New to Acros & SPS

[Rakie]

Here's the TL;DR

- Floating acclimation isn't useful
- Your flow is non existent..
- Your lighting may be low but that's okay at first
- Your Alk is high

You will need to significantly invest in quality powerheads, it's one of the most crucial aspects of our hobby. For a tank your size I would go with at least 4x Tunze 6095, or 2x 6095, and 2x 6105. My Tank is 24x24x18, and I run two Tunze 6095. I would highly suggest you invest in some quality pumps. Right now the amount of flow you have is less than I'd suggest for a BioCube.

 

[kurtp]

Salt 1972,
First of all, your posts demonstrate a sound grasp of reef keeping. I predict you will have success with SPS.
"non-existent flow" not sure about that since I've never tried two pp8's, but I have a 125 gal tank and tried two jebao pp 20's, and found that even at the lowest setting the flow was too strong (I am aware that many reefers would argue that there is no such thing as flow that is too strong, but I disagree, at least for mixed LPS/SPS tanks). I have been pleased with the combination of one pp20 and one pp8 at opposite ends of the tank with the paired slave/master mode in either the 'else' setting or the C setting (currently my favorite--after a little fiddling with the Master's knob I was able to dial in the right duration and pattern of pulses to provide strong, random, pulsating flow without knocking the heads off my hammer and ticking off my Rose BTA).
Red Dragon - I have recently acquired a frag of this and it has me fretting, too. It's branches are more delicate than any other acro I have owned and I often find myself with my nose pressed against the glass trying to tell if the pale tips are early bleaching or just growth zones. Online images can be deceiving, but the first picture of your Red Dragon has a suggestion of blue/violet hue at the very tip of the pale branch which I think is more suggestive of a growth zone rather than bleaching. I am really taking it slow with my frag and would like an update on how yours is doing.
ALK/nutrient levels - I came up in reefing when the idea of running a tank with detectable nitrates and phosphates was heresy, so it has taken me a while to come around to this way of thinking. While I've had great growth and decent color with SPS in zero nutrient conditions, I never could boast of any significant polyp extension. Since many of the really striking acroporas are striking because of their PE, I recently decided to try gradually dropping my alk (going from 10 to 8.0-8.5 range gradually) and increasing my feeding schedule. It's still too early to see any great improvement, but definitely no negative effects so far. My last Hannah PO4 test was still at 0.00 ppm, which speaks to my hesitancy about boldly venturing into the higher nutrient realm (baby steps, baby steps).

Again, I am confident your SPS will flourish and I look forward to future (image heavy) updates

 

[Salt1972]

Here's the TL;DR

- Floating acclimation isn't useful
- Your flow is non existent..
- Your lighting may be low but that's okay at first
- Your Alk is high

You will need to significantly invest in quality powerheads, it's one of the most crucial aspects of our hobby. For a tank your size I would go with at least 4x Tunze 6095, or 2x 6095, and 2x 6105. My Tank is 24x24x18, and I run two Tunze 6095. I would highly suggest you invest in some quality pumps. Right now the amount of flow you have is less than I'd suggest for a BioCube.

Hmmm... We're far from experts or even accomplished hobbyists. So, I can't argue, especially since we're asking for help.

- Acclimation - check. We'll spend more time on inspection for pests and dips rather than drip acclimation.
- Non-existent flow?? - I understand that many here are not fans of Jebao products, but our experience has been top notch. The (2) PP8's on either end of our 6' 125g display are set to "Else" mode and are set to ~35% since that's the highest speed that doesn't displace even our coarse aragonite crushed coral bed and knock the heads off our duncans, frogspawn, and torches. We've visited many successful SPS tanks that appeared to have far less flow. So, I'm curious if your assessment is based on your perception of Jebao?? Perhaps a video would answer concerns there? Clown fish have trouble swimming in our tank...
- Lighting may be low--- We've never checked our lighting with a PAR meter and, though we have confidence in our lighting system, we have less confidence in the settings than probably any other in the tank. I think I'll look to buy a Seneye or borrow if possible. We adjusted intensity downward months ago because we had many frags bleaching. The response has been positive with better growth and color.
- Alk is high - Our more recent balance (since Feb) has been running 3ppm NO3, .06ppm PO4, and 8.3dkh. Still too high?