Mixed reef tank.

[jerseypete]

Looking to add a few acro to my tank. I have a red monti cap and ora green birds nest and they seem to be doing great. Had them about 4 months and had a lot of growth out of them. I see on live aquaria they are listed as moderate care. most of the bushy acros are listed as difficult. My nitrates are usually 5ppm and phos are usually .03 or lower. have the lighting and flow for them hydras and 2 mp40. Have no interest in getting my nitrates to zero cause i feel my lps will suffer. I seen a couple pieces on divers den that i would like to get that all together would be like $300. Would i be waisting my money or should i give it a try. Oh i forgot i have a ora purple plum crazy staghorn. That hasnt had much growth.

 

[Its.Evannn]

not too sure if that would be a good idea or not. I'm no where near an expert on spa haha. but what kind of lighting do you have running on your tank and how deep is it?

 

[jerseypete]

I got 2 hydras and its 21in deep. I have 2 mp40's. I only run them up to 55% now. Just wondering would they be alright with 5-10 ppm nitrate. Just finished testing now. No3 5ppm. Phos .02 dkh 8.4 and cal 420.

 

[Its.Evannn]

Try for 5ppm nitrate and I think they would be fine. You don't want your water too clean or other things will suffer. It's finding a balance. Put them near the top and I think it'll work. Try with a small cheap easy frag like birds nest and see how it goes. If all goes well test your luck with more expensive sps then! Good luck

 

[Piper27]

Well you already have birdsnest doing good so go for it. But do not put divers den pieces at the top of your tank if you have leds, or any light really. I would try aclimating them slowly from the bottom to the top. Which species of coral are you looking at getting from divers den? I would go for some maricultured acro colonies before you try you luck on the wild corals from the reef.
Also there is no need to get your nitrates to zero, the corals should do fine in some nitrates. Also make sure you look out for coral pests, when buying any sps. And if you don't know what to look for research before you start collecting. Better to do this first rather than learning the hard way after you have a big collection for them to eat on!

 

[Dapg8gt]

^^this..

You should be fine if you already have some easier sps growing in the tank.. Imo nitrates are not anything to be concerned at at your levels it's really critical to keep your alk steady over all else.

I would not necessarily go for large expensive colonies just yet though try to get some frags of some more difficult sps locally from Reefers and once they are flourishing then drop the coin on the divers den pieces.. Wild and mariculture colonies aren't the easiest corals to acclimate and grow so me personally would start with acro frags and make sure your method/system is going to work before going that direction.

 

[swk]

I feel I have the best luck with aqua cultured pieces that are raised under similar lighting to what I use. Under my LEDs, acro frags that I get that are raised under mh or t5 take longer to get going, or plain bleach out, as opposed to frags that come from led systems take off for me.

Just what I've noticed