SPS Ninjas - guidance required

[Shaun_in_Cali]

Ladies and Gents,

This is my Red Dragon Acro,

It’s been in my tank for about 3 weeks. I have put other SPS - Monti cap, acros, buublegum digi etc in and they have been going well.

Current Params
Ammonia/Nitrite 0
Nitrate 1
Calc 450
PO4 unknown though Hanna checker inbound.
Temp 81F - slightly higher than I want
PH 8.0
lighting - I Haven’t measured the PAR though I reckon from BRS Kessil A360WE exploration it is about 250-300. I have scope to increase (currently increasing about 5% per day to about 400).

My gut feel is that it isn’t happy. I’m not 100% sure as there seems to be growth particularly in the two stems about 2/3 the way to the right - visible in the photo - however to the naked eye the right hand side extremities appear to be bleached. I am new to acros.

This piece is in a pretty prime spot (being new) in my tank and receive a largely right to left flow though it does see some turbulence.

Any suggestions to ensure continued health - flow/lighting/nutrients?

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

What's your all?

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

What's your all?

sorry All?

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

sorry All?

All??

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

All??

haha now I'm really confused. You said "what's your all?"

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

What’s your alk?

 

[ScottR]

haha now I'm really confused. You said "what's your all?"

He meant alk. My phone autocorrects alk to all too. Also, what’s your mag at? In younger tanks, it’s necessary to measure parameters constantly to see if anything is swinging. If your alk or salinity swing too much in a short amount of time, SPS will cliff dive

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

Apologies for the delay - Alk just measured between 9.2-9.5 using Red Sea reef foundation pro

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

Apologies for the delay - Alk just measured between 9.2-9.5 using Red Sea reef foundation pro

Bump you nitrates up, alks starting to bevonbthe high side with low nutrients.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

He meant alk. My phone autocorrects alk to all too. Also, what’s your mag at? In younger tanks, it’s necessary to measure parameters constantly to see if anything is swinging. If your alk or salinity swing too much in a short amount of time, SPS will cliff dive

Thanks Scott

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

just adding - 1520 Mag using Red Sea reef foundation pro

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Are you using nopox? Or gfo?

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

Are you using nopox? Or gfo?

Negative - just skimming, filter sock and some ceramic media in the sump. I literally came down from about stable 20 nitrates to 1 in the last three weeks. (suspect media. though it could be addition of corals consuming - unlikely).

 

[Hemmdog]

Fwiw my 360we’s only maxed out at 180 par when I tested them with a par meter. I ran them at 100%. T5’s are pretty much a requirement if you are trying to have healthy acros using kessil.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Negative - just skimming, filter sock and some ceramic media in the sump. I literally came down from about stable 20 nitrates to 1 in the last three weeks. (suspect media. though it could be addition of corals consuming - unlikely).

There’s your answer. Red dragons like nitrates. Swings like that aren’t very beneficial to sps either way especially if you’re blasting it with light.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

What size is the tank and how many kessils are you using?

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

Couple of questions -

@Hemmdog - sorry when you talk 180 PAR what depth and how many A360 were you talking?

@Macdaddynick1 - yeah I didn't anticipate this change. My NO3 had been stable at about 20 for 2.5 months before I added the media - I thought it may help but also figured it would help more on the NH3/4 side. I guess it was more successful than I figured - though I cannot directly correlate it as I also added 8 coral frags at the same time. The fluctuation would have been over the 3 weeks.

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

What size is the tank and how many kessils are you using?

@Chaswood79 its a standard 120G, 4'x2'x2', three kessils with equal spacing although biased ever so slightly towards the front of the tank.

 

[Hemmdog]

Couple of questions -

@Hemmdog - sorry when you talk 180 PAR what depth and how many A360 were you talking?

@Macdaddynick1 - yeah I didn't anticipate this change. My NO3 had been stable at about 20 for 2.5 months before I added the media - I thought it may help but also figured it would help more on the NH3/4 side. I guess it was more successful than I figured - though I cannot directly correlate it as I also added 8 coral frags at the same time. The fluctuation would have been over the 3 weeks.

Standard 90, at the time 2 360we’s, evolved to 2 360we’s + 4 t5’s, now 2 360X’s + 4 t5’s.

I had 180 par mid tank, so 10 inches below the water, 360we mounted 8 inches above the water.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Couple of questions -

@Hemmdog - sorry when you talk 180 PAR what depth and how many A360 were you talking?

@Macdaddynick1 - yeah I didn't anticipate this change. My NO3 had been stable at about 20 for 2.5 months before I added the media - I thought it may help but also figured it would help more on the NH3/4 side. I guess it was more successful than I figured - though I cannot directly correlate it as I also added 8 coral frags at the same time. The fluctuation would have been over the 3 weeks.

Corals react differently to change, some Corals might start growing, from personal experience though, I know large colonies, and Smooth skin Corals are extremely sensitive to nutrient swings. Don’t remove the media, now let your tank settle wherever it will. And add another red dragon later, it might be just fine.