Ancora Nursing Project

Piotrek · Oct 2, 2026

Hello.

Yesterday I bought a big Ancora coral in a very bad shape. I'll do my best to nurse it back to health. I bought it locally and knew it's condition, so no one ripped me off.

After the purchase and acclimation I dipped it in Aqua Forest dip.

I have a place in mind I'd like it to be once it recovers (if that ever happens), but for starters I placed it on the bottom of my tank in relatively low light (less then 150PAR) and low to medium constant flow. My idea is to let it be for a few days, then start feeding it powder food every 3 days in small amounts.

I'll update weekly, in case some is interested. Nursing suggestions welcome :)

mcarroll · Oct 4, 2026

Sounds like it went through the ringer on the way to this tank. Hopefully nutrient levels appear to be replete maybe with numbers something like ≥ 5 ppm NO3 and ≥ 0.10 ppm PO4. Also hopefully there's good, strong flow.

Good luck!

Piotrek · Oct 9, 2026

Looking at lot better after 1 week. I was going to feed it but dropped that idea because the coral is recovering on its own.

Piotrek · Saturday at 2:57 AM

mcarroll said:
Sounds like it went through the ringer on the way to this tank. Hopefully nutrient levels appear to be replete maybe with numbers something like ≥ 5 ppm NO3 and ≥ 0.10 ppm PO4. Also hopefully there's good, strong flow.

Good luck!

Forgot to report. The ICP results came in.
PO4 - 0,02
NO3 - 6

mcarroll · Saturday at 5:03 AM

Both of those values are low, in particular phosphate. IMO dose phosphates (eg. Flourish phosphate) to 0.10 ppm and keep it there until you have definitive signs of recovery. Do not let P return to near-zero.....and keep an eye on N as well...we don't want it to bottom out to zero if/when a growth spurt kicks in. At least the first time you dose phosphate, test again an hour after dosing and see if you need to re-dose to the target.

mcarroll · Saturday at 5:04 AM

Check out this article, in particular the photo:
https://reefsuccess.com/2018/08/27/...-ultrastructure-of-symbiotic-dinoflagellates/

Piotrek · Saturday at 6:28 AM

I'm already dosing NO3 and 5-10 is what I'm maintaining. It's pretty stable. While not dosing it dropped from 10 to 6 in 2 weeks.
Regarding PO4, I don't want to dose just yet. I have a refugium tank where I have decreased the light a bit.
I also had an event when my Hannah PO4 test reported 0,07 and 0,35 a week later. I added salifert phosout for 3 days,reduced feeding and then measured 0,01 after again 2 week. I know now I should have repeated that 0,35 test instead of trusting it. But once I returned to heavy feeding PO4 is slowly rising again. I'm aiming for the threshold 0,06-0,08.
Any thoughts on that approach?

dwest · Saturday at 7:05 AM

The coral made an amazing recovery in one week. I wouldn’t change anything.

mcarroll · Saturday at 8:07 PM

Piotrek said:
I'm already dosing NO3 and 5-10 is what I'm maintaining. It's pretty stable. While not dosing it dropped from 10 to 6 in 2 weeks.
Regarding PO4, I don't want to dose just yet. I have a refugium tank where I have decreased the light a bit.
I also had an event when my Hannah PO4 test reported 0,07 and 0,35 a week later. I added salifert phosout for 3 days,reduced feeding and then measured 0,01 after again 2 week. I know now I should have repeated that 0,35 test instead of trusting it. But once I returned to heavy feeding PO4 is slowly rising again. I'm aiming for the threshold 0,06-0,08.
Any thoughts on that approach?

A long as you do what you can NOT to repeat the 0.01 ppm event, sounds like a plan.