so they are not running at maximum most of the time. These are dialed down at night to ~40% peak.
- Oversized Reef Octopus skimmer, I forget which
- A oversized GEO calcium skimmer
- Oversided chiller (my place is typically warmer than usual, temp is locked between 76-78)
- Robust heating in case things get too cool
- Strong return pump (again, I forget which)
- Rockwork is arranged as 3 lifted islands on the right / center / left side of the tank with ample swimming space underneath. The top of the islands is ~50% of the height of the tank.
- Kessel H380 in the sump with a chaeto fuge. Just bought some red ogo for the fish that I will try to grow in parallel as well so I don't need to buy it to feed them
- Stock ATO - open to upgrading this eventually.
- Sand

Lifestock
- Black tang
- Yellow / scopas hybrid
- White tail tang
- Christmas wrasse
- Melanarus wrasse
- Mystery wrasse
- Ocellaris clown
- Very limited inverts - 2 urchins, one large hermit, three astras
- A maxima clam that has been growing nicely

Parameters
- Salinity 1.026
- pH ranges from ~7.95 minimum on a bad day to 8.2 peak

I have measured these parameters 2-4 times per week over the past 2 months.
- Alk is rock solid between 10.4 and 10.7.
- Calcium is rock solid at 475-480
- Mag is 1425 - 1440. A little more variance than the others but I think it's more likely user error than anything else.
- Nitrate has been 2.5 - 5 for the past few months. I instituted the chaeto fuge a few months back because levels were too high, but have been keeping things steady here for a while.
- Phosphate - haven't been measuring as much as the other parameters, maybe once every week. Always ~0.03.

Questions!
So here's what I'd like some feedback on:

1) I've never gotten coraline to grow robustly in this tank and I don't know why. I purchased a few bottles of purple helix ages ago but nothing ever came of it. I do have one small patch near the overflow that appeared after a pH spike when I first started my chaeto fuge. This is my biggest concern - will corals be OK if coraline isn't present?

2) How should I set up the lighting? Is the AB+ matching spectrum at 80% OK? I do own a PAR meter. At the surface of the highest lifted island (center) PAR is ~450 with all lights set to 100%. Is this too high?

3) How should I set up the MP40s? This seems like overkill for a tank this size, but I have them so I figured I'd use them. I don't need to if it will be a problem. The powerheads are all placed above the islands, so that's where flow is strongest. Below the islands the fish have plenty of freedom to swim without getting blown around. My plan is to have max flow without irritating or killing anything and without having sand blown around much. Surprisingly the current settings seem to work well.

4) What am I not thinking about before I add corals? I feel like I have checked most of the boxes but I haven't had acros before so I'm not sure what I don't know. I do watch tons of BRS / other videos on the topics and love to learn as much as possible. I'm also an engineer by trade so I love to build things - this hobby has been perfect.

5) What's the best way to try to add some acros? I figure start with a handful and see how they go. If they go wrong but all of the above parameters are still stable, how would you troubleshoot? Anything else I should be watching or thinking about?


Thanks for the feedback in advance, everyone! Very excited to start this journey but want to make sure I'm doing it the right way.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Questions!
So here's what I'd like some feedback on:

1) I've never gotten coraline to grow robustly in this tank and I don't know why. I purchased a few bottles of purple helix ages ago but nothing ever came of it. I do have one small patch near the overflow that appeared after a pH spike when I first started my chaeto fuge. This is my biggest concern - will corals be OK if coraline isn't present?

2) How should I set up the lighting? Is the AB+ matching spectrum at 80% OK? I do own a PAR meter. At the surface of the highest lifted island (center) PAR is ~450 with all lights set to 100%. Is this too high?

3) How should I set up the MP40s? This seems like overkill for a tank this size, but I have them so I figured I'd use them. I don't need to if it will be a problem. The powerheads are all placed above the islands, so that's where flow is strongest. Below the islands the fish have plenty of freedom to swim without getting blown around. My plan is to have max flow without irritating or killing anything and without having sand blown around much. Surprisingly the current settings seem to work well.

4) What am I not thinking about before I add corals? I feel like I have checked most of the boxes but I haven't had acros before so I'm not sure what I don't know. I do watch tons of BRS / other videos on the topics and love to learn as much as possible. I'm also an engineer by trade so I love to build things - this hobby has been perfect.

5) What's the best way to try to add some acros? I figure start with a handful and see how they go. If they go wrong but all of the above parameters are still stable, how would you troubleshoot? Anything else I should be watching or thinking about?


