Acro troubleshooting

[GHOSTLY]

My tanks about 7 months old now and theres been some struggles but one thing ive always been curious about is how to get better polyp extension. It seems that all my acros grow and encrust well but over time lose daytime polyp extension. Night time is better but not as much. Ive tried feeding reef roids randomly throughout the day, aminos, trace elements.

Nitrate 5-10 saliferts
Po4 0.08
Alk 8
Calcium 420
Mg 1400
Dosing afr for stability
2600gph random flow generated from 4 powerhead/wavemakers clashing w/ eachother
Radion g4 at 80% AB+ supplemented with a purple plus t5 and random IM led

Some examples, lights turned on for photo but during the day they'll close up more. Way less PE compared to months ago. Vivid confetti used to show polyps but now I see none. Still growing and colored up

No fish nipping, possible that the cleaner shrimp may be bugging them but I highly doubt it

How do you guys achieve the long and fuzzy pe during the day

 

[DJF]

Specs look fine, light levels appear fine. Tank is a touch on the young side- good color, maybe an icp test is in order. As another possibility, they’re irritated by good/bad critters. In the past I’ve done milbemycin (interceptor) treatments and the PE increased substantially afterwards, both on colonies I was treating for pests and others that I had no idea something was going on with. I suspect that either some pests (white bugs) can live on a coral without killing it or “good” critters were also eliminated that were irritating the coral.

 

[fish_collector]

At 7 months there's not too much for you to do but wait. I see nothing wrong with the corals in your pics, polyp extension only at night is normal. Some corals have great PE during the day and some don't. I've got a Leprechaun's Beard that has insane PE 24/7 but right next to it is something else that doesn't. I've gone down the Interceptor rabbit hole, and after the fact not so sure the results were worth wiping out my pod population in my real live rock. Personally I'd allow your nutrients to go higher but you'll get a lot of debate with that. I run mine at 16-20/0.25-0.35 and have no problematic algae but great coral growth.

Good job so far sir!

Examples in my tank I photographed just now:

 

[cloak]

Time? (like mentioned above)

Sometimes I don't have the patience. Nice frag, tank is old, got a spot, but I don't adjust for time... (especially when I have a timer on my Kessil) Go figure...

 

[GHOSTLY]

Specs look fine, light levels appear fine. Tank is a touch on the young side- good color, maybe an icp test is in order. As another possibility, they’re irritated by good/bad critters. In the past I’ve done milbemycin (interceptor) treatments and the PE increased substantially afterwards, both on colonies I was treating for pests and others that I had no idea something was going on with. I suspect that either some pests (white bugs) can live on a coral without killing it or “good” critters were also eliminated that were irritating the coral.

Ive actually been considering an icp since I seem to have greener acros which I assume can be from the iron found in seachem plus. Any specific brand?

Ive checked for pests and I thought i had bugs but turns out it wasn't. I haven't checked in a minute though so Ill get to turkey basting tonight

 

[GHOSTLY]

At 7 months there's not too much for you to do but wait. I see nothing wrong with the corals in your pics, polyp extension only at night is normal. Some corals have great PE during the day and some don't. I've got a Leprechaun's Beard that has insane PE 24/7 but right next to it is something else that doesn't. I've gone down the Interceptor rabbit hole, and after the fact not so sure the results were worth wiping out my pod population in my real live rock. Personally I'd allow your nutrients to go higher but you'll get a lot of debate with that. I run mine at 16-20/0.25-0.35 and have no problematic algae but great coral growth.

Good job so far sir!

Examples in my tank I photographed just now:

I get some nice pe in the stags and in the random wild mille at the bottom of my tank. Not that I have 0 pe (a lot of my acros have very visible polyps) just that I want more fuzzy

 

[EliMelly]

Any fish that can be potentially nippers? My stubborn butt thought it was everything but that. Removed my goldflake and my PE is better than vendor pictures.

 

[DJF]

Ive actually been considering an icp since I seem to have greener acros which I assume can be from the iron found in seachem plus. Any specific brand?

