Millepora and Tenuis difficulty

[CatsandClowns]

Heyo! I went with the typical sps suggestion for beginners being monti, stlyophora and green slimer. Ive had some success with turbinaria, and other encrusting corals. I have noticed some slight growth on a few of the prominent corallites on the slimer as well as full constant PE. This has got me more interested in acros. I personally do not want to run the gambit ordering acropora online, or any other corals for that matter, so Ive got my LFS(which occasionally has some nice pieces) and another local shop which sells largely tenuis and millepora'. Luckily enough these are some of my favorite species, yet I have read mixed experiences keeping them. Do these species of acropora share same care requirements as other beginner sps(torts, slimer, etc) in terms of flow/lighting intensity, are they more or less sensitive to light acclimatization? Are they more or less susceptible to pests? Since they are more challenging, what makes them so?

 

[bubbgee]

In theory, yes. Everyone harps stability so just keep your parameters in check and make sure you got flow and light in the right range and these should be fine.

All frags are susceptible to pests, so you need to identify that and prevent or treat it as it happens. SPS is still the most challenging to me. You can get the easy SPS and you'll be fine. Once you invest in the more expensive tenuis and millepora frags, it's pretty much downhill from there. Chances for success diminish as the price goes up-- which is why the frags themselves are expensive.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

Extreme stability (alk/cal/NO3/PO4 IMO most important), high light, and high flow. I had an accidental overdose of PO4+ a couple of nights ago and had a quick jump up ~0.2 ppm and it quickly came back down overnight, but it caused a RTN event in a small colony.

If you have the ability to auto dose, and auto check major parameters, that goes a LONG way to achieving that stability. I don't think they are necessarily more difficult than other corals, but they are much less forgiving.

 

[bradreef]

Tenuis are 10x harder than milli's. Both corals are more sensitive to environment changes than beginner coral. I would consider most millipora medium difficulty.

 

[CatsandClowns]

In theory, yes. Everyone harps stability so just keep your parameters in check and make sure you got flow and light in the right range and these should be fine.

All frags are susceptible to pests, so you need to identify that and prevent or treat it as it happens. SPS is still the most challenging to me. You can get the easy SPS and you'll be fine. Once you invest in the more expensive tenuis and millepora frags, it's pretty much downhill from there. Chances for success diminish as the price goes up-- which is why the frags themselves are expensive.

Fortunately theres plenty of inexpensive Tenuis to try. The more expensive varieties seem to be Solomon Island or Malaysian imports. Ive been dosing manually until now but Im about to set up a 2 part dosing pump, and still don't mind dosing manually, but that automation will help especially when Im away.

 

[CatsandClowns]

Tenuis are 10x harder than milli's. Both corals are more sensitive to environment changes than beginner coral. I would consider most millipora medium difficulty.

It seems the thinner the tissue the more susceptible it is to environmental changes. Edit: Because of that, Im guessing its even more crucial to move 'thin-skinned' acros to higher light zones slowly.

 

[CatsandClowns]

Extreme stability (alk/cal/NO3/PO4 IMO most important), high light, and high flow. I had an accidental overdose of PO4+ a couple of nights ago and had a quick jump up ~0.2 ppm and it quickly came back down overnight, but it caused a RTN event in a small colony.

If you have the ability to auto dose, and auto check major parameters, that goes a LONG way to achieving that stability. I don't think they are necessarily more difficult than other corals, but they are much less forgiving.

Autochecking major parameters is outside my budget. I do obsessively check parameters though, about 2-3 times weekly. I have been researching auto dosing which is something I will do very soon.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

Also be sure that you have an ATO. Salinity swings are also a killer.

 

[bubbgee]

Autochecking major parameters is outside my budget. I do obsessively check parameters though, about 2-3 times weekly. I have been researching auto dosing which is something I will do very soon.

I wouldn't suggest auto dosing if you can't test daily or regularly or monitored. Although, AFR is your best bet if you are just dosing semi-blind as long as you know your calcium consumption.

 

[CatsandClowns]

I wouldn't suggest auto dosing if you can't test daily or regularly or monitored. Although, AFR is your best bet if you are just dosing semi-blind as long as you know your calcium consumption.

Youre right, that seems like a safe way to overdose whatever product im using. Im strongly considering All for Reef at the moment as it seems simple to implement.

 

[CatsandClowns]

Also be sure that you have an ATO. Salinity swings are also a killer.

Agreed, one of the best investment was my ATO!

