I’m losing acros

[boogiesnap]

Hi y’all, I have maybe a dozen acros. I’ve lost 3 and one is going. Slowly. Tips turn white, base turns white and then they all white and eventually have algae growth so I know they’re gone. Boo.

I also have maybe a dozen LPS that seem quite healthy and I haven’t lost any. Torches, Bowerbanki, trachy, zoa, hammer, Duncan, etc…

I realize it COULD be this, or that, or the other…so asking why is somewhat irrelevant, too many variables.
However…I’m quite new to reefing so there are things I do not know and only come with experience and research. So, I’m asking about things that I can possibly control that may be causing me issues.
Here, specifically temperature.

I run the tank set at 78. It’s summer…I run a pax bellum cheato reactor(thing gets HOT, those heat sinks are no joke). I use a Ghl 7206, quite powerful LED and it produces some good heat as it cranks along during the day. There is air conditioning in the room and ambient temp is usually @ 76. Quite cool when it’s 90 plus outside.

over the course of the day the temp will rise into the 79 and change, and sometimes touch 80’s.

Is a 2 degree swing over a 24 hour period too drastic for acros? Just HOW sensitive to temp changes are they?

I’m hoping y’all could offer some experiences so I can either rule that small fluctuation out as an issue or find a solution to resolve.

Thank you all very much.

 

[SpSDrew]

My tank swings 2 degrees almost every day. Can you provide some water parameters, particular alk, phosphate, and nitrate.

Bleaching corals usually is low nutrients or high light.

Check for pest. Red, black, or white bugs.

 

[coral reeftank]

How old is your tank? If you’re new to reefing, it could be that your system is still too young to support sps. The microbiome is probably not robust enough to support the acros or there is a major elemental issue that needs to be addressed.

Don’t let this discourage you though, just try and maintain a healthy reef system and with enough time you’ll be able to keep acros.

Also, 2 degree temp swings are inconsequential. As long as things don’t go over 83 you should be fine. But even then, I have known people to run their tanks near 85. Just make sure you don’t let anything get out of control.

I keep my systems in a wide range of temperatures some stay around 74-77 others 78-80.

 

[boogiesnap]

My tank swings 2 degrees almost every day. Can you provide some water parameters, particular alk, phosphate, and nitrate.

Bleaching corals usually is low nutrients or high light.

Check for pest. Red, black, or white bugs.

Tank been running maybe 6 months. I have 2 small clowns, a baby yellow tang, baby sail fin, blue damsel, and a small copperband.
I feed pe mysis and calanus, hikari nori pellets, mastik. They eat maybe 3 times a day, maybe 2 cubes total, tiny pinch of pellets. Every now and then a nori sheet.

I dose a tiny .25 ml Acro power every few days. Spot feed with Bene reef and reef roids, tiny bit, every couple weeks.

Tank gets a bottle of pods about every other month. A couple drops of phytoplankton every few days.

10-15 percent water change weekly, O tds rodi, and rpm pro salt(just switched from nyos).

Alk has been stable @ 8.5. It has gone higher a couple times…my dang fault…but has been resolved.
I realize it could have been an all spike causing losses.
I’m dosing a small amount of kalk overnight now.

Phos is high, .2 plus. I run cheato, rowaphos, and just started a very small amount of reef actif carbon dosing working up to the plan of bacto balance. Sometimes use Chemipure blue as well.
Inthink I need to increase the rowaphos or try phos rx or something more drastic but I’m wary of such sudden changes.

Nitrate is usually 5-10, sometimes a bit higher. Pretty stable.

PH is stable and high. 8.2-8.5. BRS co2 scrubber into the skimmer and kalk.

Lighting I’m working on getting some par mapping done. Again it’s a Ghl mitras 7206 at @ 40% on an AB plus schedule about a foot above water, tank is 14 inches deep, 26 inches long, 14 inches wide. I’ve got some acros browning which I’ve read can be either too much light or too little(go figure, reefing…lol) I’ve started to acclimate to slight higher intensity 10 percent over a couple weeks and we’ll see what color does.

I dip in coral RX and don’t see any signs of pests. Algae? Ya got some algae.

Thanks again y’all.

 

[Lavey29]

Tank been running maybe 6 months. I have 2 small clowns, a baby yellow tang, baby sail fin, blue damsel, and a small copperband.
I feed pe mysis and calanus, hikari nori pellets, mastik. They eat maybe 3 times a day, maybe 2 cubes total, tiny pinch of pellets. Every now and then a nori sheet.

I dose a tiny .25 ml Acro power every few days. Spot feed with Bene reef and reef roids, tiny bit, every couple weeks.

Tank gets a bottle of pods about every other month. A couple drops of phytoplankton every few days.

10-15 percent water change weekly, O tds rodi, and rpm pro salt(just switched from nyos).

Alk has been stable @ 8.5. It has gone higher a couple times…my dang fault…but has been resolved.
I realize it could have been an all spike causing losses.
I’m dosing a small amount of kalk overnight now.

Phos is high, .2 plus. I run cheato, rowaphos, and just started a very small amount of reef actif carbon dosing working up to the plan of bacto balance. Sometimes use Chemipure blue as well.
Inthink I need to increase the rowaphos or try phos rx or something more drastic but I’m wary of such sudden changes.

Nitrate is usually 5-10, sometimes a bit higher. Pretty stable.

PH is stable and high. 8.2-8.5. BRS co2 scrubber into the skimmer and kalk.

