I need ideas

[Wayofthereef]

So I'm going to start with giving a little context to what I have going on. I have a 60 gallon display with a Kessil ap9x over it and a 20 gallon sump then I have a 17 gallon frag tank on the opposite side of the wall in the garage with a 10 gallon sump from that that returns back to the sump in the house. The whole system is tied together with the same water. And the frag tank in the garage is a 8 in deep tank with the frag rack sitting 3 in from the bottom so roughly 4 inches of water with the same light as I do in the main display over it

So on seven separate occasions I have taken corals that were starting to bleach out or die from the display and put it in that frag rack and they would bounce back at a very rapid rate. I have even received corals where the bag had drained all the water out half the flag would be dead and put it in that rack and they grow back. And at a crazy fast rate. So last week I take three acrofags out of the frag tank that had polyps extended for at least a few months throughout the day and they looked beautiful and put them in the display which is the same water and they close up and never extend eventually start to bleach and I pop them off and put them back in the frag tank. I've put a par meter on it and they are relatively close in their numbers plus or minus 50 par but mostly minus. What am I missing here? My display seems to be the place to send corals to die. They do have direct flow in the display as opposed to simple movement in the frag tank. Maybe that's it I don't know I'm at a loss

 

[Dburr1014]

So I'm going to start with giving a little context to what I have going on. I have a 60 gallon display with a Kessil ap9x over it and a 20 gallon sump then I have a 17 gallon frag tank on the opposite side of the wall in the garage with a 10 gallon sump from that that returns back to the sump in the house. The whole system is tied together with the same water. And the frag tank in the garage is a 8 in deep tank with the frag rack sitting 3 in from the bottom so roughly 4 inches of water with the same light as I do in the main display over it

So on seven separate occasions I have taken corals that were starting to bleach out or die from the display and put it in that frag rack and they would bounce back at a very rapid rate. I have even received corals where the bag had drained all the water out half the flag would be dead and put it in that rack and they grow back. And at a crazy fast rate. So last week I take three acrofags out of the frag tank that had polyps extended for at least a few months throughout the day and they looked beautiful and put them in the display which is the same water and they close up and never extend eventually start to bleach and I pop them off and put them back in the frag tank. I've put a par meter on it and they are relatively close in their numbers plus or minus 50 par but mostly minus. What am I missing here? My display seems to be the place to send corals to die. They do have direct flow in the display as opposed to simple movement in the frag tank. Maybe that's it I don't know I'm at a loss

Maybe that's it.

But the display, other corals warfare? Fish nipping?
What type of coral?

 

[Troylee]

What lights are on the frag tank? I know you’re saying that the par is close but the ap9x could be frying them.

 

[Dburr1014]

What lights are on the frag tank? I know you’re saying that the par is close but the ap9x could be frying them.

OP says, same light. Which is weird cuz the frag tank is shallow.

 

[Wayofthereef]

Maybe that's it.

But the display, other corals warfare? Fish nipping?
What type of coral?

I have a mixed reef, and that is a possibility though I've never seen the fish nipping.. the acropora seem to be the main coral affected

 

[Wayofthereef]

What lights are on the frag tank? I know you’re saying that the par is close but the ap9x could be frying them.

So I have an ap9x on both tanks and both are 10in above the water. But in the frag tak the corals are 1 to 2 inches below the surface and are thriving. In the display its pretty close to 10 inches below the surface so like 18 ish from the light

 

[Wayofthereef]

OP says, same light. Which is weird cuz the frag tank is shallow.

Right! Only 1 to 2 inches of water in the frag tank before the top of the acros and they are thriving

 

[slakker187]

i would say its your lights on the the main display are too high. try to lower the intensity and see what happens

 

[Dburr1014]

i would say its your lights on the the main display are too high. try to lower the intensity and see what happens

I would say the opposite.
Par in the display is lower than the frag tank. Crank up the display!

 

[Wayofthereef]

I would say the opposite.
Par in the display is lower than the frag tank. Crank up the display!

I put the par meter on the highest acro and by the time it got to 220 par, the intensity was maxed out. So Im gonna drop the lights about 4 inches.

 

[TX_REEF]

I get 400+ par towards the top of my mixed reef with AP9x - definitely lower the fixture til you get the par you want. It seems to me the frags get the exact flow and lighting they want in your frag tank, but not in your display.

 

[Wayofthereef]

I get 400+ par towards the top of my mixed reef with AP9x - definitely lower the fixture til you get the par you want. It seems to me the frags get the exact flow and lighting they want in your frag tank, but not in your display.

Thanks, I lowered the fixture to 5 inches above the water level. I'll recheck par this weekend since im away on work. Went ahead and put it on acclimation mode while im gone.

 

[Wayofthereef]

I get 400+ par towards the top of my mixed reef with AP9x - definitely lower the fixture til you get the par you want. It seems to me the frags get the exact flow and lighting they want in your frag tank, but not in your display.

So update on lowering the AP9X... my corals and pretty much everything literally blew up.. for 3 years I had miniscule growth on any sps. And now I bought a frag tank and have over a 100 plugs in there from excess growth. That was the fix this whole time.

 

[JNalley]

So update on lowering the AP9X... my corals and pretty much everything literally blew up.. for 3 years I had miniscule growth on any sps. And now I bought a frag tank and have over a 100 plugs in there from excess growth. That was the fix this whole time.

Happy you found the solution. I am guessing that the difference in PAR wasn't +/- 50 though if that's the case. My experience with the AP9X mounted 10" above the tank is that I have to run it at 40% or I start bleaching things in a mixed reef. The tops of my rocks are all around 350-400, heck even my sand bed is over 200 (take is only 18" deep total), so I had to acclimate my LPS and ZOA's to deal with the higher PAR. heh.

This experience definitely puts an exclamation point on how important a tank PAR map is though :-D

 

[TX_REEF]

So update on lowering the AP9X... my corals and pretty much everything literally blew up.. for 3 years I had miniscule growth on any sps. And now I bought a frag tank and have over a 100 plugs in there from excess growth. That was the fix this whole time.

I’m so glad that you were able to find a working solution! Yay kessil!

 

[Wayofthereef]

Happy you found the solution. I am guessing that the difference in PAR wasn't +/- 50 though if that's the case. My experience with the AP9X mounted 10" above the tank is that I have to run it at 40% or I start bleaching things in a mixed reef. The tops of my rocks are all around 350-400, heck even my sand bed is over 200 (take is only 18" deep total), so I had to acclimate my LPS and ZOA's to deal with the higher PAR. heh.

This experience definitely puts an exclamation point on how important a tank PAR map is though :-D

You're right about that.. I really didnt understand how at the proper mounting hight i was getting such low numbers.. i even cranked it to 100% and i was getting 350 and thought no way. Once i lowered the lights i was getting perfect numbers for my corals needs.