Stuggles with SPS

[Harleys and tanks]

Hey fellow reefers.

I know this is really hard to do without seeing the tank and all the factors that go into a single system etc but, I am having issues growing, encrusting and PE of my SPS esp acros. The rest of my tank grows perfectly fine and I have even been able to "save" Zoas, hammer and Acans that were literally on their last breath in other systems and then once I moved them to my tank, they turned right around and grow and expand etc perectly fine. The SPS on the other hand has been in there for more than 3 months for a couple of them and only one of the Acros is finally showing a little growth tip and decent polyps but still no encrusting on the rocks or frags at all.

I am probably going to order an ICP test to see if there is something major I am missing.

Tank info: 40 Gal breeder with 2 ai prime HDs and a fluval reef 4.0 giving approx 190-220 PAR on all the SPS areas ( I have ordered a Noopsyche V3 Pro as well to get rid of the fluval bar and get more spread and PAR on the tank). I have a 10 gal tank I use for the filter sock, protein skimmer skimming wet, macro algae and copepod home as well. THere is two Gyres one on each end offset so I get randomized flow from both sides and they are running just over top the tips of the SPS.

Params:
Alk a bit high at 10-10.5 which is from Red Sea Coral Pro salt that I am slowly switching back to Seaspora Balanced Pro Salt
Salt - 35
Cal - 470
Mag - 1380
PH - 8.2
Nitrate 5-8
Phos - 0.15
Iodine - .003 (was zero and started to dose it, depletes fast on my tank)
These numbers are stable and get them steady

Dose:
All for Reef 10 ml a day just to keep levels ok.. but none drop fast at all, mostly use for trace elements
Polyp labs Booster for aminos 1 ml every 3 days
Phyto and Zoo PLankton every other day (mostly live phyto)
Frozen brine with spirolina once a day and once a week i specifically spot feed certain corals
Pellets once a day
Magnesium once a week or so if down compared to rest of stats

I have inspected for Flatworms with magnifying glass as well as turkey baster, looked for bugs and find nothing... yet no growth and polyps are either all the way in or barely visible. Color doesn't seem to disappear or dull, but definately not as nice as they could be or was in the host tanks.

SPS I have are:
Superman Monti
Another encrusting monti that I don't remember name of
Green Slimer Acro
Purple Dragon? Acro
A Blue Tenius
A branching monti
And a green goblin? acro that is actually the one that's been in there the longest and only one showing any sort of growth tips or decent polyps.
(sorry i can't remember names of the corals right now... I could look them up if really need the names, I have a really bad memory)

What should I look for? ICP? PAR? Just more time? I know it is not flow because the water moves particles around really well. I listen to youtube "pros" who aquaculture acros and see if I am missing something drastic or something that they did that made a world of difference but can't figure it out. I feel I should be getting some encrusting and or growth as well as PE even if I did have something missing param wise but would just not show as much growth or color...?

 

[Science/G]

An ICP test is a good idea, but the real issue is lighting IMHO. You're not going to see much success with most acropora at your current par levels. 200 par will be lower end and I would shoot for 300-350 high end. At that range you should be ok with most acros up high on your aquascape in a mixed reef setting.

 

[ScottJazz]

you should see some growth from the green goblin. Mine grew like a weed under 200 par.

I'd say if your alk swings quite a bit or has slowly crept up that might be the culprit.

 

[Science/G]

you should see some growth from the green goblin. Mine grew like a weed under 200 par.

I'd say if your alk swings quite a bit or has slowly crept up that might be the culprit.

That coral is an Anacropora and yes they thrive in less intense lighting.

 

[Science/G]

Anacropora and many of the smooth skin Acropora will do well around 200 par, but tenuis, cervicornis, and millepora....not so much.

 

[RajM]

Acros take a long time to stabilize in any new tank, parameters and light levels. I she had acros which didn’t do anything for 6-7 months and then start growing. My homewrecker acro took nearly 9 months.
Your parameters look good. You can do a ICP but I don’t think you are going to find anything that’s going to specifically change growth speed of acros.
Focus on flow, that helped me.
You can also try to supplement with just Kalk as I have found acros to love it more.

 

[sjfishguy]

I would also say not nearly enough light. Especially if the other stuff, lps, etc is growing. Also agree with alk has to be dead solid. A small alk swing and my acros take a month to start growing good again. Start with way more light then go from there. Just know your LPs might not like it

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

IMO put a 200 watt nicrew on that tank and then watch your sps grow. Those primes are not the right light for that tank IMO

 

[Harleys and tanks]

An ICP test is a good idea, but the real issue is lighting IMHO. You're not going to see much success with most acropora at your current par levels. 200 par will be lower end and I would shoot for 300-350 high end. At that range you should be ok with most acros up high on your aquascape in a mixed reef setting.

