When Acros FAIL: What are the most common reasons that acros don't make it?

[Dav2996]

Trying to balance too much light for LPS with just enough light for SPS in my mixed reef means that my acros are slow growers but they’re growing happy, brightly colored, and healthy. The only one I’ve lost so far (fingers crossed) fell into a hammer coral and never fully recovered. As long as you’re on some kind of dosing and testing schedule that keeps your alkalinity stable, and you keep nutrients in check, they’re not too hard to keep. I’ve had a harder time with zoas than acros to be honest.

I have extreme zoanthid growth and killed every acro in my tank. Now only keep LpS and softies. Having great growth.

 

[landlubber]

there are 2 types of reefers, 1) 5% are the long term reef enthusiast that has been in the game long enough to know what patience really means. 2) the other 95% are the rabid new reefer that crave new fish and coral so badly that despite not having stability assume things will just work out which they generally don't.
Unfortunately the lack of success in keeping advanced coral is usually enough to frustrate newer people right out of the hobby.

 

[i cant think]

1) Definitely stability, this is one of they key things. Also, not enough nutrients is another big one that I see. People believe that acros need pristine, clean water but actually I’ve found mine prefer higher phosphates and nitrates for colour then often rather high Carbonate concentrations as well to grow.

2) My success is… on and off but so far I’d say perfect
I’m not really growing much but I’ve got some decent colouring showing up.
For example, below are my Acropora granulosa, Montipora digitata, Acropora tortuosa and Seriatopora hystrix.

 

[Dorsetsteve]

I’ve killed more SPS than I’d like, especially years ago chasing low Phosphate. It’s better in my experience to have between 0.04 and 0.08. More margin for error.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

IMHO without a doubt it is wild / maricultured Vs. Aquacultured. Aquacultured Acropora are much more hardy and resistant to aquarium issues. Wild / maricultured (which are really the same thing, just harvested differently) have a VERY high rate of death in even the most experienced hobbyists tanks. Beyond that the 2 most important factors are paying attention to your tank - i.e. regular testing and observation to note when things are at their best as well as when issues show up, and keeping good parameters stable (not just keeping parameters stable).

 

[Crustaceon]

Curious, whats to warm?

Same here considering my acros seem to be totally fine after weeks of 85-86 degree tank temps.

 

[blaxsun]

Zero success - but not for lack of trying. The midnight dwarf angelfish likes acros. And by likes, I mean loves. You can drop one in the tank and within 30 seconds he's torn it apart. He'll even do it front of you as you watch - he couldn't give two F's.

 

[ClownSchool]

My success rate is improving. I struggled A LOT due to poor water quality. I relied on Hanna checkers and didn’t realize how hit-or-miss their calcium checker was.
Since installing an Apex and Trident about three weeks ago, I’m already seeing more growth than the last six months combined.

 

[blstravler]

Stability is key. However - I've had many recent issues with poor salt QC that I'm now thinking I need to do an ICP test for every new bucket of Salt I open. It's getting out of hand and the QC really needs to improve.

 

[SPS2020]

I'm gonna go with "Not that Great". Voting "Perfect" or "Pretty Darn Good" in a forum poll will surely cause a mass bleaching event! That's a new cause added to the list. Others include making direct eye contact and wearing the wrong color shirt.

Stability in all things, measurable or not, is the key. For example: I wear the same black shirt and dark glasses anytime I'm around the tank.

Indeed...I wish there was a 'Doing okay' button!

 

[shakacuz]

i’ve lost more zoas than i have acros. it’s mind boggling!

 

[nessjosh]

I cant figure out what my deal is. Some acros do well in my tank, but I cant get milli's to grow at all. My stags and digitata grow like weeds. Anywhere in the tank. But i can baby a milli and it STNs in month. Sometimes i'll have great success with a birdsnest colony or some other SPS for a year and then a couple months later its browning and dying off. I have a completely mixed reef tank. I think my leathers and frogspawns give off some stuff that ticks off some of the SPS. So i'm working on getting rid of my nepthea which dont make up much in the tank anyways.