Lighting I’m working on getting some par mapping done. Again it’s a Ghl mitras 7206 at @ 40% on an AB plus schedule about a foot above water, tank is 14 inches deep, 26 inches long, 14 inches wide. I’ve got some acros browning which I’ve read can be either too much light or too little(go figure, reefing…lol) I’ve started to acclimate to slight higher intensity 10 percent over a couple weeks and we’ll see what color does.

I dip in coral RX and don’t see any signs of pests. Algae? Ya got some algae.

Thanks again y’all.

Tank is not mature enough to sustain acros. Your parameters fluctuate. Do you have abundant coralline growing? Very experienced reefers can grow acros early on in a tank. New reefers such as yourself unfortunately will struggle and watch them bleach out. Try again after the one year mark if everything is stable.

 

[dadnjesse]

I would not increase the Rowaphos this stuff can strip your water of useful nutrients. If you have a problem with Phosphates don't feed so much.

 

[w8lifts]

I’ve had terrible luck with ferric oxide , so much so I never use it anymore and switched to phosphate Rx. Corals always looked unhealthy in my tank when I was running it.

 

[boogiesnap]

I would not increase the Rowaphos this stuff can strip your water of useful nutrients. If you have a problem with Phosphates don't feed so much.

It’s the copperband keeping the import so high. I have reduced slowly to no ill effect so far. He still pretty fat and a voracious feeder.

 

[boogiesnap]

Tank is not mature enough to sustain acros. Your parameters fluctuate. Do you have abundant coralline growing? Very experienced reefers can grow acros early on in a tank. New reefers such as yourself unfortunately will struggle and watch them bleach out. Try again after the one year mark if everything is stable.

Thank you. What would a very experienced reefer do that I’m not to enable them to drop in acros early?

They fluctuate some sure, just how tight do they really need to be?

 

[Lavey29]

Thank you. What would a very experienced reefer do that I’m not to enable them to drop in acros early?

They fluctuate some sure, just how tight do they really need to be?

They would probably start the tank with real live ocean rock still wet straight from the ocean which jumpstarts their biome with microfauna and biodiversity. Did you do this? At 6 months you are right in the middle of the ugly phases. There is a bacterial war going on in your tank for dominance. What are you doing to increase biodiversity and microfauna in your tank? How are you building your biome to support your corals? You are just being reactionary with various chemicals when something like phosphate elevates.

My own experience is similar to you. I am a novice reefer. I tried a few simple SPS tester corals in the 8 to 10 month mark. They slowly bleached out and died. I stayed the course and focused on stability, water changes. Good husbandry, etc... around one year my tank went through an evolution and became much more stable and predictable and I began adding SPS frags. 38 frags total and they all grew into beautiful colonies with no losses. This coincided with my coraline taking off, dialing in my par precise dosing, ICP tests, water changes, adding biodiversity and microfauna, etc... my biome matured and the corals responded accordingly.

 

[boogiesnap]

They would probably start the tank with real live ocean rock still wet straight from the ocean which jumpstarts their biome with microfauna and biodiversity. Did you do this? At 6 months you are right in the middle of the ugly phases. There is a bacterial war going on in your tank for dominance. What are you doing to increase biodiversity and microfauna in your tank? How are you building your biome to support your corals? You are just being reactionary with various chemicals when something like phosphate elevates.

My own experience is similar to you. I am a novice reefer. I tried a few simple SPS tester corals in the 8 to 10 month mark. They slowly bleached out and died. I stayed the course and focused on stability, water changes. Good husbandry, etc... around one year my tank went through an evolution and became much more stable and predictable and I began adding SPS frags. 38 frags total and they all grew into beautiful colonies with no losses. This coincided with my coraline taking off, dialing in my par precise dosing, ICP tests, water changes, adding biodiversity and microfauna, etc... my biome matured and the corals responded accordingly.

Thank you for elaborating. Real ocean live rock is a unicorn…lol…or at least the pot of gold at them of the rainbow these days…lol…so no, definitely not do that.

I began the tank, with plenty of pods, some various bacteria, and let it run empty for a couple months, added some fish, couple months, addd some coral slowly.

Yes, as parameters and needs change in the tank, I’m adjusting with additions and subtractions. I’m thinking that’s pretty standard?

I do appreciate the year in and glad to hear there is light like you experienced!

Thanks again.

 

[KrisReef]

Reefing may be like golfing when speaking about experience.

Everyone has to learn how to swing.

 

[Lavey29]

Thank you for elaborating. Real ocean live rock is a unicorn…lol…or at least the pot of gold at them of the rainbow these days…lol…so no, definitely not do that.

I began the tank, with plenty of pods, some various bacteria, and let it run empty for a couple months, added some fish, couple months, addd some coral slowly.

Yes, as parameters and needs change in the tank, I’m adjusting with additions and subtractions. I’m thinking that’s pretty standard?

I do appreciate the year in and glad to hear there is light like you experienced!

Thanks again.

I think you are on the right path to success but your tank just needs more time to develop. Rent a par meter and confirm your par. I run my lights at 100% intensity now after the par meter showed how low my par actually was. Check your flow, everyone says high flow for SPS. My MP40s ramp up to 26% during the day and 20% overnight. Perfect for SPS dominant mixed reef tanks. They are mounted 3 inches below the surface.

As the tank matures, parameters really don't change that much once their equilibrium is obtained. If you look at some of the amazing tank threads here from very experienced reefers, their numbers do not fluctuate and they hardly test certain areas at all. Their tank tells them if something is off slightly. Newer tanks fluctuate. This week it's phosphate for you. Next week maybe GHA and then you wonder why nutrients have bottomed out. Perfectly normal in the maturing process but resist the temptation to over react. Remember nothing in this hobby happens quickly. Patience is key to success.