acro, pocillipora, birdsnest help

hope2havareef

hope2havareef

New member
I have had poor success with acros, pocillipora, and birdsnest.

A fellow reefer and myself have very similar tank conditions and equipment. We swap frags back and forth. The other reefer does not have the trouble I am having with these coral. My acros grow at the base where they encrust but don't grow branches well. They have very little polyp extension. They will change colors regularly. The other reefer gets excellent polyp extension and growth, along with better color. My pocillipora performs the same- poor growth except the base, lack of polyp extension and color. My birdsnest grows o.k. but recedes often at the branch tips and algae growth starts to cover the tips. It has been brown for a year since I purchased it. It was pink when purchased. I can take frags from them and put them in the other reefer's tank and the frags thrive. My montipora and all LPS and softies on the other hand do very well with excellent growth.

My system is a 65 gal. with two 250 watt MH 10 XM bulbs two 95 watt vho's. I test parameters weekly, if not more. The other system has the same MH with two vho's only they are six foot rather than 3 foot. Water parameter testing is only occasional. Photoperiods are similar.

I change 14 gallons of water bi- weekly. The other system gets infrequent water changes. We both run sumps with chaeto. I have a euroreef skimmer, the other is an ASM. I keep my alk at around 8-9 dkh, calcium 400-420. The other system is similar. The only big differences- I keep my tank at 81 degrees, the other is at 78 degrees. I have three big leathers the other system has only a kenya tree for leathers. Both systems have some red bugs. Mine does not have any flatworms. I haven't checked the other system for them. I have to dose heavily. I use the full dosing cup of each part each day, and test a few days later to find I still need to supplement with several tsps. of baking soda and a few tsps. of Kent Turbo Calcium. The other system does not require much dosing although there are much more sps in the other system. We both dose with B-Ionic 2 part. I use R.O make up water, the other system uses filtered tap-not quite R.O.

Any ideas why I can't achieve better results? Any help is much appreciated. Your thoughts are all welcome. Thanks!
 
I would say that the problem would be the temp in the tank/ red bugs. the one question is how old are your bulbs ? the bulb spectrum can change with age and all sps do not react well to red light it will damage them !!! the reason for this is that they can not reflect the red light. so if the tank temp is 81 the temp on the coral can be might higher then that. if that is not you problem it is still a good thing to keep in mind. red bugs can turn you sps a brown color I would treat all the tank for red bugs and you can find a lot of thread's on that subject. the last thing that I can think about is leathers in a reef I have heard that having both can be bad when there is a lot of leathers in the tank. this is just what I think and where I would start
 
vho's are less than 4 months, Mh are two months. The problems I have had have gone on for a year. I don't lose corals, but they just don't thrive. I treated for red bugs once before but I didn't see those immediate improvements most others report here. I'm thinking it has to be temp or the leathers but I guess anything could be happening. The other system has the bugs too with no ill effects.
 
You may be changing the water too often. If the water conditions are pretty good, try to just maintain them via water topoffs and a few additives. I have rarely changed the water the last several months and my pocci, montis, and some acros are doing pretty well. I try to keep all parameters as steady as possible.
 
Could the dosing requirements be a symptom, and if so is it normal to have such a heavy dosing requirement. In other words, even though I'm adding 30 ml per day of each part of B-Ionic, I'm still getting considerable alk swings. Would this be a cause? I could be at 9 dkh one day and down to 7 dkh a week later.
 
A few details I left out of earlier posts. Flow consists of a Mag 9.5 return pump, and alternating flow from MJ 1200, 900, and 600@1 each.
 
or the leathers

I think you have hit upon the problem. A slightly higher temp should actually give you more growth not less. But the softies are problem put off a chemical warfare. Get them out or run carbon and polyfilters 24/7 and then come back and tell us what happened.
 
I am leaning towards the softies also. This is the one major difference between tanks. I have been running carbon since day one. I'm thinking I have to get them out. I hate to remove them because they are the biggest corals I have. Of the three, which should I try removing first? One is about an 8 inch kenya tree, the other about 7 inch sinularia, the last is about a 10 inch toadstool.
 
I would remove them all to a QT tank for a bit and watch and wait. Softies can tolerate the dirty conditions of a low turn over QT tank and might actually like it. Just my opinion.
 
I agree with the leathers. I disagree with the waterchanges. I would not run Rowaphos unless you have a P04 problem. This has been discussed in other threads as a common problem with tanks losing color and slow growth. If you have a fuge then let the fuge remove it. Carbon will help with the leathers but you would need to run it heavy and change every 2 weeks to remove the leathers chemicals. Keep your WC schedule imo.
 
I will keep my water changes as scheduled. The Rowa was added afew months back and didn't help. I pulled it out today. I run heavy carbon and change about every two weeks. I would like to remove the leathers gradually. Is the Kenya tree known to release toxins like the sinularia and sarcophyton?
 
Honestly Bob I dont think leaving some leathers in is going to give you any indication that you have fixed the problem. All or nothing to my way of thinking. Since you are running carbon already anyway.
 
I agree with the leathers. IME poci is very sensitive to neighboring corals even other SPS. I would only make 1 change at a time so you can narrow down the problem.
 
O.K now that I have decided to remove the leathers as the next avenue to go, can anyone tell me a good way toget them off the rock so I can put them in my other tank? They are attached to some very large rocks.
 
Got an xacto knife? They are hardy and will take the cut and heal up pretty quick. I would cut them out of the tank as they give off toxins upon an injury. Why not just swap out the rocks?
 
All the leathers listed are known as aggressive esp. with stonies. You can have good growth on one or the other, but the stonies will suffer in a tank with these fellows.

Your light is also pretty strong: I'm a 52 with a single 250, and find it plenty. My flow is also a 9.5 mag.
 
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