How critical is acclimation of SPS?

[Reefin' Alaska]

I'm curious,

I am attempting a mixed reef, which as softies and LPS has been pretty successful for them most part. Having said that, I recently in the last couple months have attempted a couple sticks.

They initially grew well, one even branched off, but over time, browned and bleached. While everything else, is still great, still colors up nicely, still has great extension.

But I cannot figure out why my SPS do this. I test every week, numbers stay consistent. P04 .04, N03 tests around 6. Both on Hanna. Cal 440, dKH 8, Mag 1350 - Red Sea. Salinity 1.025, pH 8.1.

Numbers aren't anything alarming to me. I use a G5 XR15 with Zaxby's schedule at 60%.

What else should I be looking at? I'm baffled with this. I was wondering if my acclimation method is damaging them?

 

[paul01609]

You could do with a par meter to see what there getting

 

[MONTANTK]

I second the par meter suggestion. Another thought could be that your parameters are vastly different from the vendor you got the frags from. An example would be you run lower alk and the vendor has higher alk. Or they run a Zeo system and you don’t. Again just assumptions and spitballing

 

[paul01609]

I had problems with my corals,I run condensation glass covers which affects par by a lot which I didn’t realise until I got a par meter

 

[kenchilada]

What’s the flow like?

 

[melanotaenia]

1. How old is your tank
2. Did you start your tank with dry or live rock
3. What size aquarium do you have that is running this light
4. Where are you placing corals when introducing into aquarium

 

[Reefin' Alaska]

1. How old is your tank
2. Did you start your tank with dry or live rock
3. What size aquarium do you have that is running this light
4. Where are you placing corals when introducing into aquarium

1.Tank is about 6 months old.

2. Started with CaribSea Shapes, and Nano arches - so dry.

3. It's an Innovative Marine 50, and 2 G5 XR15's for lighting.

4. Naturally, softies towards the bottom. LPS middle and lower. I've had success in the past with LPS in other tanks, but left the hobby for a few years. But they are all doing well. The SPS I've started higher, mostly directly under the lights. I run them in acclimation mode. I'm on my 3rd stick, and all 3 have browned, and then bleached - 1 of them grew like crazy before it went away. The other 2 have had moderate growth.

Flow is 2 MP10's on 40% reef crest + Sicce Syncra 3.0 return.

I run filter floss, MarinePure balls, GFO/ROX in a bag.

2 clownfish. Various CUC.

 

[srt4eric]

Like said before definitely rent or borrow a par meter. I have a 40 gallon and one xr30. I run mine at 36% and I'm getting 350-400 par at the higher spots on my tank. At 60% might be a little too much light.

 

[George81]

Are you buying frags locally or ordering online and having them shipped? I’m only asking because I was having similar issues which seemed to stop once I started buying frags locally or picking them up. my coral mortality rate is zero since I stopped ordering online. Before that I was somewhere below 50%. i am certain it’s because shipping stress and I wasn’t doing much in terms of light acclimating them. I only used one vendor on line, so it can be something with him, however he has glowing reviews locally so I’m certain it was me...he is on the other side of Canada.
I just drove 2.5 hours the other day to pick up 500$ in coral even though shipping was free....just my experience

edit.
ive added close to 30 frags since I’ve stopped ordering online and they are all still with me.

 

[biophilia]

Beyond PAR, another thing to check if your parameters are in the normal range and your tank is established (i.e. coralline algae is colonizing surfaces) is the color of your water.

The next time you're doing a water change, put a few gallons into a white container under indirect light. If the water looks yellow at all, you likely have too many dissolved organic compounds in it. Especially if your tank has been established for a while with a lot of soft corals in it, this might be something that is happening and it can irritate a lot of the more sensitive stony corals. Whether or not the irritation is a result of allelopathy from the soft corals or something else I'm not sure.

I've had that issue in the past where everything else checked out and new stony corals were gradually turning a dull brown before eventually bleaching out. Running a lot of high grade granulated carbon and changing it frequently was the fix in my case.

 

[biophilia]

As for acclimation, it shouldn't be an issue. I've always just dropped them right in after dipping/inspecting for pests.

 

[Reefin' Alaska]

Are you buying frags locally or ordering online and having them shipped? I’m only asking because I was having similar issues which seemed to stop once I started buying frags locally or picking them up. my coral mortality rate is zero since I stopped ordering online. Before that I was somewhere below 50%. i am certain it’s because shipping stress and I wasn’t doing much in terms of light acclimating them. I only used one vendor on line, so it can be something with him, however he has glowing reviews locally so I’m certain it was me...he is on the other side of Canada.
I just drove 2.5 hours the other day to pick up 500$ in coral even though shipping was free....just my experience

edit.
ive added close to 30 frags since I’ve stopped ordering online and they are all still with me.

I live in Alaska. Resources where I live aren't readily available. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive. Easier and cheaper to order.