 

[Smite]

I'm "other" because it was going very well until it wasn't

I've thought I've found my issue several times this year but continue to struggle and have TN event's pretty consistently. Big 3 have been stable. prior to this year I never had to worry about lower nutrient levels because I was throwing so much food in the tank there was no way they weren't getting food/nutrients. Now I'm monitoring po4 and no3 more closely along with the big 3, sg, temp and ph.

ph is a funny one, some almost get angry if you mention it and will say you're chasing it if you attempt to troubleshoot or correct it. In my experience low ph always ends in TN. Nightly drops into the 7.7 range and it's almost a sure thing I'll notice TN issues soon enough.

My initial event was due to Tin (I believe) and I lost most all my colonies after my tank transfer. This was after a transfer (Nov 2021) to a new tank where I matched everything from temp to sg, big 3, and p04 and no3 with any water that wasn't used from the old tank. Rock that was added with my current rock was cycled since ordering the tank which took 8 months. I'm sure there was a change in parameters I could not test for but I was shocked to lose so much.

The tin is gone now and ICP looks not only good but very close to what my home kits show....yet I still have events pop up every few weeks.

So overall hardest part? In my experience with acropora, they hold a grudge and may not "show" you they are upset until way past whatever upset them. This makes it extremely hard to troubleshoot and why frequent testing and noting is super important. You need to able to look back at what has changed over a long period of time.

Part of me thinks I'm still just dealing with delayed reactions from the Tin in the water, or products I ran to remove it that possible stripped or changed things in addition to Tin. It's hard to say for sure, could also be something bacterial I suspect. Once they go, fragging only buys time for me. It's like they already got the Memo: Time to Die!

There are lots of ways to fail with acropora, you may have already failed and just don't know it yet...lol! Kidding..kind of

 

[PedroYoung]

Getting your frags from a quality vendor who has aquacultured the specimen for a while is a big deal IMO. No recent wild colonies cut up into frags for me!!

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

I prefer not to keep acros. I see them as generally highly priced, fragile, and demanding corals. Lots of people act like they are the only coral that matters, or that somehow you aren't a real reefer if you don't have them. The best coral for your tank is the one that you like most, and the best coral for my tank is the one that I like most. I prefer LPS, pocilloporidae, anemones, and softies every day. Don't get me wrong, I like acros. I'd just rather put something that I like more in their place. I voted "other".

 

[Charles Zinn]

What do you think are the most common reasons that acros don't survive in aquariums?

High alk
Low calcium
Temperature too warm
High salinity
Pests
Unstable paraneters
Inexperience
Lack of nutr

How is your success rate with keeping acros in your reef aquarium?

Good. Once in a blue moon, I get one that goes south and I BBB remove dead area. Since the trident unit, that has diminished

Please define high alk, low Calc and high salinity

 

[Charles Zinn]

Keeping a ros not hard. I got good polyp extensions etc. Growing just fine.

My issue is just not coloring up like what you see from these across sellers...must be some hidden juice?

Have you looked into ICP TESTING AND TRACE ELEMENTS

 

[Montiman]

I have had good success in the past but after a nasty bacterial infection killed all of my Acros 6 months later almost nothing wants to live. I struggled like crazy to find out why and decided to test the alk of the vendor's water. My vendor had an Alk of 6 and my tank is at 10 while both are ok. The change is bad.

I think this is likely the most common reason I loose Acros. When they are purchased or imported from the wild the conditions are different from my tank and if they are too different they can RTN, STN or get burnt tips. Eventually the corals can get used to almost anything but if you are picking up acro frags it is very important to know where they have been coming from and try to slowly transition them to your water.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Please define high alk, low Calc and high salinity

Alk above 11.5dkh, Ca lower than 380 and Salinity false readings which hover above 1.028
So many the last few months will false readings especially those relying on APEX probe readings

 

[KK's Reef]

Keeping a ros not hard. I got good polyp extensions etc. Growing just fine.

My issue is just not coloring up like what you see from these across sellers...must be some hidden juice?

The juice is called Photoshop.