How are your Acros doing today?

[skey44]

PE does give an indication if the frag is in growing mode. If there isn’t any PE, making sure parameters, light and flow are OK. If all is OK and still no PE then it’s probably a system maturity issue. I almost gave up on Acropora at the 1.5 year mark as I couldn’t get them to grow while all other SPS were ok. For some Acropora I bought the same frag type 3 times before it finally survived and grew. Expect frustration and loss.

I’ve had an alternate experience from many as I see this “a tank needs to be matured for over a year for Acropora” talk a lot.
I have had Acropora success in the past so I’m sure my experience has helped.
While my new tank hasn’t been perfect by any means, at a little over 4 months in I haven’t lost a single Acropora (loudly knocking on wood here). I’ve even had one new frag bleach (probably due to overzealous dipping) and it came back around to full color with new growth now. Will update when/if I run into frustration/loss. I’ve already popped a $300 acro frag in my young tank and it seems to be doing great (darn impulsivity). If everything crashes and burns well… you can say I told you so
I’m just not satisfied with the expectation of struggles for over a year. I’m over here with PE and growth and telling the corals to hurry up and grow. Constantly trying to think of ways to speed them up. At the same time not changing anything fast since I’m at a good baseline now.
Hang in there, but my suggestion is if you aren’t having success there is either an issue with your system in some way or you’re getting inferior stock that’s ready to let go when you get it.
Grow sticks grow!

 

[Troylee]

I considered using kalk as top off from the start.
I do like the simplicity of dosing the a4r though and have been satisfied with the results thus far.
Do you think I would get better growth/health with kalk?
I don’t monitor my pH but know this may be a benefit of kalk vs a4r. I do closely monitor my alk and have it pegged at 8 with Ca and Mg running 440 and 1350 when I spot check them. This also makes me feel that my traces are consistent since a4r has those too. I have yet to do any icp testing to confirm this feeling.
Most corals are visually looking great, except a couple I bought that came in bad health and they seem to be improving. I see growth tips/edges on most of my corals. They’re just small frags and obviously this takes at least a little time to get everything to a size I’m happy with.
I also think I could ramp my peak light intensity up to get more growth, but I have a mixed stony coral reef and worry a little how this would affect some of my LPS.
Love seeing the massive colorful sticks here! Just impatiently waiting to have gardening “problems” like you all!
Picked up this ACI Shenanigans yesterday. It was already looking shaggy last night when I checked for PE after lights off! Pick of new coral and FTS for reference. Right before lights out blue/violet lights on.

If you want faster growth then kalk is a good way because of the ph benefit! Keeping ph above 8 is ideal and the faster your corals grow the higher it will go..I use to struggle to hit 8.1 durning my photo period and now it doesn’t drop below 8.2 at night because my sticks are growing like crazy! I don’t play the trace element game I think it’s a waste of time and money if you ask me! If I get some with my all for reef that’s great! I rely on water changes and fish food to add them to my tank. I’ll never send a icp test in because I see no reason too! I’m happy with the results I’m getting so why stress about something that I never even knew? I don’t think trace elements play any role in color and I can’t wait for tarichas new experiment to prove just that! Coloration comes from lighting and lighting only if you ask me but I’m no scientist lol.current ph and my lights kick on in a hour.

 

[skey44]

If you want faster growth then kalk is a good way because of the ph benefit! Keeping ph above 8 is ideal and the faster your corals grow the higher it will go..I use to struggle to hit 8.1 durning my photo period and now it doesn’t drop below 8.2 at night because my sticks are growing like crazy! I don’t play the trace element game I think it’s a waste of time and money if you ask me! If I get some with my all for reef that’s great! I rely on water changes and fish food to add them to my tank. I’ll never send a icp test in because I see no reason too! I’m happy with the results I’m getting so why stress about something that I never even knew? I don’t think trace elements play any role in color and I can’t wait for tarichas new experiment to prove just that! Coloration comes from lighting and lighting only if you ask me but I’m no scientist lol.current ph and my lights kick on in a hour.

Noted, appreciate the input. And I definitely see the proof in the pudding, your tank looks great!

 

[Cool tangs]

Great, wish I had more. But not worth until I have the new tank setup. Honestly I don't think acro is as hard as people make it out to be if your willing to put into the maintenance routine then it can be very simple. The hard part (for me starting out anyway) is just understand it all. Understanding what's marketing what's facts, understand the basics of the chemistry, the numbers and base lines. Don't chase numbers and don't do things fast. Take your time. I only test once a week, my alk swings from 6-8 gradually over 2-4 weeks. I don't panic low all doesn't kill my corals. Just take your time, it's not a race to perfection it's about riding the wave and going with the flow making small corrections along the way. Clean RODI is also another important things with acropora. Sadly they are very sensitive to the toxins in tap water (I found anyway) I bleached all my corals when I failed to get to my TDS creeping above 15. I learnt TDS and RODI is very crucial in keeping acropora alive

 

[SomeHappyFish]

PE does give an indication if the frag is in growing mode. If there isn’t any PE, making sure parameters, light and flow are OK. If all is OK and still no PE then it’s probably a system maturity issue. I almost gave up on Acropora at the 1.5 year mark as I couldn’t get them to grow while all other SPS were ok. For some Acropora I bought the same frag type 3 times before it finally survived and grew. Expect frustration and loss.

Thanks !

 

[FernBluffReef]

My tank is 1 year this month. Need to get an anniversary picture soon. It has finally stopped just immediately killing test acro frags. I have one simple test frag that’s been in the tank for a couple months now that is regaining its color…. so I went ahead and recently got two other small ones. No PE or anything promising but they haven’t outright died within two weeks LoL. I’ll report back when they actually show any PE or an itty bitty amount of growth. By hey at least the latest tests sticks have not outright died yet….

 

[Discotu]

@billyocean what's the yellow acro on the right?

Mine is doing okay today (knock on wood).

 

[billyocean]

@billyocean what's the yellow acro on the right?

Mine is doing okay today (knock on wood).

Asd rainbow mille..kind of washed out right now...usually has more orange so I moved it there to color it back up