First try with Acro, few questions...

[dburt520]

I have had my new tank going for about 6 months, have had great success with everything I've tried to keep including lps and other types of sps (a few different millapora, a few different types of birdsnest, and a Monti cap that is doing well).

I bought a small green acro frag ( was very very bright/colorful at the lfs) and from the time I left the LFS to the time I got it home and acclimated it had almost 100% browned out.

Fast forward to a month later - it has colored back up some however it has not regained any color in about two weeks, some green but mostly brown.

My levels are as follows using Red Sea Coral Pro salt and my own RO/DI out of a spectrapure 90 gpd system:

Temp: 78.5-79.0 (on a controller so it doesn't sway outside of that)
Ph - 8.1 ( stays between 8.0 and 8.2 all day as I have a reverse lit fuge)
Cal - 427 (checked with hannah checker)
Dkh - 8.9 - (checked with hannah checker)
MG - 1330 (checked with Red Sea pro test kit)
Po4 - undetected (checked with hannah checker)
No3 - 0 (checked with a salifert kit)

I run two BRS "deluxe" reactors, one has BTS ROX .8 carbon and the other has brs gfo. I have ran these in my system from the start. Running about 3/4 of a cup of carbon and about 1 cup of gfo (based off of brs reccomendation).

I change both out monthly (probably prematurely as I have a very small bio load with only 2 clowns and a diamond goby, running a 50g tank with a 40g sump using a ASM G2 skimmer). I also do a 5g water change every Sunday.

I am using a Maxspect Razor 160W fixture and if someone leans towards lighting I can list my lighting schedule at a later time.

Any idea what I am missing or doing incorrectly or does it take a longer period than 1 month for it to color back up?

Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

 

[Reefvet]

I bought a small green acro frag ( was very very bright/colorful at the lfs) and from the time I left the LFS to the time I got it home and acclimated it had almost 100% browned out.

Nah, it couldn't have browned that quickly. That sounds like it was under much different lighting at the LFS for it to look brown when you got it home. They take at least a couple of days to loose that much color.

With the corals you're growing you should have no problem with the green acro. It can take a lot of light, 300+ PAR, so I'd suggest you move it to the brightest spot you can. They also love flow so give that some consideration with it's placement.

Your tank parameters are great. I wouldn't change anything there.

 

[dburt520]

Well, it is in the brightest spot of my tank currently, was actually thinking I didn't acclimated it slow enough but it was under an identical light fixture at the lfs (their is hung a little higher to allow shoppers to view corals easier).

Guess I'll wait it out and see if anything changes.

 

[dburt520]

Maybe I need to touch base with the LFS on their light peroid... I am really struggling to find light times for my fixture/set up.

Maybe I'm not giving a long enough photo period?

 

[Reefvet]

If it's getting sufficient PAR then 6-7 hours should make it happy.

What about flow rate and variation around the acro ?

 

[dburt520]

Ya, it is getting 7 hours on max settings, another hour each direction for sunrise/sunset.

Flow should be good, I am running 2 MP10wes, one in reef crest for the randomness and the other in NT mode.

The acro and all of my other sps' s are showing nice polyp extension however the acro won't color back up for some reason.

Dumb question, but is it possible to have to much flow? Nothing is "blasting" any coral, all flow is random and not directly hitting any corals.

 

[Reefvet]

If you've got good polyp extension your flow is fine.

I'd check with the LFS guys who sold you the acro about the photo period it was under.

I don't think you have anything to worry about. It'll color up.

 

[outssider]

why don't you check at the lfs to see how they have their intensity set for channels A and b and also how high they have the total output set.

 

[dburt520]

Ya, I will be back at the lfs tonorrow and am going to talk to them.