My First Acro, A few questions

Sinistard

New member
Well I picked up my first acro last Sunday and I had a couple questions.

First off I have zero experience keeping Acros and very little with SPS in general. The only SPS I have keep have been various montis with good luck but I think you could keep some of them in a gold fish bowl ;) .

Here is a picture of the frag I picked up. I'm not 100% on the exact type of acro it is so I don't know what to search for as far as requirements (flow, light)

blueacro1.jpg


The questions I had are how high in my tank should I keep the frag to start and how much flow should I start it out with.

My tank is a 70g with 2 250w Aqua Medic ocean lights around 9 inches over the water line.

I stuck the frag in about half way up the rock work and in a medium indirect area of flow to start and did not get any polyp extension over the first 2 days so I moved it up a bit higher and in a higher direct flow area and I am still not getting any polyp extension. There have been a few times when the tips of the polyps stuck out a bit but never fully out.

Is it normal for an Acro to not extend its polyps for several days after adding it to a tank? It seems to be ok other than the polyps not extending, it has not lost any color and still looks fleshy.

Thanks for any help.
 
It is common for acros not to show any polyp extension. What lights did the tank come out of? How long was it in that tank?
 
Thanks for the replies.

Shows how much of a noob I am, I assumed that a happy Acro would extend its polyps. With my montis the polyps have always extended unless I really made them mad by moving them or touching them.

I got it from a LFS and am not sure how long they had it. I believe it was under a 250w MH at the LFS, maybe a bit farther from them.

I have checked at night as well, no real extension then either.

Thanks again for the replies.
 
That acro doesn't show much PE . IMO it is a gomezi which looks close to mine .

Your placement sounds good for now . If it darkens more check Waterquality and if thats in check move it up for some more light.

180-may-29th-b.jpg
 
Thanks clkwrk

That does look like the same kind of Acro.

I moved it to the lower area, it looks better there, and I'll keep an eye on it. As far as I can tell it's still doing ok, every once in a while a couple polyps stick out. There are a couple of feather duster looking things that fan the water living in the coral.

Here is a close up picture of it.

blueacromacro1.jpg
 
your 1st acro?? wow, didn't know that. congrats and welcome to the obsession!

did you do the red bug treatment before putting it in your tank? if not i would read up and plan on doing that to ALL incoming acros.

looks kind of like a gomezi...nice score but not what i would choose for a 1st acro for anyone. don't move it around a lot. let it settle in where ever you put it. i highly doubt you are going to burn it w/ your lighting scheme...but if you think you need to acclimate it use the window screen method

as far as flow...just make sure you aren't directly blasting it.

my gomezie dosesn't polyp out a ton...but it does some.

keep us posted and ask questions along the way.

later man
Lunchbucket
 
Nice piece. As has been said a few time already, mine has little PE aslo. SPS, like all other corals, will have very different charcteristics for each type, ie. millies have a very fuzzy appearence and long polyps as apposed to this gomizie that has little PE.

Also read up on different ways of light acclamation, ranging from palcement at the bottom and working it up over time, to different screens to difusse the light.

And lastley... welcome to the dark side.... the color stick rocks!!!
 
congrads

congrads

Welcome to the obsession is right@! I can't stree enough about this: Stop staring at it, it won't grow faster that way, God knows I have and do still try! Lol good luck, beautiful specimend. As others posted, not all sps show corals during daytime, which is actually the reverse of their behavior in the wild.


David
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7527408#post7527408 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lunchbucket
your 1st acro?? wow, didn't know that. congrats and welcome to the obsession!

did you do the red bug treatment before putting it in your tank? if not i would read up and plan on doing that to ALL incoming acros.

looks kind of like a gomezi...nice score but not what i would choose for a 1st acro for anyone. don't move it around a lot. let it settle in where ever you put it. i highly doubt you are going to burn it w/ your lighting scheme...but if you think you need to acclimate it use the window screen method

as far as flow...just make sure you aren't directly blasting it.

my gomezie dosesn't polyp out a ton...but it does some.

keep us posted and ask questions along the way.

later man
Lunchbucket


Yup my first acro :) . This is the first tank I have had that has met the requirements to keep acros. My nano only has PC lighting.

I did not do any red bug treatment. I will have to read up on that and practice it in the future. Should I treat this one of let it go.

So gomezi acros are harder to keep? It is around 19" from the lights 10" below the water surface and in indirect flow right now. It seems to be doing good as far as I can tell. I don't think it has lost any color and I have noticed polyps sticking out a bit from time to time.

I'll keep you all updated.

Thanks for the help

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7527471#post7527471 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lenny C
Nice piece. As has been said a few time already, mine has little PE aslo. SPS, like all other corals, will have very different charcteristics for each type, ie. millies have a very fuzzy appearence and long polyps as apposed to this gomizie that has little PE.

Also read up on different ways of light acclamation, ranging from palcement at the bottom and working it up over time, to different screens to difusse the light.

And lastley... welcome to the dark side.... the color stick rocks!!!

Thanks Lenny. I guess I just assumed most SPS will extend there polyps.

I figured I would start the frag a bit lower and raise it as needed. It's tough to find a place in the tank that it looks good and the conditions are just right LOL.

I hope my adventure into keeping colored sticks is a successful one.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7528759#post7528759 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DitchPlains2
Welcome to the obsession is right@! I can't stree enough about this: Stop staring at it, it won't grow faster that way, God knows I have and do still try! Lol good luck, beautiful specimend. As others posted, not all sps show corals during daytime, which is actually the reverse of their behavior in the wild.


David

LOL, I already stare at it to much and it peeves the acro crab off. He waves his little claws at me all the time. I plan to take a picture every month so I will be able to tell if I'm getting good or any growth.

Thanks again everyone.
 
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