Smooth skin acropora placement

[The Opinionated Reefer]

Are Smooth skin acropora generally deep water lower light corals or not? I have two different acropora frags that basically do nothing. They dont die or turn brown but they don't grow or encrust either. One is a light blue acropora nana and the other is a smooth skin pink looking frag. They are both up high in my tank at the moment. Not sure if I should try moving them down lower?

My p04 is between 0.08 and 0.10 on a red sea pro test kit, Nitrate is between 0.5 and 1ppm. I have a 6 tube t5 fixture with decent quality tubes. All the rest of my sps grow really well. I am struggling to understand what the problem is.

 

[CoralFragZ]

Sometimes you get a frag that doesn't do any thing, I have several. Packs I bought and some frags are the size of a small plate and the frag just encrusted. I will often try to move them and if big enough try to cut the tip, but at some point if too much time passes I start to try to source another frag especially if you can find a different source.

 

[The Opinionated Reefer]

These came from a fellow reefers tank and were growing.

 

[Surfzone]

I have three diffrent frags that i added at the same time, Birds of Paradise, PC Rainbow, and a no name all came from my LFS, the birds of paradise has new growth tips and the pc rainbow has started to encrust form the one month that I've had them, but the no name hasn't done squat. Sometimes it takes a while before a coral will grow at all.

 

[CoralFragZ]

These came from a fellow reefers tank and were growing.

A growing colony does not predict the rate that the frag will grow. It is not linear. Have you ever fragged a coral and watched it grow bigger and faster that the colony you fragged it from? It is the same logic. It is not a science just sharing my experience and trying to help!

 

[jda]

You can put smooth skins wherever you want. They are still collected from shallow water - when we went out on a dive, they were pulling out echinata, loripes and everything from waist deep water.

Most of them do not NEED a ton of light, but they can handle it.

 

[MTBake]

I have one smooth skin in my tank. It is near the top in high light, moderate flow and it's doing well.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

In my experience, smooth skin hobbyists are pickier than smooth skin corals...

 

[SeaDweller]

In my experience, smooth skin hobbyists are pickier than smooth skin corals...

hey, smooth skinned hobbyists matter too!

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

hey, smooth skinned hobbyists matter too!

of course they do... how else would we have a forum full of "I think this is too expensive" or "I'm not happy with this" threads :)

 

[Rick5]

hey, smooth skinned hobbyists matter too!

I don’t want to be that guy (again) but if you’re a heavy-handed moisturizer, you’ll probably want to rinse off the lotion before placing your hands/arms in your tank.

Now that I’ve re-read my own post, I feel like you guys aren’t talking about silky smooth skin as a result of diligent moisturizing. Losers.

 

[SeaDweller]

I don’t want to be that guy (again) but if you’re a heavy-handed moisturizer, you’ll probably want to rinse off the lotion before placing your hands/arms in your tank.

Now that I’ve re-read my own post, I feel like you guys aren’t talking about silky smooth skin as a result of diligent moisturizing. Losers.

I’d rather wash my hands until they crack and bleed before any lotion gets into my tank! #dedication

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

It's more the thin skin types you have to be aware of.

What was this thread supposed to be about?

 

[LC8Sumi]

Acropora are strange creatures, sometimes it is easier to guess a girls mind than to understand why an acro is doing good or bad.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I think most smoothies look best under higher par, much more contrast. Not sure what the rest of you are talking about though.

 

[Rick5]

I think most smoothies look best under higher par, much more contrast. Not sure what the rest of you are talking about though.

This is helpful as I'm placing an order with Adam for some deep water/smooth skin SPS. Historically, I haven't really had many deep water SPS, although I've always admired the appearance and structure.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Some frags will seem to do nothing but slowly crust across the plug then suddenly grow like crazy. I never worried it they were holding color

 

[maroun.c]

I have cleaned up the offending comments.
Let's please keep it reef related and family friendly.
now lets see some pics of those soft skinned corals for a change.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Yea pics would make this thread right!

 

[motortrendz]

I've had some frags sit for a year doing nothing. Not even encrust. Then all of a sudden there a color ring around the base or a tiny nub sprouting from the side. Some frags infeel go dormant after a cut. But others are full of energy and are ready to grow. It's kinda crazy. I have 2 pc rainbow frags in my tank one literally took a year to start to encrust. I got a second one bc I figured nothing was gonna happen with the first one. The second one started to encrust right away. And now all of a sudden the first one had about 9 branches that popped off the base and is now triple the size... go figure. Theres no rhyme or reason. If its color is good and has PE then I'd leave it and let if go in it's own time. Itll happen.