 

[bradreef]

There is a good thread on here about what people are dosing for sps tanks. Smaller tanks then all for reef is reasonable.
Lots of options tho
I personally dose kalk in my ato. Then 2 part with a and k added. The kalk does a bit of the car and all addition. Then the two part stabilizes and adds trace. I test weekly since my tank is pretty routine now. I also does ammonia for nitrate . Food is maintaining my phos levels and trate is getting close to not having to dose.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Highly recommend checking out this thread.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-are-you-dosing-sps-keepers.1106980/

 

[CatsandClowns]

Highly recommend checking out this thread.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-are-you-dosing-sps-keepers.1106980/

Hey I checked the thread out and Ive gotta say Im surprised people use AFR so frequently I would have assumed It would be priced out with larger tanks due to the long-run costs. Im running a smaller tank so I have no issue with AFR long term. Im not super familiar with the implementation of Kalk beyond its ability to boost Kh and pH buffering capacity. For a smaller, sumpless tank would you all recommend dosing it through pumps, manually, through ATO, if through an ATO is there a specific protocol or method yall use to maximize its effectiveness and minimize any catastrophic errors such as elevating ATO pump off the bottom of the Kalk reservoir, or using a stirrer to seperate any of the precipitate from going into the display? etc.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

Unless your demand is causing you to have to dose a TON of AFR, I wouldn't use Kalk. It can easily be messed up and end up nuking your tank. I have a 20g nano that only uses ~8mL of AFR a day and a 50 dollar dry mix AFR will last you forever.

 

[CatsandClowns]

Unless your demand is causing you to have to dose a TON of AFR, I wouldn't use Kalk. It can easily be messed up and end up nuking your tank. I have a 20g nano that only uses ~8mL of AFR a day and a 50 dollar dry mix AFR will last you forever.

Perfect. I like to keep it simple and not add more points of failure so I’ll follow your advice for AFR

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

It's also nice that the Alk/Cal are very closely correlated in the amount you dose, so you really only need to check Alk to determine your daily consumption and adjust based off that. You will need to periodically check your mag, as it typically isn't enough to keep that stable, but it's slow to do that. It's an excellent product.

 

[CatsandClowns]

It's also nice that the Alk/Cal are very closely correlated in the amount you dose, so you really only need to check Alk to determine your daily consumption and adjust based off that. You will need to periodically check your mag, as it typically isn't enough to keep that stable, but it's slow to do that. It's an excellent product.

I had always assumed AFR dosage was based on calcium consumption, is it really alkalinity consumption instead?

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

I had always assumed AFR dosage was based on calcium consumption, is it really alkalinity consumption instead?

It's calcium, but once known and stable, I tend to just go off of Alk readings. My nano tanks don't consume much calcium as they are primarily LPS and softies.

 

[Jasonak]

Heyo! I went with the typical sps suggestion for beginners being monti, stlyophora and green slimer. Ive had some success with turbinaria, and other encrusting corals. I have noticed some slight growth on a few of the prominent corallites on the slimer as well as full constant PE. This has got me more interested in acros. I personally do not want to run the gambit ordering acropora online, or any other corals for that matter, so Ive got my LFS(which occasionally has some nice pieces) and another local shop which sells largely tenuis and millepora'. Luckily enough these are some of my favorite species, yet I have read mixed experiences keeping them. Do these species of acropora share same care requirements as other beginner sps(torts, slimer, etc) in terms of flow/lighting intensity, are they more or less sensitive to light acclimatization? Are they more or less susceptible to pests? Since they are more challenging, what makes them so?

You would be better off saving up and getting a trident and dosing setup it will change everything for you. I know you didnt want to here that though.
The key is dosing and testing to be successful theres no way around it. Can you keep acros without doing that yes, theres really hardy ones out there but millis and tennis are not on that list of easy. I do currently have a tuff as nails sunset milli I got from Battle Corals and my Laser Melon tenni is just growing like crazy despite being a finicky coral. Most acros will adjust to your lighting, the more intense the better. And they love flow. I like to support my LFS, the owner is actually a friend. If your buying from LFS Just make sure there aquacultured pieces. DO NOT get maricultured. This will just make a challenging coral even more tuff and could dissuade you from trying to do acros all together.
There's easy acros, there not all super hard to grow. Tri color Valida is really easy acro, Aussie gold , BC Firebrand is a smoothie that has been very hardy for me.
You could also try bubble gum digi or forest fire digi. These are super easy branching corals that are very underrated and hardy.