Acro help

[power boat jim]

I've had a red dragon, strawberry shortcake, and purple bonzai
I have no trouble at all keeping montiporas

Red Dragon can be tough to get started. Strawberry shortcake is also not the easiest to keep happy either. Purple Bonzi I dont know. Try a greeen slimer or some pocillaporas for starters. The Bio Pellets may also be part of the problem. They seem to be a common denominator with people having trouble keeping sps.

 

[Ptyochromis]

You say you have mostly LPS, what exactly do you have in the tank? Allopathic warfare is always a possibility.

Are you feeding the sps anything?

 

[rovster]

You started with some expensive, and beautiful acros. Seems red dragon is difficult depending on who you talk to, shortcakes can be fussy. I have a purple bonsai that is only an encrusting frag, but for several months has been encrusting well. Try giving some hardier acros, or some millies a try before getting another LE coral. GL!

 

[rickerman1]

Just a thought what are you checking your salinity with a hydrometer or a refractometer? if your using a hydrometer they have been known to be off and maybe you should try a refractometer.

 

[Palting]

I've had a red dragon, strawberry shortcake, and purple bonzai
I have no trouble at all keeping montiporas

Try easier acros. I have a Bali green slimmer, Acropora yongei, that's been fragged and replanted several times. It's growing well in a wide range of light and flow in different parts of the tank. It also tolerated fluctuating parameters, as I was manually dosing about 100 cc's 2 part daily for several months before I got an automated doser.

BTW, those are indeed beautiful coral, but difficult.

 

[animalkingdom]

LOL!! You are definitely wrong there, my friend . Montipora capricornis, or Monti cap for short, belongs to the Family Acroporidae. You know, the SPS corals? There is indeed a genus Acropora, also within the family Acroporidae. Perhaps this is where you are limiting your definition of an acro?

Here is a link to a site we are all familiar with, with reference to Montipora capricornis: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+1492+2293+1812&pcatid=1812 . To save you all the trouble, here's a quote from the site: "The Red/Orange Montipora capricornis Coral is a small polyp stony (SPS) coral often referred to as Vase Coral."

Like I said, some acros are not as hard to care for as others. Some can even tolerate parameter swings. It would be interesting to know which one's the OP has tried.

thanks for the knowledge
I guess I always just refer to acropora as ones with genus acropora.
My ignorance

 

[miggs76]

Red Dragon can be tough to get started. Strawberry shortcake is also not the easiest to keep happy either. Purple Bonzi I dont know. Try a greeen slimer or some pocillaporas for starters. The Bio Pellets may also be part of the problem. They seem to be a common denominator with people having trouble keeping sps.

I'll try another type of acro. I don't run biopellets.

 

[miggs76]

You say you have mostly LPS, what exactly do you have in the tank? Allopathic warfare is always a possibility.

Are you feeding the sps anything?

No I said 95% SPS. Mostly montipora.

 

[miggs76]

You started with some expensive, and beautiful acros. Seems red dragon is difficult depending on who you talk to, shortcakes can be fussy. I have a purple bonsai that is only an encrusting frag, but for several months has been encrusting well. Try giving some hardier acros, or some millies a try before getting another LE coral. GL!

Fortunately I got the frags either free or for dirt cheap. What other acros besides a green slimer are easy?

 

[miggs76]

Just a thought what are you checking your salinity with a hydrometer or a refractometer? if your using a hydrometer they have been known to be off and maybe you should try a refractometer.

I have a refractometer and an ato. My salinity is always 1.025.

 

[WillM]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Palting View Post
LOL!! You are definitely wrong there, my friend . Montipora capricornis, or Monti cap for short, belongs to the Family Acroporidae. You know, the SPS corals? There is indeed a genus Acropora, also within the family Acroporidae. Perhaps this is where you are limiting your definition of an acro?

Here is a link to a site we are all familiar with, with reference to Montipora capricornis: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...12&pcatid=1812 . To save you all the trouble, here's a quote from the site: "The Red/Orange Montipora capricornis Coral is a small polyp stony (SPS) coral often referred to as Vase Coral."

Like I said, some acros are not as hard to care for as others. Some can even tolerate parameter swings. It would be interesting to know which one's the OP has tried.
thanks for the knowledge
I guess I always just refer to acropora as ones with genus acropora.
My ignorance

You are actually right. Palting is getting genus and family mixed up. Yeah, they are both in the family Acroporidae, that wasn't the point (for that matter so are Anacropora and Astreopora). He said montipora is an acropora, which is false. They are separated in separate genera under the Acroporidae family. Acropora is one, and montipora is another. With most acropora being notoriously harder to keep than montis.

To the ops question, I would recommend the GARF bonsai and as others have mentioned the Bali Green Slimer. I have made all kinds of mistakes and those two seem pretty bullet proof. If you are growing Montis you should be able to transition to acros soon. Make sure your light is good, you have lots of water movement, and your parameters don't fluctuate (especially alk) and I think you'll be well on your way. Also may want to get a good low range phosphate meter and nitrate test kit. Good luck.

 

[power boat jim]

I'll try another type of acro. I don't run biopellets.

Sorry about the bio pellets, dont know where I got that from. another easy to keep sps is Hydnopora. Its usually a fast grower.

 

[golfish]

any advice?

I'm sure a lot of people are not going to agree with me. You might have a nutrient poor system. Try dosing something like Red Sea's Reef Energy and feeding the fish\tank a little more.

I had your same problem for years, this worked for me..(I think)

FWIW, I use a DSB, lots of LR, a good skimmer and a Kalk reactor. I might have to go two part some day but for now kalk works just fine. No carbon, no bio pellets, no po4 removers. Just keep it simple.

 

[MARINECRITTERS]

Your alk could be off, try another test kit. Acros and sps in general are very sensitive to alk changes. an acceptable range is 7DKH to about 9DKH, if you are carbon dosing then you must keep it under 8DKH.

 

[Palting]

Fortunately I got the frags either free or for dirt cheap. What other acros besides a green slimer are easy?

To be clear, SPS are not really easy, some are just less difficult. I've found mille's ( Acropora millepora) to be in the less difficult category. I've also found birdsnest (Seriatopora sp) and stylos (Stylophora sp.) to be less difficult and are fast growing, though neither belong to either the genus Acropora nor family Acroporidae .

 

[rovster]

Honestly, just get healthy frags from healthy established tanks before you jump to any conclusions. When you say the frags were cheap, were they healthy, or recovery type situations, half bleached and on their last limb? SPS once they start going down hill are harder to save than some other corals, especially if you start with a tempermental ones....