Ive checked for pests and I thought i had bugs but turns out it wasn't. I haven't checked in a minute though so Ill get to turkey basting tonight

To be clear I don’t think you have pests. Acropora growers should (imho) do ICP tests on the regular. I send ATI ICP tests every quarter or as needed. Test results take a strong 10 days so, if you’re reacting to something, it’s a long 10 days. I do think you’re on the right track and what you’re experiencing is more an adjustment from an established system to a younger system; you are monitoring the right items & asking the right questions. The number 1 thing with acros is stability and shifting tanks is a big disrupter.

 

[GHOSTLY]

To be clear I don’t think you have pests. Acropora growers should (imho) do ICP tests on the regular. I send ATI ICP tests every quarter or as needed. Test results take a strong 10 days so, if you’re reacting to something, it’s a long 10 days. I do think you’re on the right track and what you’re experiencing is more an adjustment from an established system to a younger system; you are monitoring the right items & asking the right questions. The number 1 thing with acros is stability and shifting tanks is a big disrupter.

Ofc stability is important and I think i have a max daily swing of .13 -.19 tested between 7am before leaving the house and 1030pm before bed. I will do an ICP soon but I definitely want to continue dosing as ive seen a best improvement. I think it may be iron that can be too high

Any fish that can be potentially nippers? My stubborn butt thought it was everything but that. Removed my goldflake and my PE is better than vendor pictures.

Springeris damsel, talbot, a clown, and a watchman. If anything is nipping it may be a cleaner shrimp which ive seen nipping at my poccilipora but that has slowed down

 

[fish_collector]

The problem with growing acros and having them look their best is you never know what you did to fix an issue. Acros are notorious for a delayed reaction to changes in their environment, so if you change 1 thing it may be weeks before you see what the result is. Most of us aren't that good at only changing 1 thing at a time and waiting weeks for the result lol.

In general, acros don't need PE to thrive. If they are encrusting/growing and have good color, you're usually good. And the color part is hard to quantify as well, some acros will brown out on you for one reason or another, but continue to grow well. Finicky creatures they are.

 

[GHOSTLY]

The problem with growing acros and having them look their best is you never know what you did to fix an issue. Acros are notorious for a delayed reaction to changes in their environment, so if you change 1 thing it may be weeks before you see what the result is. Most of us aren't that good at only changing 1 thing at a time and waiting weeks for the result lol.

In general, acros don't need PE to thrive. If they are encrusting/growing and have good color, you're usually good. And the color part is hard to quantify as well, some acros will brown out on you for one reason or another, but continue to grow well. Finicky creatures they are.

Ive had my browning phase and my 0 polyp extension phase with .7 phosphate. I should be grateful i even have colors and PE rn. Im not sure what to troubleshoot. My biggest thought rn would be going from gen 4 radions to gen 5 OR adding an AI prime for better spectrum, coverage, and par

 

[fish_collector]

I'd make no changes at this point, your tank needs to mature some more first. Focus on good water quality, strong flow and keeping your alk stable, the number itself doesn't matter as much as keeping it stable, somewhere between 7 and 9 is usually the sweet spot. Changing lights will absolutely make your corals angry, don't do it! Radion G4 is the light that you want to use anyways, G5 and G6 are inferior and have issues.

I personally don't recommend any type of amino acid dosing either, sometimes sps respond positively to it but in the long run it'll just promote explosive algae growth.

What's going on in your tank is pretty common, after it matures some more and becomes rock steady your acros will take off and grow like crazy. My sps system took about 1 to 1.5 years to really start growing well. Adding a copperband butterfly and feeding more has done wonders for my tank lately. I've killed a lot of corals along the way though

 

[GHOSTLY]

I'd make no changes at this point, your tank needs to mature some more first. Focus on good water quality, strong flow and keeping your alk stable, the number itself doesn't matter as much as keeping it stable, somewhere between 7 and 9 is usually the sweet spot. Changing lights will absolutely make your corals angry, don't do it! Radion G4 is the light that you want to use anyways, G5 and G6 are inferior and have issues.

