Will it survive?

[MaxxuM]

I've been in this hobby for more than 20 years and I don't think I've actually ever kept an acropora. Many SPS's, but never a real stick. I got one just to see what the big deal was. Well, it guess it's harder than I thought lol. I have a Kessil 360WE over it and now now added a A150W on the dying side.

Question, is it just going to say this way, is it in threat of dying, or will it recover now that I have another light aimed at the shadowed area? I think the 150 is a 30w fixture. The 360WE is 8" off the water and the frag tray is another 6" under water. The 150 is 4" off the water. I was slowly ramping up the total light but now am going to pause at 25%. I think the majority of my problem is that the frag tray and background are black so there is very little light bounce back happening. Thoughts?

Left Picture Was Tonight. Right Picture Was A Month Ago.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Tough call. The old unlit side may recover. Good luck.

This is a problem with most stony corals, not just acros. The unlit side rarely does well and often dies.

 

[nereefpat]

The unlit side rarely does well and often dies.

But it's not the end of the coral, right? Shaded areas can die off while the upper portion remains healthy and growing?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

But it's not the end of the coral, right? Shaded areas can die off while the upper portion remains healthy and growing?

Looks fine for now but you probably want to get some more light on it

 

[uhgster1]

The important part is that it's basing out see the growth along the bottom? Acros are weird like that. Some encrust first then grow up and out.

 

[MaxxuM]

Thanks guys. I put another light on the tank. Hope that'll help.

More bad news. Made an order and it arrived 8 hours late today. Acro, digi and a stylo. They smelled off but there wasn't any necrosis that I could see.

 

[Softhammer]

I’d crank the lights. 25% isn’t even close. Acclimate them at more like 80% then ramp to 100. And make share you have lots of random flow. It is growing by the way and as stated above, it’s not at all abnormal for the bottom sides to die off. Happens to every coral I have ever had once they start to shade themselves off.

 

[MaxxuM]

I went to 30% and will go to 35% this weekend. Problem is, some things are getting bleached while others aren't getting enough light. My hammer just spit up a bunch of zooxanthellae right after adding the new A150W and a group of zoa are reaching for light next to it. This tank was never supposed to be a mixed reef. It's an emergency tank. I picked up some rock from storage and am going to aquascape this weekend as soon as I come up with a plan on where to put everything.

1x360WE + 1xA150W over a 5G seems like so much... sigh. But I'll follow your advise. I'll ramp up every 4-5 days by another 5% and move stuff around.

Pretty much everything else is doing OK... example. Around 2 weeks of growth if I remember...

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I went to 30% and will go to 35% this weekend. Problem is, some things are getting bleached while others aren't getting enough light. My hammer just spit up a bunch of zooxanthellae right after adding the new A150W and a group of zoa are reaching for light next to it. This tank was never supposed to be a mixed reef. It's an emergency tank. I picked up some rock from storage and am going to aquascape this weekend as soon as I come up with a plan on where to put everything.

1x360WE + 1xA150W over a 5G seems like so much... sigh. But I'll follow your advise. I'll ramp up every 4-5 days by another 5% and move stuff around.

Pretty much everything else is doing OK... example. Around 2 weeks of growth if I remember...

Wait wait wait....5G? Or did you mean to type 50G?

 

[MaxxuM]

5G nano. It's tiny. 360 around 8" over the water and corals are about 6" under. A150 about 4" over the water and 8" to the coral. I wasn't going to go to 80% lol. Closer to 35% or 40% max.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

5G nano. It's tiny. 360 around 8" over the water and corals are about 6" under. A150 about 4" over the water and 8" to the coral. I wasn't going to go to 80% lol. Closer to 35% or 40% max.

Ok. Yeah you should not crank it up. I have kessil tuna blue a80 5” above 3g nano qt maxed out and it delivers 250 par on the bottom half.

 

[MaxxuM]

I'll see how the corals react to 30%. The A360WE is set to 5%-20%-30%-20%-15%-0% and the A150W is on for 4hrs. The hammer spit up more today while the torch kinda wilted a tad, but it's still fully opened. Everything else hasn't changed.

 

[Softhammer]

Ok, yes I change my story too. I had no idea it was a 5 gallon we were talking about. Successfully keeping acroporas in a tank that tiny isn’t something everyone is able to do. Definitely challenging.