Acan Problems

Sar

New member
Does anyone have any suggestions how to make acans open to their maximum size rather than just a little. I regular dose my tank with Iodine, Calcium, Magnesium and target feed all lps.

I'm running 6 T5 lights with 2 socks filters, Reef Octopus Skimmer.

Water parameters
Nitrates 0 ppm-5.0
Phosphate 0.0 ppm-0.25 ppm
Ammonia 0 ppm
Calcium 400
Magnesium 1300
pH 8.0
Salt 1.022
 
placement of the acan?

i keep mine in the mid range level where the water movement is moderate. I have a 60 gal with 2 antinic and 2 10K t5.

all mine acans opens up like balloons.
 
I moved them around earlier last week and even shook the sand off but still nothing has happen in the past week. I guess patients will be the key and water changes to stabilize quality.

All suggestion will be helpful
 
They were really big before a few months back but when I was doing a route water check I notice that my nitrate was a little elevated but I dont have any water made so I waited until the next day to do a water change. Being that I waited to complete the water change the nitrate rise a little more because one of my plate was dead and all of the bacteria from the death had spread in the tank. So I took out the plate and did a 60 gallon water change and the acan got a huge shock from the big the huge water change. So Im waiting to get my acan back the way they were.
 
pics of your setup might help...

Occasionally my Acans shrivel up for no apparent reason, stay that way for a couple of weeks then go back to normal. *Shrug*
 
agree mine do it to. i have close to 70 different acans and they do funny things like that, and it freaks me out too. But because they are huge like balloons doesnt mean they are doing good. I have noticed the acans that swell up are usually lacking light and flow. acans do like a good amount of flow. mine get pretty much blasted frequently and love it. light on the other hand should be lower but not too low. If they are all swelled up i bet the colors are nearly as good as the small acans smaller and getting more light and flow
 
Are you dosing anything for alkalinity? If you are just dosing Ca and Mg with a low salinity you are probably not within normal dkh parameters.
 
A lot of possible things because we don't have all the info. Your numbers are low and you're having to dose because your salinity is low. Slowly raise that up to more appropriate levels. Check your alkalinity. Temp? Depending on the size of the tank 6 T5's could be a LOT of light for LPS.
 
Checked my water again

ALK 4.8
Temp 78-80 degrees
pH 8.2-8.4
Calcium 420
Mag 1200
everything else said the same
 
Salinity 1.024
Sorry about pix, droid wouldn't sync to mac for some strange reason.
 
Checked my water again

ALK 4.8
Temp 78-80 degrees
pH 8.2-8.4
Calcium 420
Mag 1200
everything else said the same

Your mag is low. Shoot for 1350-1400 imo. I could always tell if my mag got low because my acans weren't as bright or happy.

Also is your alk measurement in dkh??? If so, it is way too low! You should have alk up in the 8-10dkh range.

Dose some alk to the tank and I bet everything looks better.
 
maybe there are some fishes that bite acan, my sail fin tang bite my green acan, so the acan cannot open
 
I wouldn't adjust any parameters until salinity is fixed. Everything will go up as you resolve that issue. See where things are after that.
 
I wouldn't adjust any parameters until salinity is fixed. Everything will go up as you resolve that issue. See where things are after that.

Not to argue but 1.024 is within range. I know that natural seawater is 1.0264 or 35ppt but 1.024 is not causing issues.

I have ran tanks where I kept salinity around 1.021 for extended periods of time and never had an issue. I've also kept my salinity up around 1.028 with no issues.

Regarding salinity, anywhere in the 1.022 - 1.027 is acceptable IMO.
 
I hadn't seen the bump to 1.024, you are correct. I feel that's still low, but yes it's within the acceptable range. While low salinity itself doesn't directly cause issues, the lower concentration of trace elements including calc/alk/mag does cause issues (or at worst a lot more work manually keeping the numbers up).

I agree with bumping mag. I would go to 1350-1400 IMO.
 
Your water parameters are OK, within range. I would not adjust them at all. If you do, do a little at a time over a long time. Sounds like you have a placement issue. Mine does not like strong current. I've got a T5 HO light and it's mid way in the tank. Maybe relocation and a little food is all you need. Also I'd look into doing away with the sock filters, nitrate factory. I use them after a weekly cleaning for a couple of days then take them out. Well i guess I should ask if you have live rock, live sand to filter your water before I suggest you take out your socks. Don't want to interfere with your biological filtration. Also how often do you clean your socks and how? Also is there anything close that might be stinging your Acan, ie an anemone, or another coral..... Take a photo of your setup and post it though photobucket.com. Not to argue but your water is not the problem IMO and i think if you start trying to adjust things it's only going to creat other problems. The only thing I could suggest is to try to lower your nitrates. I think the main reason nitrates being elevated is over feeding and not cleaning very well, husbandry. Socks filters did elevate my nitrates but that problem has been resolved by removing and not feeding as much as well as better cleaning. Sorry about your plate also. It sucks when you loose an animal.... Good Luck

My water parameters are: Salinity 1.023, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 0, Phosphates 0.03, Temp 79, Ca 460, Mg 1360, Al/Kh 8/2.86
PH 8.2

<a href="http://s921.photobucket.com/albums/ad59/rab1212/?action=view&current=IMAG0106.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad59/rab1212/IMAG0106.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
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If you search, there is a common theme with LPS issues (especially acans) when mag levels are low. 1200 is towards the bottom end of the safe area IMO for LPS. I'm not saying that's the exact issue, but when we're discussing parameters it's the first thing that jumps out.

A picture would indeed help.
 
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