I personally don't recommend any type of amino acid dosing either, sometimes sps respond positively to it but in the long run it'll just promote explosive algae growth.

What's going on in your tank is pretty common, after it matures some more and becomes rock steady your acros will take off and grow like crazy. My sps system took about 1 to 1.5 years to really start growing well. Adding a copperband butterfly and feeding more has done wonders for my tank lately. I've killed a lot of corals along the way though

Really ive only ever heard good about aminos. Its been working with me but I was thinking of switching to ab plus. I try not to copy others and do what has worked for me but im so curious about other people's success stories

 

[fish_collector]

I can dose amino acids in my tank on Sunday, and by Wednesday have cyano and slime algae growing all over. I have some in the refrigerator but I haven't used it in a very long time. It's bottled evil and I should just throw it away.

In my experience, regular water changes made with rodi using a filmtek membrane, 2 part dosing to maintain alk and calcium, decent lighting and strong flow, and a bunch of fish are the only things required for healthy acros. That's a simplification of course. I don't dose much else, I have Isol8 MT from Reef Blueprint that I use on occasion (5-6 drops) and Lugols that I add on occasion also (just 1 drop). My tank runs mostly on fish waste and whatever the corals take up when I feed. In my sps lowboy system (about 80 gallons total) I have a scopas tang, copperband, tomato clown, springeri damsel, lemon damsel, talbot damsel and a pajama cardinal, a small tuxedo urchin and 6 fairly large zebra turbos. It is illuminated with 3 Reefi Uno 2.0 Pro lights using the default SPS profile. My acros grow like crazy but it took a long time and frustration to get them there. I will never change anything it runs without intervention most of the time these days.

 

[GHOSTLY]

I can dose amino acids in my tank on Sunday, and by Wednesday have cyano and slime algae growing all over. I have some in the refrigerator but I haven't used it in a very long time. It's bottled evil and I should just throw it away.

In my experience, regular water changes made with rodi using a filmtek membrane, 2 part dosing to maintain alk and calcium, decent lighting and strong flow, and a bunch of fish are the only things required for healthy acros. That's a simplification of course. I don't dose much else, I have Isol8 MT from Reef Blueprint that I use on occasion (5-6 drops) and Lugols that I add on occasion also (just 1 drop). My tank runs mostly on fish waste and whatever the corals take up when I feed. In my sps lowboy system (about 80 gallons total) I have a scopas tang, copperband, tomato clown, springeri damsel, lemon damsel, talbot damsel and a pajama cardinal, a small tuxedo urchin and 6 fairly large zebra turbos. It is illuminated with 3 Reefi Uno 2.0 Pro lights using the default SPS profile. My acros grow like crazy but it took a long time and frustration to get them there. I will never change anything it runs without intervention most of the time these days.

I actually stopped using rodi water since the tap water in my area runs super low (1 to 10) but have considered switching back. The issue is I dont have a hose or much room to store it. Do you find having more fish for the corals since of the amount you can feed them?

 

[hatfielj]

I would definitely go back to using RO/DI water. Even if your tap water is super low TDS, there are likely other chemicals in that water you can't detect with a TDS meter.
Otherwise, I would say give the tank time. 7 months is still not a mature tank just yet. I get better polyp extension now that my tank hit the 1 year mark then I did 5 months ago. Unfortunately for me, my Powder Blue and Hippo tangs both nip at my acros occasionally. I've seen them do it. I think they do it out of boredom or something, but it's enough to cause hairy acros to keep their polyps partially closed all day.
If I could get them out of the tank I would, but I'd have to disassemble the entire rock work to catch them.

 

[GHOSTLY]

How about flow wise? How do yall achieve that randomness. Ive got 2 520 sicce, a random fluval, and a massive jebao one pointed at eachother but I feel like I can still push more