Random musings about Acropora care...

uniquecorals · Jan 9, 2014

whixley101 said:
Spot on write up Scott! Rings familiar with our conversation from yesterday!

Cole

It does..and I haven't forgotten that I owe you some pics....!

-Scott

uniquecorals · Jan 9, 2014

Awesome points brought up here...It's interesting to see that there has been a definite "paradigm shift" over the years in regards to coral nutrition, water parameters, etc. I remember so vividly the admonitions to eliminate all nitrate and phosphate from reef systems. Now, it's sort of acceptable to have measurable amounts of these compounds in our systems- encouraged, actually. Of course, there is a fine line between "just enough" to keep the corals happy and colorful, and to feed nuisance algae that will plague your system (and drive you nuts!)...

Great point about vertical growth...Always good to look into nature and natural behavior for explanations, jm32!

Keep the good information and thoughts coming!

Scott

DSP · Jan 9, 2014

I have battled High nitrates since I started my tank I'm talking nitrate up to 40ppm at times but mainly 10-20 ppm and my acros colored up there best when I kept the nitrate that high, Every time i tried lowering it under 5 ppm my acros would turn pale so I try to keep my nitrate between 10-20 now I really believe acros color up way better with higher nitrate in the tank,phosphates are the bigger concern for me

Diesel · Jan 9, 2014

Coral Crack..................LOL!

Scott, I started a thread about this, ( https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/general-sps-discussion/142538-power-up-your-acropora-corals.html ) about three weeks ago and a lot of ppl jumped on that Coral Crack.
As myself to and must say now after two weeks I see on my LPS large improvements on PE and color, now in my SPS tank ( https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/large-aquariums-180g/109424-my-two-cents-gallon-diesel-tank.html ) a little but that's why you keep SPS, right?
And there's a reason why AcroPower is sold out at most if not all online retailers.

Thanks for that write up I copy and past it on our Houston forum.

Thanks
Ben.

DSP · Jan 9, 2014

Iv also started using acropower after seeing a coworkers tank that uses it lol he noticed a huge difference in his sps after he started dosing acropower and he dosed a lot more then the bottle recommends lol, I'm just dosing mine 3 times a week right now haven't noticed a boost in coral color but it's still early

Clearwater · Jan 9, 2014

Great write up. I believe every system is different. The trick in reading about all this advise is to analyze your own system and find out what you are missing or doing wrong to make your tank flourish. With the above advise and many others that chime in hopefully you will be able to tweak a thing or two to make yours look amazing. Stable tank = success.

Acroholic · Jan 9, 2014

Personally, I think the single most important factor in SPS coloration is your choice of lighting. Not that color isn't influenced by other factors as well, but I would rank proper light spectrum/intensity as number one.

Mazzurgu · Jan 9, 2014

Great writing, enlighting!!!

Acroholic · Jan 9, 2014

Also Scott, I truly respect your opinion, so I am going to try AcroPower myself.

uniquecorals · Jan 9, 2014

Clearwater said:
Great write up. I believe every system is different. The trick in reading about all this advise is to analyze your own system and find out what you are missing or doing wrong to make your tank flourish. With the above advise and many others that chime in hopefully you will be able to tweak a thing or two to make yours look amazing. Stable tank = success.

Excellent point, which is why the tone of this blog was "...this is what we found works for us" and not, "You should do..." I think that there is an example of almost anything in this hobby. No doubt someone gets their Acros to look amazing because they dump 3 tablespoons of protein powder in their reef every day, and they'll swear that this is THE way to go! There are so many ways to ru na reef, and so many different reefers, that it's really hard to find the "absolute rules" or even "best practices" for the hobby.

Take all recommendations and reviews wit ha grain of salt and go from there!

Keep sharing!

Scott

uniquecorals · Jan 9, 2014

Diesel said:
Coral Crack..................LOL!

Scott, I started a thread about this, ( https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/general-sps-discussion/142538-power-up-your-acropora-corals.html ) about three weeks ago and a lot of ppl jumped on that Coral Crack.
As myself to and must say now after two weeks I see on my LPS large improvements on PE and color, now in my SPS tank ( https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/large-aquariums-180g/109424-my-two-cents-gallon-diesel-tank.html ) a little but that's why you keep SPS, right?
And there's a reason why AcroPower is sold out at most if not all online retailers.

