Anyone who can help. I recently acquired a bunch of corals from a friend who is unfortunately going to have to put his beloved corals and hobby in the hands of someone else for a while. However fortunate I feel to have an instant technicolor sea garden - I now feel thrilled yet desperate on keeping everything healthy and thriving like it was in their past tank life. Corals are in my 210 gallon aquarium. 2 Acroporas have bleached out and died so far. I am assuming stress is the cause of death- due to multple factors in a move. My question is - when hard corals start to bleach out on the corners and or things like frog span like mine that has a branch that has died has slimed - does this mean the piece is doomed? or should you prune like you would plants or trees in order to conserve energy of the organism?
Coral drama!
- Thread starter wBRODEY
- Start date
Blown 346
Active member
Bleaching or corals that a head or two dies on doesnt mean the whole coral is doomed.
If part of the coral is bleached the polyps wont grow back, but can be overgrown.
With frogspawn if a head starts to die on a branch, I justcut that branch off and try to nurse it back to health.
If part of the coral is bleached the polyps wont grow back, but can be overgrown.
With frogspawn if a head starts to die on a branch, I justcut that branch off and try to nurse it back to health.
OMG...well---immediately get the following: Salifert alkalinity test, Salifert calcium, and Salifert magnesium if the first two levels don't respond to additives. You need MH lighting to keep acros: that's a problem. I don't know HQI. Acros should be set high in the aquarium under the light. If you can't produce those conditions, trade the frags quickly for some that aren't so light-hungry, like frogspawn, bubble, etc. Your readings should be:
salinity: 1.025,
temperature: 79-82
alkalinity: 8.3-10 [higher is better]
calcium: 350-450. [400 is what you want]
magnesium: 3x the calcium reading.
light period 10 hours a day at least.
flow: brisk and chaotic. They need it to feed. The water carries food to them.
It helps if you have a large invert base with worms and such that break down algae and detritus into a size the sps can absorb. You might try dosing your tank with phytoplankton to encourage the microlife to reproduce.
Stonies are odd creatures: they can look dead and then start coming back. They look different at night. If they're not putting out 'brushes' by day, check them with a flashlight after dark. They're a lot of fun, because they do have such day/dark personalities. They grow pretty fast in the right conditions, and you can sell their parts when they grow too big for where they are.
salinity: 1.025,
temperature: 79-82
alkalinity: 8.3-10 [higher is better]
calcium: 350-450. [400 is what you want]
magnesium: 3x the calcium reading.
light period 10 hours a day at least.
flow: brisk and chaotic. They need it to feed. The water carries food to them.
It helps if you have a large invert base with worms and such that break down algae and detritus into a size the sps can absorb. You might try dosing your tank with phytoplankton to encourage the microlife to reproduce.
Stonies are odd creatures: they can look dead and then start coming back. They look different at night. If they're not putting out 'brushes' by day, check them with a flashlight after dark. They're a lot of fun, because they do have such day/dark personalities. They grow pretty fast in the right conditions, and you can sell their parts when they grow too big for where they are.
Cutiewitbooty
New member
HQI is metal halide lighting 