 

[Reefin' Alaska]

Beyond PAR, another thing to check if your parameters are in the normal range and your tank is established (i.e. coralline algae is colonizing surfaces) is the color of your water.

The next time you're doing a water change, put a few gallons into a white container under indirect light. If the water looks yellow at all, you likely have too many dissolved organic compounds in it. Especially if your tank has been established for a while with a lot of soft corals in it, this might be something that is happening and it can irritate a lot of the more sensitive stony corals. Whether or not the irritation is a result of allelopathy from the soft corals or something else I'm not sure.

I've had that issue in the past where everything else checked out and new stony corals were gradually turning a dull brown before eventually bleaching out. Running a lot of high grade granulated carbon and changing it frequently was the fix in my case.

I do auto changes every day. I think I'll explore this tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[melanotaenia]

1.Tank is about 6 months old.

2. Started with CaribSea Shapes, and Nano arches - so dry.

3. It's an Innovative Marine 50, and 2 G5 XR15's for lighting.

4. Naturally, softies towards the bottom. LPS middle and lower. I've had success in the past with LPS in other tanks, but left the hobby for a few years. But they are all doing well. The SPS I've started higher, mostly directly under the lights. I run them in acclimation mode. I'm on my 3rd stick, and all 3 have browned, and then bleached - 1 of them grew like crazy before it went away. The other 2 have had moderate growth.

Flow is 2 MP10's on 40% reef crest + Sicce Syncra 3.0 return.

I run filter floss, MarinePure balls, GFO/ROX in a bag.

2 clownfish. Various CUC.

Sounds to me from these factors that your tank is rather new, and lacks the biodiversity for the SPS to do well. Do you have a source for any real live rock? Otherwise, it would probably be advisable to wait a little longer and once you see good coralline growth, especially on glass surfaces, you can start trying SPS again. The lighting is unlikely to be the issue.

Also advisable to start SPS in middle area of tank before bringing to higher light areas, as some SPS respond better to lower lighting situations. Good luck.

 

[ScottB]

There are always exceptions, but keeping acropora in a 6 month old dead rock start is extremely difficult.

You know your numbers are perfect for SPS, but your biome is not. Not enough nano-sized wildlife in there yet. Maybe get some live rock or live rubble. Something with some sponges in it and teaming with tiny critters.

 

[ScottB]

It is also worth discussing your dip/acclimation method as everything has to be shipped. My methods have changed over time to something like this:
a) temp acclimate in sump
b) turn lights down to sunset setting and place in tank (in my case an LPS tank that serves as SPS QT)
c) return to normal light settings and let the frags destress for a few days. Inspect for pests and eggs.
d) dip around day 4-5 unless inspection revealed pests
e) dip inspect again day 11-12
f) place in display

 

[TDEcoral]

I never acclimate acros, just drop them right in the tank after removing from the frag plug and dipping. I can't say I've ever had something die as a result of this. If it was your acclimation method they'd be dying pretty much immediately IMO.

 

[homer1475]

There are always exceptions, but keeping acropora in a 6 month old dead rock start is extremely difficult.

You know your numbers are perfect for SPS, but your biome is not. Not enough nano-sized wildlife in there yet. Maybe get some live rock or live rubble. Something with some sponges in it and teaming with tiny critters.

This +1000

I could never keep any stick alive until my tank matured(like a little over 2 years in). I also started with dead dry rock.

SPS also hate GFO. I will never run GFO ever again.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

1.Tank is about 6 months old.

2. Started with CaribSea Shapes, and Nano arches - so dry.

3. It's an Innovative Marine 50, and 2 G5 XR15's for lighting.

4. Naturally, softies towards the bottom. LPS middle and lower. I've had success in the past with LPS in other tanks, but left the hobby for a few years. But they are all doing well. The SPS I've started higher, mostly directly under the lights. I run them in acclimation mode. I'm on my 3rd stick, and all 3 have browned, and then bleached - 1 of them grew like crazy before it went away. The other 2 have had moderate growth.

Flow is 2 MP10's on 40% reef crest + Sicce Syncra 3.0 return.

I run filter floss, MarinePure balls, GFO/ROX in a bag.

2 clownfish. Various CUC.

I highly recommend the par meter and getting rid of the gfo

Sps frags do much better with 0.1-0.15 po4

 

[madweazl]

For what it's worth, I don't acclimate acroporas; just no reason to do so in my opinion unless the alkalinity differs considerably between the two systems they were transferred to/from. From your description of the corals browning out and then dying (not bleaching, which would indicate still alive but less/no color), lack of light intensity would be one area to check. With that said, acroporas can adapt to and live in relatively low light (with poor coloration) so something else is likely the reason they're dying. I consider myself an above average reefer with it comes to acros and I wasn't able to keep them in my second tank at 6 months when test results were in the desired range.