Yes I will be ordering one and I have that Noopsyche light coming so I can either run the noop on one side front to back and the ai primes on the other side front to back because I have basically two mountains so to speak of rock with the acros at the top. THe one side has a smooth skin purple dragon, green goblin, branching monti and birds of paradise and the other side has the tenius, green slimer, froot loops etc. So mis takingly it sounds like I set the corals up in the right areas.

Thanks!

 

[Harleys and tanks]

you should see some growth from the green goblin. Mine grew like a weed under 200 par.

I'd say if your alk swings quite a bit or has slowly crept up that might be the culprit.

Yes, that one is the one with tips and polyps as well as my birds or paradise (or nest, can't remember lol)

 

[Harleys and tanks]

Acros take a long time to stabilize in any new tank, parameters and light levels. I she had acros which didn’t do anything for 6-7 months and then start growing. My homewrecker acro took nearly 9 months.
Your parameters look good. You can do a ICP but I don’t think you are going to find anything that’s going to specifically change growth speed of acros.
Focus on flow, that helped me.
You can also try to supplement with just Kalk as I have found acros to love it more.

Yeah that's my concern... I have been running the tank for a year and I religiously do water changes weekly, so my numbers really should be ok because they are getting a little bit of supplementation and not really soaking up the minerals. BUT, I did mis takingly run activated carbon for a long time thinking I was just cleaning harmful contaminants and making the water clearer... I now know that activated carbon will strip those minor elements. I guess after a year of running, it can't hurt to just check and see how things are looking. I won't do a very expensive in depth one... just one for the major areas we want to see.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@Reefer Matt

 

[rtparty]

Not enough light

 

[Harleys and tanks]

I would also say not nearly enough light. Especially if the other stuff, lps, etc is growing. Also agree with alk has to be dead solid. A small alk swing and my acros take a month to start growing good again. Start with way more light then go from there. Just know your LPs might not like it

Yeah I feel the same and agree. I have another light on order to add on and get more spread and intensity. THe good thing is my LPS is mainly in the centre of the tank and I should be able to focus most of the light in onto the two mountains of rock that have the acros.... I think until I get that new light I will just crank the lights up because I am not at 100% yet and was trying not to run 100% all the time so i don't burn out lenses and fans on those primes. But a little bit of time shouldn't hurt.

 

[Harleys and tanks]

IMO put a 200 watt nicrew on that tank and then watch your sps grow. Those primes are not the right light for that tank IMO

Yeah I know, I was given the wrong advice from my local store as I live a while outside a major city so they are the only one to listen too (also the store who said the fluval reef 4.0 will be a good light to get started with). Then I went to the city and spoke with a popular coral farm and they said yeah you will need way more light I think...

 

[Harleys and tanks]

Thanks all, I will hopefully get the other light in soon and use all 3 on the tank and hopefully that is all my issue has been! It actually makes sense and feels better knowing that I haven't really been doing anything wrong.

 

[Harleys and tanks]

Here is a pic of my current light setup... When I get the Noopsyche, what lights should I run where??? Should I run the AI primes together on one side or the noop in the middle with the primes at the third marks of the tank more towards the front to give me spread?

Thanks again for all the advice... Of course a couple radions would have been the simple answer but $$ and was hoping to not have to do that for this tank. Definately will be on the bigger tank once I have a good running, growing and filled 40 gal and I have learned a lot from it.

 

[Matt L]

I suggest waiting longer, you likely won’t see much growth with new sps in three months. Par is okay for growth, but may be on the low side for color.

 

[Harleys and tanks]

I suggest waiting longer, you likely won’t see much growth with new sps in three months. Par is okay for growth, but may be on the low side for color.

OK thanks for the advice, I will still add the other light for some more PAR, spread and to help with colour and will make sure to acclimate it slowly. Then I will just wait it out longer. I just would have figured by now I would have seen some sort of changes is all. I guess my biggest worry was that the polyps pulled right in or like on tenius is barely visible. Led me to wonder if they were going in the wrong direction

 

[Matt L]

OK thanks for the advice, I will still add the other light for some more PAR, spread and to help with colour and will make sure to acclimate it slowly. Then I will just wait it out longer. I just would have figured by now I would have seen some sort of changes is all. I guess my biggest worry was that the polyps pulled right in or like on tenius is barely visible. Led me to wonder if they were going in the wrong direction

Understood. Yeah it’s a good idea to keep on eye on them, but some frags may stall out, even for years. But keeping things stable is better than continuously tweaking parameters. I still have frags from five years ago with barely any growth while some from last year growing into colony size. All part of the sps fun. I hope you’ll see improvement soon!