- Joined
- Jun 15, 2020
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I'm sure a lot of these get posted, but here goes.
My newest tank was set up July 2020. I used primarily marco and RealReef rock for the aquascape, which is all dry. Its a barebottom with a ~50% display water volume refugium with a sand bed in the fuge. The refugium has xenia and caulerpa in it. I converted a previous tank with much less rock work to provide the rock work in the refugium and ~10% of the rock work in the display, along with all the sand in the refugium. The converted tank was up for 1 year but was neglected during 4 months of quarantine away prior to setting up the new system. Everyone always says that the mark for acropora readiness is that you're growing coralline algae (and I am), but I don't necessarily buy that as a useful metric for Acros. In the previous tank I had coralline growth since the first month, but I would not have had any reasonable expectation of success with acropora. I have a significant growth in this tank of filter feeding hitchhikers including sea squirts, mussels, and pineapple sponges. I've seen reasonable growth out of montipora and porites frags since August. I put in one birdsnest as a tester but natural sunlight fried it in a day or two when the seasons changed and the direct sunlight angled through the window onto its lower position in the tank. I have had significant use of calcium and carbonate (mostly from calciferous filter feeders and coralline, given the quantity of uptake) and I replenish right now with kalkwasser in the ATO reservoir and supplemental carbonate/bicarbonate addition to balance out greater uptake of carbonate than calcium. I add the CO3/HCO3 when the buffering capacity of the tank decreases given the pH swings daily. I've attached a graph of typical pH over a week and pictures of coralline/filter feeders. I haven't kept acropora since 2014, and the current system has nothing older than 1.5yrs old after a break from the hobby. Last time I kept acropora my tank was several years old and I only kept them for a year or so before leaving the hobby.
My big question is: short of buying a tester acropora which I may not like, how will I know that the tank will support acropora without buying some desirable frags and risking it? I don't like paying significant money for shipping, and so when I buy a pack of acropora I want them to be of sufficient number and quality to rationalize the shipping costs.
Tank details in bullet form:
-July Marco and RealReef rock dry for main aquascape
-1YO rock and sand from previous reef, mostly in refugium
-Barebottom display
-Xenia & Caulerpa refugium, 50% volume of display
-ATO Kalk and supplemental CO3/HCO3 to steady pH buffering
-COR15 return pump with VCA random flow eductors
-Dual gyre pumps, one opposite to return, one in back left oriented vertically (Currently running 30% except in surge)
-Coralline covering 50% of marco rocks now
-Mussels, sea squirts, pineapple sponges since mid-August
-Oversized skimmer running overnight
-LED's running at 23% white and 45% blue, 6.3 Watts per gallon
-Supplemental T5's Blue+ running 4hrs a day, 0.75 Watts per gallon
Fish:
-Yellow Tang
-4 Lyretail anthias
-2 Dispar Anthias
-1 Carberryi Anthias
-Banggai Cardinal
-2 Percula clownfish
-Bicolor Blenny
-Orchid Dottyback
Corals:
-Favia
-Goniastrea
-Porites (Sanddollar and more traditional varieties)
-Montipora (Encrusting, plating, aequituberculata)
-Turbinaria
-Sun coral (Tubastrea)
-Button Scolymia
-Acan Echinata
-Lords
-Bowerbanki
-GSP
-Zoas/Palys
-Ricordea
-St Thomas Coral
-Chalice
-Cyphastrea (Only ones not doing well, I suspect too much light)
-Duncans
-Gorgonians (Real + Corky Sea Fingers)
-Goniopora
None of these corals pass the 50% height of the tank except for the tyree aequituberculata and the tips of the corky sea fingers
My newest tank was set up July 2020. I used primarily marco and RealReef rock for the aquascape, which is all dry. Its a barebottom with a ~50% display water volume refugium with a sand bed in the fuge. The refugium has xenia and caulerpa in it. I converted a previous tank with much less rock work to provide the rock work in the refugium and ~10% of the rock work in the display, along with all the sand in the refugium. The converted tank was up for 1 year but was neglected during 4 months of quarantine away prior to setting up the new system. Everyone always says that the mark for acropora readiness is that you're growing coralline algae (and I am), but I don't necessarily buy that as a useful metric for Acros. In the previous tank I had coralline growth since the first month, but I would not have had any reasonable expectation of success with acropora. I have a significant growth in this tank of filter feeding hitchhikers including sea squirts, mussels, and pineapple sponges. I've seen reasonable growth out of montipora and porites frags since August. I put in one birdsnest as a tester but natural sunlight fried it in a day or two when the seasons changed and the direct sunlight angled through the window onto its lower position in the tank. I have had significant use of calcium and carbonate (mostly from calciferous filter feeders and coralline, given the quantity of uptake) and I replenish right now with kalkwasser in the ATO reservoir and supplemental carbonate/bicarbonate addition to balance out greater uptake of carbonate than calcium. I add the CO3/HCO3 when the buffering capacity of the tank decreases given the pH swings daily. I've attached a graph of typical pH over a week and pictures of coralline/filter feeders. I haven't kept acropora since 2014, and the current system has nothing older than 1.5yrs old after a break from the hobby. Last time I kept acropora my tank was several years old and I only kept them for a year or so before leaving the hobby.
My big question is: short of buying a tester acropora which I may not like, how will I know that the tank will support acropora without buying some desirable frags and risking it? I don't like paying significant money for shipping, and so when I buy a pack of acropora I want them to be of sufficient number and quality to rationalize the shipping costs.
Tank details in bullet form:
-July Marco and RealReef rock dry for main aquascape
-1YO rock and sand from previous reef, mostly in refugium
-Barebottom display
-Xenia & Caulerpa refugium, 50% volume of display
-ATO Kalk and supplemental CO3/HCO3 to steady pH buffering
-COR15 return pump with VCA random flow eductors
-Dual gyre pumps, one opposite to return, one in back left oriented vertically (Currently running 30% except in surge)
-Coralline covering 50% of marco rocks now
-Mussels, sea squirts, pineapple sponges since mid-August
-Oversized skimmer running overnight
-LED's running at 23% white and 45% blue, 6.3 Watts per gallon
-Supplemental T5's Blue+ running 4hrs a day, 0.75 Watts per gallon
Fish:
-Yellow Tang
-4 Lyretail anthias
-2 Dispar Anthias
-1 Carberryi Anthias
-Banggai Cardinal
-2 Percula clownfish
-Bicolor Blenny
-Orchid Dottyback
Corals:
-Favia
-Goniastrea
-Porites (Sanddollar and more traditional varieties)
-Montipora (Encrusting, plating, aequituberculata)
-Turbinaria
-Sun coral (Tubastrea)
-Button Scolymia
-Acan Echinata
-Lords
-Bowerbanki
-GSP
-Zoas/Palys
-Ricordea
-St Thomas Coral
-Chalice
-Cyphastrea (Only ones not doing well, I suspect too much light)
-Duncans
-Gorgonians (Real + Corky Sea Fingers)
-Goniopora
None of these corals pass the 50% height of the tank except for the tyree aequituberculata and the tips of the corky sea fingers