- Joined
- Dec 1, 2017
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 17
Hi everyone...I've been reefing for 6 years or so and am going to give Acros a try...I do have a Digitata and a huge Monti plating cap in my display tank and those have been thriving for years, however I've never had much luck with Acropora. At the same time after a battle with ich and the fallow period and the sloooowwww QT process of restocking my tank, I simply will not put any new frags in the display until they've gone through a 45day QT period in a frag tank at 80 degrees. So that leads me to my advice seeking...I recently bought 4 Acro frags from Unique Corals. After acclimation, within one night (no lights even), one frag was completely bone white by morning. I chalked that up to shipping stress. However after the weekend, another frag turned bone white and it now looks like my stylo frag is starting to turn white...So clearly my setup is insufficient but a little guidance into what may be the culprit would be much appreciated...
Equipment
My tank is an Innovative Marine Fusion 20 Peninsula, so I'm running a ghost skimmer that seems to be running quite wet. An ATO then a sponge filter and a bag of carbon in the rear chamber...plenty go bio balls throughout the display side of the aquarium that have been seasoned in my main display for a couple of months.
PAR
I know my lighting is lacking, I've asked for a Prime 16 Reef for xmas so we'll see...right now though these frags are sitting under 100 PAR from a Current USA light. I don't know if under lighting would cause this problem or not?
Flow
Currently just using a Sicce Syncra .5 which is rate as 185 GPH, there are only 15 gallons of water in my IM Fusion 20 Peninsula so I am getting 12x turnover...I don't know if thats too low for these frags or if thats causing the bleaching?
Temp
80 degrees, after reading some of the guidance from humble fish, at 80 degrees the frags (along with the inverts in this session) should be cleared to go into the display as the increased temperature speeds the life cycle from 76 to 45 days for the major players like brook, ich velvet etc.
Nitrates
These are unexpectedly high at 67 according to the hannah checker...i dunno if its snail die off or coral die off or what, but all thats in this tank are hermit crabs, a few snails, and a emerald crab. i feed one sheet of nori every couple of days and also once a week I put a 1 inch piece of raw shrimp in there for the crabs to eat. The tank is cycled 'cause I set it up with media from my display, but otherwise has been running for two weeks. I do dose Reef Energy A+B from Red Sea every day...which is about 1.5ml of each/day.
Phosphate
looks to be about .25
Alk
6.9 dKH...im guessing this is prob a culprit? what should i shoot for?
CA
350
MG
1140
I do 30% water change each week with Tropic Marin Pro Reef
My guess is that ALK, CA and MG are off, I just didn't think that would lead to bleaching...Any help would be much appreciated
Equipment
My tank is an Innovative Marine Fusion 20 Peninsula, so I'm running a ghost skimmer that seems to be running quite wet. An ATO then a sponge filter and a bag of carbon in the rear chamber...plenty go bio balls throughout the display side of the aquarium that have been seasoned in my main display for a couple of months.
PAR
I know my lighting is lacking, I've asked for a Prime 16 Reef for xmas so we'll see...right now though these frags are sitting under 100 PAR from a Current USA light. I don't know if under lighting would cause this problem or not?
Flow
Currently just using a Sicce Syncra .5 which is rate as 185 GPH, there are only 15 gallons of water in my IM Fusion 20 Peninsula so I am getting 12x turnover...I don't know if thats too low for these frags or if thats causing the bleaching?
Temp
80 degrees, after reading some of the guidance from humble fish, at 80 degrees the frags (along with the inverts in this session) should be cleared to go into the display as the increased temperature speeds the life cycle from 76 to 45 days for the major players like brook, ich velvet etc.
Nitrates
These are unexpectedly high at 67 according to the hannah checker...i dunno if its snail die off or coral die off or what, but all thats in this tank are hermit crabs, a few snails, and a emerald crab. i feed one sheet of nori every couple of days and also once a week I put a 1 inch piece of raw shrimp in there for the crabs to eat. The tank is cycled 'cause I set it up with media from my display, but otherwise has been running for two weeks. I do dose Reef Energy A+B from Red Sea every day...which is about 1.5ml of each/day.
Phosphate
looks to be about .25
Alk
6.9 dKH...im guessing this is prob a culprit? what should i shoot for?
CA
350
MG
1140
I do 30% water change each week with Tropic Marin Pro Reef
My guess is that ALK, CA and MG are off, I just didn't think that would lead to bleaching...Any help would be much appreciated