Thanks for the feedback in advance, everyone! Very excited to start this journey but want to make sure I'm doing it the right way.

IMO, your Alk/Cal are a bit high, expecially Alk. I'd shoot for 7-8, especially a newer tank with low nutrients.

1. No coraline is not a great sign at the 1 year mark. Not sure what to make of that, but cause to go slow.
2. 450 PAR at the top of your islands is good PAR for acros.
3. That's A LOT of MP40's. I run two on my 80g and it's plenty. I tried adding a 3rd but my acros hated it. The point is to have as much indirect flow as possible. In other words, lots of flow, but not blasting directly at any acros.
4. Start slow, dip (and quarantine if possible). Get a few easier acros to start with and don't rush. Try green slimer, or other inexpensive acros. If those do well, you can move up in value.
5. IMO, most of my acro issues come down to non stable Alk. Keep Alk stable and in the right range and the rest sort of falls into place.

 

[ReadyForAcros]

IMO, your Alk/Cal are a bit high, expecially Alk. I'd shoot for 7-8, especially a newer tank with low nutrients.

1. No coraline is not a great sign at the 1 year mark. Not sure what to make of that, but cause to go slow.
2. 450 PAR at the top of your islands is good PAR for acros.
3. That's A LOT of MP40's. I run two on my 80g and it's plenty. I tried adding a 3rd but my acros hated it. The point is to have as much indirect flow as possible. In other words, lots of flow, but not blasting directly at any acros.
4. Start slow, dip (and quarantine if possible). Get a few easier acros to start with and don't rush. Try green slimer, or other inexpensive acros. If those do well, you can move up in value.
5. IMO, most of my acro issues come down to non stable Alk. Keep Alk stable and in the right range and the rest sort of falls into place.

Thanks for the reply!

I put the coraline in very early in the tank's life, so maybe it's worth another try. I'll pick up another few bottles of spores and give it another go.

I'll look into Alk levels - I've been using IO Reef Crystals which I know has high alk levels. Have been considering Tropic Marin, which is more in the range that you're suggesting. I have been looking to pick up one of those Apex Tridents for daily monitoring of alk/ca++/mg++ - it's almost certainly overkill but I'd rather err on the side of caution. I hvaen't seen more than a 0.5 dkH move between tests in over 2 months so I figure that's probably OK, but I am very willing to be told it should be more stable.

Agree that the flow could be a bit much, maybe I'll tone everything down a bit.

Thanks again!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Thanks for the reply!

I put the coraline in very early in the tank's life, so maybe it's worth another try. I'll pick up another few bottles of spores and give it another go.

I'll look into Alk levels - I've been using IO Reef Crystals which I know has high alk levels. Have been considering Tropic Marin, which is more in the range that you're suggesting. I have been looking to pick up one of those Apex Tridents for daily monitoring of alk/ca++/mg++ - it's almost certainly overkill but I'd rather err on the side of caution. I hvaen't seen more than a 0.5 dkH move between tests in over 2 months so I figure that's probably OK, but I am very willing to be told it should be more stable.

Agree that the flow could be a bit much, maybe I'll tone everything down a bit.

Thanks again!

Coraline should never be something you need to waste money buying. Generally it will seed in your tank automatically from frags and corals you add. If not, you can always ask a LFS or fellow reefer for a piece of coraline which you can just crush up and sprinkle around your tank. I've given people some of mine who've asked. Just be careful what you wish for. I've got layers upon layers!

IO Reef Crystals like other salts have super high levels so people can just do water changes and not have to dose. But if you're doing sps, especially acros, you should expect to dose at some point. And trying to do that with water changes can cause swings which acros hate. IMO Tropic Marin Pro is the best salt out there, but I'm cheap so I just use regular Instant Ocean. IMO it's the second best salt. But even Instant Ocean has high Alk levels so I just adjust them to match my tank before water changes.

Until you have decent sized sps and/or coraline in your tank, you won't see much fluctuation in your big 3. Even when you start adding little frags, it won't move much.

The nice thing about having all those MP40's is you can put them in out of the way locations and tone down the flow. You should get lots of indirect flow and they'll be much quieter toned down. Although if they're QDs, they're already quiet.

You're definitely on the right track and have obviously done a lot of homework getting your tank ready. The fact that you've waited around a year for acros until your tank is seasoned puts you ahead of most of us. I killed lots of acros the first year I had my tank!