Need some help with my acro's

[Cannoy]

I know this isn't the right sections to post this question, but I only really keep up the the Battlcorals section here. For the past couple years I've had trouble getting acro's to grow and get color but I have no trouble keeping them alive. I've tried amino acids and different trace elements and have seen no results so now I only dose 2 part. My current setup is a 20l tank with 2 AI primes (non hd), protein skimmer, gyre 1k at 100% and a 850 gph Koralia. I've tried different settings on the prime but now I run them at 100% all channels for 7 hours and I turn the whites down for a bluer look for 3 hours. And I do about a 20% water change every 2 weeks. I also have 3 fish.

Alk 10
Calc 420
Mag 1400
PO4 slight color change on salifert
NO3 15

A couple months ago I did dose TSP because I didnt see any color change on the test kit and I noticed a very slight change in color on the corals. My blue corals are green, reds and pinks look yellow or very pale, and every thing looks dull and a new frag never keep their bright colors. Any advice on what I should try would be greatly appreciated.

 

[authentic]

Too much light....not enough flow..try putting a few frags down low on your current setup and see how they do as a test...

 

[KTTX]

Rent a PAR meter so you can dial in it perfect. Alk little high. Nitrate between 5-10 better.

 

[Coling]

Phosphates can inhibit calcification and will also play a role in coloration/zooxanthallae populations. I would recommend getting a Hanna Checker to get a more accurate reading of your phosphates. Lighting, flow and water chemistry have a correlation that affect coral growth and coloration in a way that isn't fully understood. Because of this, I can't tell you what phosphate levels would give you the best results, but a lot of Acro keepers shoot for the 0.03-0.08 ppm range.

I highly recommend dosing trace elements again. I started dosing Aquaforest components and immediately noticed better growth and coloration. Be careful though, trace elements can be problematic if levels get too high. If you are using a common brand of 2-part you should be able to find dosing guidance for trace elements by Red Sea and Aquaforest based on your consumption of 2-part.

Renting a par meter is also a great idea (BRS rents them if you can't find one locally). You can always dial the primes down or raise them higher above the tank. Both lights at 100% on a shallow tank is likely giving you REALLY high par.

 

[Battlecorals]

High there,

Thanks for the post and sorry to hear about the troubles., That can be frustrating to no end.

here's a quick read and discussion on lighting and "fiddling" with the. may help get you a little straightened out

PSA ON THE LAMENTATION OF THE OCD LED'ER

I remember when PFO released their new LED fixture, the Solaris, in 2006 at the IMAC show in Chicago. It was extremely expensive, it had no proven track record at all, and ultimately wasn't really refined enough to serve as a suitable replacement for halide or T5’s in any way. But it was darn...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Cannoy]

Too much light....not enough flow..try putting a few frags down low on your current setup and see how they do as a test...

Bassed on the BRS test of the prime hd I highly doubt running them at 100% is too much light. And I currently have 90x turnover in the tank, how much more than that should I need?

Phosphates can inhibit calcification and will also play a role in coloration/zooxanthallae populations. I would recommend getting a Hanna Checker to get a more accurate reading of your phosphates. Lighting, flow and water chemistry have a correlation that affect coral growth and coloration in a way that isn't fully understood. Because of this, I can't tell you what phosphate levels would give you the best results, but a lot of Acro keepers shoot for the 0.03-0.08 ppm range.

I highly recommend dosing trace elements again. I started dosing Aquaforest components and immediately noticed better growth and coloration. Be careful though, trace elements can be problematic if levels get too high. If you are using a common brand of 2-part you should be able to find dosing guidance for trace elements by Red Sea and Aquaforest based on your consumption of 2-part.

Renting a par meter is also a great idea (BRS rents them if you can't find one locally). You can always dial the primes down or raise them higher above the tank. Both lights at 100% on a shallow tank is likely giving you REALLY high par.

I sent in a ICP and bassed on that it doesnt look like I need to dose any trace elements, and the phosphates on the test were a little high but they're lower than they were.

High there,

Thanks for the post and sorry to hear about the troubles., That can be frustrating to no end.

here's a quick read and discussion on lighting and "fiddling" with the. may help get you a little straightened out

PSA ON THE LAMENTATION OF THE OCD LED'ER

I remember when PFO released their new LED fixture, the Solaris, in 2006 at the IMAC show in Chicago. It was extremely expensive, it had no proven track record at all, and ultimately wasn't really refined enough to serve as a suitable replacement for halide or T5’s in any way. But it was darn...

www.reef2reef.com

So I should be fine keeping them at 100%? And do any of my other parameters look off, or should I just keep everything as stable as I can where they're at?

 

[Battlecorals]

Do you have access to a par meter by any chance? wouldn't hurt to know some numbers, but the gist of the write-up isn't really about intensity, more an effort to prevent frequent spectrum changes.

 

[Cannoy]

Right now I dont have access to a par meter, I just used a BRS video as reference. In their video they use the HD version of my light and its in the 200 par range with a single light at 100%. I'm not exactly sure how par works with multiple lights so I dont know if having two at 100% would be too much light.

 

[Battlecorals]

any chance you could post a pic or two of the corals?

 

[Coling]

I apologize for recommending dosing trace elements if they are in the right range. Water changes must be replacing them sufficiently.

It sounds like you should have plenty of flow to me.

At what depth did BRS get readings in the 200 range? Is your tank the standard 20 long (30 1/4 x 12 1/2 x 12 3/4)? The additional light will most definitely give you higher par readings.

How high were your phosphates on the ICP test?

 

[Cannoy]

The best pics i can do right now. And I know I'm infested with aiptasias, been battling them for 13 years.

Xmas

Bliss

Small piece of lemon hammer in the back

Small piece of Snipers blue.

 

[Cannoy]

Also, these BC pieces have been in my tank for a year now. And this is all the growth I have.

 

[BranchingHammer]

I would focus on lowering alk perhaps?

 

[Cannoy]

I would lower the alk but every time I mix up Instant Ocean it comes out to around 10, so I thought it would be best to leave it there so things are more stable after water changes. Maybe I'll change salts in the future.

 

[Coling]

BRS did an expert with increased alk and calcium (12dKh and 480 ppm calcium if I remember correctly) and had substantially higher growth rates. I don't think the kH is the problem. As long as you are in the 7-12 range stability seems to matter more so than a specific value.

My hypothesis is that it is lighting, nutrients or both. If your phosphates were high but are lower now it may take a while before the coral color up again. It took months for some of my Acros to bounce back once they lost color due to high phosphates. My Fox Flame took 6+ months to look like it should.

 

[Cannoy]

My phosphates were .09, and i've never had good color with sps, and i didnt see much of a different since the phosphates lowered. I'm also thinking its lighting, I dont think anything else is far off from where it should be.

 

[motortrendz]

I think the colors aren't that bad, theyr not browned out they're not super pale like in an ulns but I'd be conserned about the amount of aptaisa around all the sps. Is it possible they could be stinging the frag causing problems?? Just an idea

 

[Cannoy]

Bassed on pictures of the same corals I've seen my colors are way off. And some of them actually look a little better in the picture than they do in person. Also the last coral I brought home had a bright blue tip and now the blue is gone, now it just looks dull like the rest.

 

[HM3105]

What is your salinity?

Can you post your ICP results?

 

[Cannoy]

I went with a Coralvue test, but this was before I read about people opinions on their tests. And my salinity is high, trying to slowly bring it down. This ICP wont be very accurate because I did a large water changes after this.