I still can’t keep acros apparently. Getting really frustrated.

[melanotaenia]

I agree with ycnibrc, just looking at your photo above it is clear that rock is new and still has a long way to go.

Get some live rock. And bring Alk down slowly to around 8 would be beneficial as well.

 

[Kaludar]

I agree with ycnibrc, just looking at your photo above it is clear that rock is new and still has a long way to go.

Get some live rock. And bring Alk down slowly to around 8 would be beneficial as well.

Are you talking just live rock from my lfs or the wet live rock you can have shipped out of the ocean?

I wish I would have known that dry rock is such a problem when I started my tank I’m not sure why it’s pushed as the best option now days.

 

[dohc97]

I missed the lps issues? Are you having trouble keeping all corals alive?

 

[EMeyer]

Its pushed as the best option because somebody started selling mined limestone for aquariums, and retailers realized the supply of mined limestone is waaaay bigger than the supply of actual live rock. If they push dry rock, they can sell it by the literal tons. If they admit live rock is objectively better, they can only sell a little bit, and who'd pay a premium for crappy mined limestone once retailers are admitting live rock is better?

To be clear, I'm not saying is some big conspiracy. Just the result of mined limestone being widely released into the hobby without testing, combined with the very limited supply of real live rock. Pushing mined limestone becomes a far more profitable endeavor, so we end up with a lot of companies doing that.

 

[Kaludar]

I missed the lps issues? Are you having trouble keeping all corals alive?

Prior to dosing microbacter 7 my scolys and acans were receding pretty badly. They have started to rebound after I started dosing microbacter. I guess all the signs are pointing to me not having enough bio diversity In my tank.

so the next question is if I buy some live rock and mix it in with my current rock is it possible this could cause my tank to cycle again if there is die off? How would you all go about this?

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

I sourced my rock from several places, but a good chunk of it was from an existing smaller tank that had been set up for years.

 

[Kaludar]

Do you guys think its possible that im killing my coral with too much flow? I have two MP40 on a 65 gal. I just checked out ecotech's calculator tool, and it says that ran at the lowest setting my powerheads are almost overkill for SPS ? I've been running them at 25%. I probably should have gotten MP10s but i was reading my glass is too think for MP10...

I turned it down to the lowest setting to see what happens, do SPS show they are unhappy with too much flow by retracting polyps?

 

[NS Mike D]

Do you guys think its possible that im killing my coral with too much flow? I have two MP40 on a 65 gal. I just checked out ecotech's calculator tool, and it says that ran at the lowest setting my powerheads are almost overkill for SPS ? I've been running them at 25%. I probably should have gotten MP10s but i was reading my glass is too think for MP10...

I turned it down to the lowest setting to see what happens, do SPS show they are unhappy with too much flow by retracting polyps?

The corals would bleach on the flow side first. While some folks are able to set up sps tanks right away, fwiw, I couldn't keep sps in my first year and the somewhere in my second year I took another stab at it, and boom, they took. Nothing I could see or test was different. I attributed it to the maturing of the microfauna in the tank.

During that second year, I decided to take baby steps and stick with easier coral like frogspawn, duncans and candy canes. When they along with the softies had gotten established and started to take off, that's when I tried sps again.

I stopped focusing on what I couldn't keep and focused on what was doing well. That helped a lot with being patient and was a lot more enjoyable.

 

[Double monti 61]

I agree with ycnibrc large life begins with small life

 

[X-37B]

About 35lbs of live from my 2 year old nano.
35lbs caribsea dry.
I believe in live rock. Cant tell you how many people have what I call " dry rock issues".
My 120 10 month old.

 

[Crustaceon]

This is going to sound really weird but i’d recommend getting your phosphates a little bit higher than .03ppm. Don’t be afraid to run it at .06 or even .1ppm. Mine is sitting at .13ppm and my frag plugs are encrusting and glowing under actinic. I used to live by the whole “.03ppm or everything will die” thing and I absolutely struggled to keep acros alive. I think there’s more to just hitting a certain number and while people do have luck at such low phosphate levels, I feel like everything else I was doing probably wasn’t mirroring what other people were doing, such as feeding routines which was causing stn. Go down your checklist and see what could be wrong. If you’re not imparting instability somehow, then it’s most likely the numbers you’re running. In most cases, you’ll be safer at a lower alk and slightly elevated nutrients (10ppm nitrates & .06-.1ppm phophates). You can even work within this range and not have nuisance algae in your display. High alk and low nutrients is riding the razor’s edge and it’s easy to fall off of it. Put the training wheels back on and fine-tune your water conditions gradually. Give it a few weeks.

 

[Kaludar]

I just watched my flame angel take a solid nip at my SPS frag. Maybe its time to get rid of him...

 

[tehmadreefer]

Par readings at peak:

That rocks looks brand new. Even if it has been in tank since June 2019, it’s showing very little life. That’s most likely your problem.

 

[Kaludar]

That rocks looks brand new. Even if it has been in tank since June 2019, it’s showing very little life. That’s most likely your problem.

So really just more of a waiting game until my rock matures more?

 

[tehmadreefer]

So really just more of a waiting game until my rock matures more?

Yes but you can speed it up by getting rock from the coast if your near one, or see if an lfs or another hobbyist in your area can give you a some pieces of aged rock from their tank.

 

[RMS18]

So, I would say your tank is still quite young. Mine has been set up since Christmas 2018 and is only now starting to grow SPS really well.

This. Mine was started in end of 2018 and it just started to grow sps well a few months ago. Used to have the same issues you are having now when the tank was younger. Not sure where you get your corals but I'll put mine on a rack for 1 day before they go to final resting place at 350-450 par. It helps that I buy them a vendor who keeps same par and using t5 as well. Po4 steady .12-.15 with about 8.5alk. when I get under .08 po4 my scores will pale and stn eventually.

 

[Steven Garland]

I would definitely say if Acan's are mad,there is a problem for sure.

If I can plop Acro's into a 6mth old pico and keep them alive for almost a year,something is off its axis in your tank. Stray voltage,copper or some other toxic element ? Stability is keep with sps,mainly Acro's how CONSISTENT are your results when you test,I may have missrd it are you testing weekly,jotting fown your results ?

Are ppm within single digits or each other ? There are major key factors we could be missing out on that are leading to your sps losses.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Alk is too high and po4 too low.

 

[mitch91175]

Most hobbyists have bought into the whole not having any pest in their systems (well that's what every person selling the dry rock want you to believe) so they go with dry rock and wonder why their systems don't do well for the first year. More are finding out that you need to do so much more to your system the first year using dry rock to be successful.

I was lucky to start out with real live rock and will make darn sure I keep some no matter what I decide to do with my system overall. Yeah I have vermetid snails, asterina stars, even had a eunicid worm, but I also don't loose coral nearly as much either. Heck even had montipora eating nudibranches. Just let them eat monti until they were all gone from the system. What I'm getting at it buy live rock so that's one less concern you have.

If you can find someone that can provide you with a piece of seed rock from an established system that will help you out tremendously.

 

[mitch91175]

You can get some live rock from here, but you might also be able to find some from your LFS as well.

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