Can't keep acros, what am I doing wrong?

[BigJohnny]

Your corals look starving. Do you only have one fish? I only see a bicolor blenny. You can't have 9.3 dkh with 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate with a low bioload (fish poop works way better than overfeeding). Lower your dkh to 8 and get more fish. If your par has gone up since that par map, reduce it back, and keep it there. Don't tinker with your lights, stability.

 

[lolmatt]

I think I saw a pair of clowns in his FTS, not sure though. I suspect I'm having the same issue as OP, with 5 fish in a 40 breeder...undetectable nitrates and phosphates, poor PE, acros STN after a few weeks/months.

Since feeding 3x/day plus reef roids daily, I've seen a slight increase in PE on a couple corals...my one remaining anacropora looks slightly better but barely. I'm still lowering ALK right now, I'll let you all know if it helps after a couple weeks.

 

[Hans-Werner]

I have not read the complete thread but I recommend to raise the nutrient levels. Up to 0.1 ppm phosphate are ok, especially to start with Acropora. The frags will grow much faster with some phosphate.

In my eyes the cause of your problem is the low phosphate concentration together with quite high alkalinity. Fast calcifyers as Acroporas need phosphate for growth. High alkalinity even speeds up calcification and phosphate demand in this way. Your phosphate levels are not sufficient to satisfy this demand. I recommend 7° KH.

 

[mstockmaster]

Your corals look starving. Do you only have one fish? I only see a bicolor blenny. You can't have 9.3 dkh with 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate with a low bioload (fish poop works way better than overfeeding). Lower your dkh to 8 and get more fish. If your par has gone up since that par map, reduce it back, and keep it there. Don't tinker with your lights, stability.

No 5 fish, bicolor, pair of clowns, and a pair of springer damsels.

 

[mstockmaster]

This acro is only one showing any pe and mostly at night

 

[Richards_reef]

The free experiments should be the ones tried first ie; changes in salinity, magnesium, alkalinity, and calcium in that order. But also double check those measurements with a second test kit or recalibration of equipment. I've probably had worse luck than most with test kits and equipment being Defective (2 magnesium test kit, 3 alkalinity test kits, 3 nitrate test kits, and a refractometer being off from the manufacturer). It's difficult to trust these things when I've had so many in the past 2years. That's why I keep seconds around to verify the first when things seem off.

I know my previous posts sound like I hate on leds but that's really not the case, but I have learned with my limited success with them that other light sources are set and forget(still need to acclimate corals).

If your salt mix has that high of magnesium I strongly suggest trying a different salt. Most reef aquariums don't use that much magnesium and if your test kit is telling you otherwise I would also suggest confirming this with another test kit, just to be sure.

 

[srad750c]

Seems to me your tank is too new. The biggest worry for me the ph is way too low. Ph should never be below 8.0 or big swings. Bring it back up very slow. Everything else is within reason. Get some surface agitation for better gas exchange. My tank is ULN, I went through that situation before I knew ULN was a problem. Takes a while for SPS to start to color back up. Mine took 2 months or so, LPS and polys way longer, some almost a year. Had to back off lights for a while. Using Kessil A360WE, was at 70%, backed off 5% a week until I got to 55%. Added a little more aminos and vitamin supplement. Takes time, keep H2O chemistry good and it will come around.

 

[lolmatt]

I'm considering switching to regular io rather than reef crystals and raising alk/cal to reasonable levels. Maybe I'll get 1 bag and mix it up to see what the params are at for 1.026. Not OP, but my pH is always around 8.2 and surface agitation is solid.

 

[ws6kid]

Ah CORA? Nice. Let me know if you want help in person Where did you get the acros that bleached or STNd? From the swap recently?

 

[lolmatt]

I am curious to those who are saying the issue is too new a tank - what improves with an older tank? Stability in general? Is it caused by more prolific bacteria or ??

 

[mstockmaster]

Ah CORA? Nice. Let me know if you want help in person [emoji14] Where did you get the acros that bleached or STNd? From the swap recently?

I only had one bleach and rtn from this swap. The other is hanging around for now. Only got two acros. Other sps I picked up is doing well. I'd love a second set of eyes on the tank. If you have time I would appreciate it.

 

[srad750c]

I am curious to those who are saying the issue is too new a tank - what improves with an older tank? Stability in general? Is it caused by more prolific bacteria or ??

More stable nitrifying bacteria population, and if your gravel bed is deep enough you get your anaerobic bacterial population for nitrate reduction. Your water ages and is more suitable for your corals and fish. That’s the reason you can’t do very large water changes on established tanks. I never change more than 10% on my tank per month. I notice a big difference in my corals if I do a larger change. Every tank is different, you just have to know your tank.

 

[Richards_reef]

New tank syndrome for most people can take up to a year. If you dose bacteria when you start up the tank it will be less time. I consider a tank mature when the microfauna is stable (not overgrowing or withering) and parameters are stable. You should be able to take a week off from giving your tank too much attention aside from feeding and scheduled dosing.
Now this is my opinion, others will have other opinions. I don't know if there is a scientific definition for a mature tank.

 

[mstockmaster]

New tank syndrome for most people can take up to a year. If you dose bacteria when you start up the tank it will be less time. I consider a tank mature when the microfauna is stable (not overgrowing or withering) and parameters are stable. You should be able to take a week off from giving your tank too much attention aside from feeding and scheduled dosing.
Now this is my opinion, others will have other opinions. I don't know if there is a scientific definition for a mature tank.

If that's the case then I'm pretty sure that's not my problem. I clean glass maybe once a week just when it gets fuzzy and absolutely nothing is out of control, no cyano, problem algae, etc.

 

[mstockmaster]

Anyone have any advise on how to convince my wife that it's a good idea to drill a hole in my floor to run the skimmer line outside?

 

[lolmatt]

Anyone have any advise on how to convince my wife that it's a good idea to drill a hole in my floor to run the skimmer line outside?

Lol can't help you there. Try leaving the windows open for a couple days and see if that helps with ph. Are you up north? Do you run a furnace?

 

[lolmatt]

Based on all the comments I tend to agree that NTS isn't really the issue here. I think both of our best actions are to feed a bunch to raise nutrients to detectable levels, lower alk to ~7.5 and keep it stable for a month, then reconvene. Amen?

 

[mstockmaster]

Lol can't help you there. Try leaving the windows open for a couple days and see if that helps with ph. Are you up north? Do you run a furnace?

Lol. I'm in Ohio, and it's November. That means 90% chance that it's 40 degrees and raining.

 

[mstockmaster]

Based on all the comments I tend to agree that NTS isn't really the issue here. I think both of our best actions are to feed a bunch to raise nutrients to detectable levels, lower alk to ~7.5 and keep it stable for a month, then reconvene. Amen?

Agree.

 

[Richards_reef]

Anyone have any advise on how to convince my wife that it's a good idea to drill a hole in my floor to run the skimmer line outside?

I would suggest getting a co2 monitor to make sure that's what is causing the pH to be that low. No use drilling holes if that's not the problem.