Dang Big J! Everything is looking sweet! Have you noticed a lot of growth already since you added everything? I'm still knocking on the Acropora/sps door...not sure if I'm ready to make that jump yet. When I do, it'll be in February most likely. Looking for a dosing system right now. One that's not too expensive but fairly priced and reliable.
Everything is looking sweet though man! Congrats!
Hey boss,
Since you have a controller just go with the brs dosing pumps, mine works fantastic. You can either buy one and drip kalk or buy 2 and go with 2 part. If your going to go with 2 part, get the full kit, sick deal. I got the kit but only use one for kalk right now.
Yes, recently I have seen a surge in growth once I finally got my lights running full schedule (had reduced photoperiod to eliminate the dino/cyano whatever I had) and started dripping kalkwasser with a dosing pump every night. I've had consistent growth from all LPS regardless but my montis and especially acros have taken off.
Based off of my experience and my discussions with local experienced reefers (one especially who has a tank that rivals jason fox's imo), acropora can take 1-4 months on average to adjust to your system and take off/color up. Sure some go right away and others never go/take longer but the average is 1-4 months. Some will flourish immediately and some will never survive in your tank due to a multitude of factors, no matter what you do.
Succesful growth can happen independently of coloration and vice versa. Some acros base out forever and others branch out immediately. Again this depends on a multitude of factors.
Some acros are generally considered hardier than others (but again your system is still a factor) and in general wild acros are considered a crap shoot as far as growth and maintaining/improving coloration. I know a very successful reefer who buys 10 wild acros a month and usually ends up throwing away 6-10 because they either change coloration completely to something less desirable or don't do well in his tank. He does get some beauties though and not always from the ones you'd expect. You'll have better luck with aquacultured or frags from someone's tank.
In general, if you can keep your params solid and stable, provide a location with adequate light (not too much is better than too much) and flow, and monitor your corals closely for any signs of stress (and make adjustments if necessary), you will have at least moderate success.
Give it a go man, even before you get dosing pumps set up. Grab a few cheap hardy acro frags and experiment with them. Then you'll be ready for the big boys. Montis are a lot more forgiving and easier so definitely get a few of those too. If you don't have high demand (not many corals) it's a lot easier to keep everything stable, usually just with water changes.
I'll post some growth pics when I get back home from holiday.
. My params were stable and perfect. It came in on one of the new frags and the guy I got em from suffered the same fate. So much is still unknown in this hobby. I just ran carbon and performed a ton of water changes to save what I could. Some are fine, others are not so good but recovering, and some probably wont make it. In other news, everything else is doing great and I picked up some sweet new chalices!
