Advise please

[ReefCAKE]

Hi all, I recently added a few acros to my tank and half seem to be happy the other half will not extend their polyps. I've had these frags for two weeks now, nothing has been RTN or STN just some have zero polyp extension. This tank is a LPS/Softie dominated tank right now, that I am currently transitioning all softies to a different tank with the goal of this tank becoming a SPS/LPS mix.

32 gal biocube
hydra26HD running at 45% (slowly ramping this up)
MP10QD running reef crest at 40-50%
refugium
Chemi-pure blue
77/78°
alk-10.5
Ca-420ppm
MG-1420
Po4-.05
No- 1-5ppm

These parameters have been very consistent for the last six months. I do weekly 5gal water changes.

Any tips or advise is appreciated!

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I found that acropora grow a lot better in my tank if the alkalinity is closer to 8. I used to run mine at 10.5 and got nearly zero growth.

 

[kireek]

Have you inspected the new additions for parasites?

 

[ReefCAKE]

Have you inspected the new additions for parasites?

Yep, dipped before they went into the tank.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Pics would help
Sounds like they are stressed/starving or both
Not enough light for long term Acropora health
Alk is too high for 0.05 po4
Get rid of the gfo ( chemi pure)
Don’t chase recommended po4
My po4 runs 0.23 in my display
And 0.35 in my 29 gallon frag tank

Check out my threads/posts to look at my acros.

 

[Tahoe61]

An image would really help. Different sps show different degrees of PE.
Do you have fish types that might nip sps?

 

[kireek]

Yep, dipped before they went into the tank.

That's good. How do they look today?

 

[ReefCAKE]

Pics would help
Sounds like they are stressed/starving or both
Not enough light for long term Acropora health
Alk is too high for 0.05 po4
Get rid of the gfo ( chemi pure)
Don’t chase recommended po4
My po4 runs 0.23 in my display
And 0.35 in my 29 gallon frag tank

Check out my threads/posts to look at my acros.

Thanks for the feedback, didn't realize Chemi Pure had GFO in it. I haven't been chasing any numbers, just have the goal of keeping things stable where they want to be. I would prefer a lower ALK but that is where it seems to want to be.

 

[ReefCAKE]

An image would really help. Different sps show different degrees of PE.
Do you have fish types that might nip sps?

Will snap some pics tonight. Have a purple firefish, Yellow coris and green banned goby. None seem to display interest in nipping.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Do some water changes with a low alk salt like Red Sea blue bucket, tropic Marin pro, Brightwell, or aqua Forrest etc. There’s a muratic acid method that will bring your alk down but I do not know the process.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Will snap some pics tonight. Have a purple firefish, Yellow coris and green banned goby. None seem to display interest in nipping.

Start feeding your fish more or get a bunch more fish. Both would be ideal if you plan housing acros. Sps need strong quality light, random flow and fish poop.

 

[ReefCAKE]

Start feeding your fish more or get a bunch more fish. Both would be ideal if you plan housing acros. Sps need strong quality light, random flow and fish poop.

Yeah, I'm slowly ramping the light up on the tank went from 45% to 55% and will keep upping the intensity. I don't really want to add more fish, but i feed 1-3 times a day. I also use reef-roids once a week. I could add a few small fish, but just don't enjoy a heavily stocked tank.

 

[nick0206]

Pics would help
Sounds like they are stressed/starving or both
Not enough light for long term Acropora health
Alk is too high for 0.05 po4
Get rid of the gfo ( chemi pure)
Don’t chase recommended po4
My po4 runs 0.23 in my display
And 0.35 in my 29 gallon frag tank

Check out my threads/posts to look at my acros.

I am a support the ULNS systems.
I got about 8 months ago phosphate jumped to 0.36 (I ordered reagents for Hanna on e-bay, 1.5 months went by).
All the polyps were open like crazy, but ...
How about information that phosphate inhibits calcification and affects color?
I was at the guy’s house, he’s the head of the Red Sea test lab.
I asked him about his phosphate level. Usually he holds the level of 0.05, but he received many different small frags and temporarily raised the level to 0.1 for faster growth.
This confused me even more. Why then are we trying to keep phosphate low?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I am a support the ULNS systems.
I got about 8 months ago phosphate jumped to 0.36 (I ordered reagents for Hanna on e-bay, 1.5 months went by).
All the polyps were open like crazy, but ...
How about information that phosphate inhibits calcification and affects color?
I was at the guy’s house, he’s the head of the Red Sea test lab.
I asked him about his phosphate level. Usually he holds the level of 0.05, but he received many different small frags and temporarily raised the level to 0.1 for faster growth.
This confused me even more. Why then are we trying to keep phosphate low?

I’ve heard 2.00 ppm po4 is when it could start to inhibit calcification. My corals grow very well. I have lower nutrients and higher like they are now and have noticed faster growth with 0.10-0.50 po4. Red Sea actually recommends 0.08-0.12 po4 for sps frags. It’s actually printed on their nopox bottle

 

[SeaDweller]

I’ve heard 2.00 ppm po4 is when it could start to inhibit calcification. My corals grow very well. I have lower nutrients and higher like they are now and have noticed faster growth with 0.10-0.50 po4. Red Sea actually recommends 0.08-0.12 po4 for sps frags. It’s actually printed on their nopox bottle

"recommanded", ha?

 

[nick0206]

I’ve heard 2.00 ppm po4 is when it could start to inhibit calcification. My corals grow very well. I have lower nutrients and higher like they are now and have noticed faster growth with 0.10-0.50 po4. Red Sea actually recommends 0.08-0.12 po4 for sps frags. It’s actually printed on their nopox bottle

Each system, ULNS and non-ULNS has its own approach and its own additives.
This is a photo of tank at the store of my local dealer. ULNS system (Korallen-zucht).
This is what I am striving for.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Each system, ULNS and non-ULNS has its own approach and its own additives.
This is a photo of tank at the store of my local dealer. ULNS system (Korallen-zucht).
This is what I am striving for.

ULNS will cause stress and death more often than not to FRAGS and small mini’s. ULNS should not be a starting approach, but something that evolves as the corals get bigger and bigger is what I’m saying.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

ULNS will cause stress and death more often than not to FRAGS and small mini’s. ULNS should not be a starting approach, but something that evolves as the corals get bigger and bigger is what I’m saying.

If you don’t know what your doing or are learning then yes and it will affect corals no matter the size. If you know how to run a ulns then the size of the corals isn’t going to matter. I am confused why you say to evolve slowly to ulns as corals get large.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

If you don’t know what your doing or are learning then yes and it will affect corals no matter the size. If you know how to run a ulns then the size of the corals isn’t going to matter. I am confused why you say to evolve slowly to ulns as corals get large.

I’ve been told that by many vendors and collectors and it has proven true from my perspective. I’m repeating myself but even RedSea recommends 0.08-0.12 po4 for Frags. If you’re posting on these forums claiming your parameters are perfect but my sps are suffering, I’m going to assume you don’t know what you’re doing more often than not.

 

[nick0206]

Man, the dispute between supporters of ULNS and non-ULNS is similar to what happened before, a chicken or an egg.
"... even Red Sea recommends ...". We can also say that ... Korallenzucht recommends 0 - 0 ...
Someone "RedSea" credibility, but someone does not ...
It was not for nothing that I published a photo of the Korallenzucht 200 gallon tank launched in front of my eyes with small frags. And nothing died there. And I agree with ...., Pedoconfuego.