Thanks for that write up I copy and past it on our Houston forum.

Thanks
Ben.

H Ben,

I've never been one for jumping on the band wagon and going ga ga over every product that's out there, but we have nothing but nice things to say about Acro Power. It has worked well for us! It wasn't overnight- took a week or two to start noticing results, but now it's glaringly obvious that the stuff works great. And I have mad respect for Julian (Sprung), who wouldn't just toss his name on a product if he felt it had little value. I must also state that I have in the past used Salifert Amino Acids on my personal reefs end enjoyed good results as well, but the AcroPower has delivered consistently excellent results thus far for our large systems, and we see no reason to switch. Because of the large number of inquiries we've received about the product, we're going to start offering it on our website very soon.

Thanks, Scott

afernandez · Jan 9, 2014

Do you guys have it at the store? thanks

Mike J. · Jan 9, 2014

Very enlightening; another great article.

I had a bad thing happen to my acros recently. My wife told me, "something's wrong with the corals." She observes the tanks a lot more than I do, and I should have listened. I've been working two jobs at the same time. I'm not trying to make excuses; I could kick myself. Some of the corals I've had for years.

Well, after taking the time to find the root cause of the problem, I found out that the temp was 84 degrees. After using 4 different thermometers because I couldn't believe it. All the other corals seems to be making a recovery, but the acros aren't going to make it. Controller went bad - it was reading 78!

uniquecorals · Jan 9, 2014

Mike J. said:
Very enlightening; another great article.

I had a bad thing happen to my acros recently. My wife told me, "something's wrong with the corals." She observes the tanks a lot more than I do, and I should have listened. I've been working two jobs at the same time. I'm not trying to make excuses; I could kick myself. Some of the corals I've had for years.

Well, after taking the time to find the root cause of the problem, I found out that the temp was 84 degrees. After using 4 different thermometers because I couldn't believe it. All the other corals seems to be making a recovery, but the acros aren't going to make it. Controller went bad - it was reading 78!

Sad but true story! Yet very helpful! It's a case for the point I've made in my ramblings recently: We need to get our eyes out of the controller displays and test kits and place them in front of the tank for a while...the visible cues from your Acros (and other corals, for that matter) will tell you all that you need to know in many cases! Thanks for sharing.

Scott F.

impur · Jan 9, 2014

Thanks for the write up! I am going to employ some of your suggestions that I am not already doing, like potassium and aminos. Maybe drop my temp a bit from 79.5. I have 2 particularly stubborn acros that will not color up.

larangcon · Jan 9, 2014

AcroPower, I'm jumping in the band wagon, I do use amino acids and have observed by using amino, the corals has just blossomed to a healthier looking corals. Maybe, this AcroPower will give more boost to the SPS.
All tanks are not the same, and what works for others might not work for someone else, but your points are dead on. I have also added more fishes in the tank and fed more often.
To control nitrate and phosphate in the tank and satisfy both fishes and corals at the same time, I need help, there is no way for me to keep both nitrate and phosphate to a minimum level without using additives, I have found a way of control from using Phosphate Rx and Vodka dosing, this is my perfect combination for my tank. Also 15% water change twice a week does a great deal of keeping all params stable. This works for me and may not work for others.

Nano sapiens · Jan 9, 2014

larangcon said:
To control nitrate and phosphate in the tank and satisfy both fishes and corals at the same time, I need help, there is no way for me to keep both nitrate and phosphate to a minimum level without using additives...

Try aggressive detritus removal wherever you find it builds up (sand, in rock, under the rock, back chambers, fuge, etc.). Regular cleaning is often sufficient to keep NO3 and PO4 undetectable. It's all I've used in a nano 12g for years (plus 10%/wk WCs) with a full compliment of corals and two very fat Clownfish.

uniquecorals · Jan 9, 2014

Nano sapiens said:
Try aggressive detritus removal wherever you find it builds up (sand, in rock, under the rock, back chambers, fuge, etc.). Regular cleaning is often sufficient to keep NO3 and PO4 undetectable. It's all I've used in a nano 12g for years (plus 10%/wk WCs) with a full compliment of corals and two very fat Clownfish.

Well said!

-Scott