Unhappy Acropora? Dose anyone know why?

Soey

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Hello. I bought this acropora from a local fish store around 3 weeks ago. It quickly got white tips and diddnt do anything since i got it. the polyps have not been extending and its not encrusting or growing. I have a couple other lps corals that are happy. The tank is about 2.5 months old.

My parameters are:

8.0 Alkalinity
420 Calcium
1300 Magnesium
10 ppm Nitrate
0 - 0.01 ppm Phosphate ( I have been trying to raise it )
1.026 Salinity

The first picture was taken at night btw.
If anyone could help, that would be great. Thanks!

IMG_2328.jpg IMG_2335.jpg IMG_2336.jpg IMG_2337.jpg IMG_2339.jpg
 

vetteguy53081

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Does not look horrible
What light schedule are you using and what lighting?
 
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coral reeftank

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It could also be the age of the tank, being a 2.5 month old system it might be missing an established microbiome for success with sps. I’ve noticed this with my system, unless I set them up with established liverock from previous tanks it takes about 6 months before sps are flourishing with a completely new system.
 
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Does not look horrible
What light BBC schedule are you using and what lighting?
Im not sure what light BBC schedule means, but i am using a hydra 32, with a 10 hour photo period. I am using BRS's settings for ab+.


1656963434791.png
 
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Soey

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It could also be the age of the tank, being a 2.5 month old system it might be missing an established microbiome for success with sps. I’ve noticed this with my system, unless I set them up with established liverock from previous tanks it takes about 6 months before sps are flourishing with a completely new system.
Yeah, i thought about that too. could just be a bit of waiting until the tank matures before it gets better
 

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Hello. I bought this acropora from a local fish store around 3 weeks ago. It quickly got white tips and diddnt do anything since i got it. the polyps have not been extending and its not encrusting or growing. I have a couple other lps corals that are happy. The tank is about 2.5 months old.

My parameters are:

8.0 Alkalinity
420 Calcium
1300 Magnesium
10 ppm Nitrate
0 - 0.01 ppm Phosphate ( I have been trying to raise it )
1.026 Salinity

The first picture was taken at night btw.
If anyone could help, that would be great. Thanks!

IMG_2328.jpg IMG_2335.jpg IMG_2336.jpg IMG_2337.jpg IMG_2339.jpg
How was it when you got it? Was it encrusting the base? Same color?
 
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Soey

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How was it when you got it? Was it encrusting the base? Same color?
It was not encrusting the base when i got it, and it was roughly the same color as now, just without the white tips.
 
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Soey

Soey

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Oh.
Encrusting is a good sign it has been healed and healthy.
So this could have been a not so healthy frag from the start.
dang. I hope thats not the case lol.

I took a picture just now of it and it dose seem to have a couple of brown polyps peeking out. Dose anyone else see them? or am i just hallucinating xD.
IMG_2342.jpeg
 

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I'm 95% sure its an anacropora as well. They don't incrust and their polyps are super small. Some people call them briar corals b/c they have a growth pattern that looks like a briar patch/tumbleweed. They're generally pretty hardy, but may need to color up a bit moving to a new tank. Hardy and fast growing.
 

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Well nutrients look good as far as I can see. I say just give your tank time. My tank barely could keep healthy acropora at the 2.5 month mark like you. My system honestly never started truly growing a consistent amount until a year or more.
 
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I'm 95% sure its an anacropora as well. They don't incrust and their polyps are super small. Some people call them briar corals b/c they have a growth pattern that looks like a briar patch/tumbleweed. They're generally pretty hardy, but may need to color up a bit moving to a new tank. Hardy and fast growing.
It looks like an anacropora, which tend not to really encrust and have smaller polyps
oh wow. i think it’s anacropora aswell now that i look at it. I swear the fish store i got it from told me it was an acropora lol.
 
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Well nutrients look good as far as I can see. I say just give your tank time. My tank barely could keep healthy acropora at the 2.5 month mark like you. My system honestly never started truly growing a consistent amount until a year or more.
Thanks for the tips. The condition isn’t getting worse and polyps are extending so i’m optimistic.
 

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Hello. I bought this acropora from a local fish store around 3 weeks ago. It quickly got white tips and diddnt do anything since i got it. the polyps have not been extending and its not encrusting or growing. I have a couple other lps corals that are happy. The tank is about 2.5 months old.

My parameters are:
You answered your own question.

A 2.5 month old tank has no chance of hosting acropora corals.
Chemical stability is only one part of the equation which is easily achieved.
The biological stability required takes much longer - 12 months or so.

Try again in a years time.
 
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Soey

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Update on the anacropora. It has colored up nicely, and its doing pretty well. Im also seeing new growth.
 

mwil79

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Update on the anacropora. It has colored up nicely, and its doing pretty well. Im also seeing new growth.
Glad to hear its doing well. Anacropora do better in a bit lower par than most Acros. You will get much brighter colors in 100-150 range and bigger polyps extension.
 

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It could also be the age of the tank, being a 2.5 month old system it might be missing an established microbiome for success with sps. I’ve noticed this with my system, unless I set them up with established liverock from previous tanks it takes about 6 months before sps are flourishing with a completely new system.
How much established live rock are you talking about at minimum?
 

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