Trying Acro again

[Railhouse]

Hey guys, I had my one Acro and two Pavonas slowly die on me about a month ago. I'm thinking it was due to not enough PAR.

Tank specs:
40 Breeder
4x39 watt T5s (ATI 10k & 20K bulbs)
NRS-20 Sump
1500+ GPH of flow in the DT
dKH 9.5
CA 450
MG 1300 (Dosing a ton of MG to keep it at or around 1300
Nitrates less than 2ppm for the past 4 months

This system has been running for 4 months. All my montipora corals are doing amazing, good polyp extension and fast growth.

Friday after work I'm going to hang some new lights I've bought.
Two Hydra 26 modules with an AI controller.

With these new lights do you believe Acro will do better in my tank? Or could there be another issue all together?

 

[swhobbie1]

Keeping the parameters (eg. cal, dkh, phos, nitrate, mag), temp, salinity ... consistent is important. I would think two AI 26 over a 40 would be a good setup. I have an AI 52 and ordered a AI 26 to add to my 40 for better PAR at the ends. Did your corals bleach or STN? Where they healthy when you got them?

 

[Railhouse]

Did your corals bleach or STN? Where they healthy when you got them?

I would imagine they were healthy when I got them, they looked great in the frag tank i got them from.

They just had less and less polyp extension every few days, and eventually no extension at all. Then started to brown out before I finally removed them. It was over a month it took for them to slowly die. So my thinking was just quite not enough par. Although, it could have been my parameters. My tank is consuming a massive amount of MG and it's a constant battle to keep it at or around 1300. alk & ca have been easy to keep squared away.

 

[sahin]

4x39watt T5's are most definitely sufficient light for even high light SPS in a 40 breeder (even if they arent in a high performance branded unit like ATI). I grew SPS in a custom 29G (same as 40breeder, just not same length) under normal output T8's 15 years ago...

Your SPS not surviving, the issue is more than likely to be in relation to water parameters.

One parameter you havent listed is your S.G/Salinity?

You also havent stated if you are utilising GFO or GAC or any organic carbon dosing- use of these products can cause demise of SPS if used too aggressively.

Lastly, be careful with the new lights; whilst the light from the T5's are quite diffuse, the light from the AI's will be a lot more concentrated.

 

[Railhouse]

One parameter you havent listed is your S.G/Salinity?

You also havent stated if you are utilising GFO or GAC or any organic carbon dosing- use of these products can cause demise of SPS if used too aggressively.

Lastly, be careful with the new lights; whilst the light from the T5's are quite diffuse, the light from the AI's will be a lot more concentrated.

Salinity 1.023

No carbon or GFO. I also have NOT dosed vodka/vinager/hydrogen peroxide

After spending $1,000 on these Hydra 26s I'm starting to realize how much overkill they actually are. I'm hanging them Friday so I may need some help on dialing the specific colors in for SPS.

 

[Railhouse]

Your SPS not surviving, the issue is more than likely to be in relation to water parameters.

.

Also, it's not SPS in general that I'm having problems with. Just Acro/pavona.

My montipora are growing like weeds.

 

[sahin]

Salinity 1.023

No carbon or GFO. I also have NOT dosed vodka/vinager/hydrogen peroxide

After spending $1,000 on these Hydra 26s I'm starting to realize how much overkill they actually are. I'm hanging them Friday so I may need some help on dialing the specific colors in for SPS.

With Specific gravity at 1.023; if your refractometer or instrument of out it could be as low as 1.021 etc...just throwing that in there as an example. Could be cause of loss of the previous corals.

Yeah, those Hydras pack some PAR. You will like them though, my buddy has Hydra 52's over his 500G.

 

[Railhouse]

With Specific gravity at 1.023; if your refractometer or instrument of out it could be as low as 1.021 etc...just throwing that in there as an example. Could be cause of loss of the previous corals.

Yeah, those Hydras pack some PAR. You will like them though, my buddy has Hydra 52's over his 500G.

I'm using a Vertex refractometer right now. I could get my LFS or a friend to also test my salinity and see if it matches up with my results.

 

[sahin]

I'm using a Vertex refractometer right now. I could get my LFS or a friend to also test my salinity and see if it matches up with my results.

Useful to check that out...at least its one thing crossed off your list as it were.

 

[Ratpack]

Just one tip I would pass on is not discard a coral just because it is brown unless the brown was algae of some type covering the dead coral. Corals can tend to brown up when they are unhappy for some reason (light, water parameter, etc). Usually once this is addressed the brown coral will color right back up. Also, how long from the time they went into your tank until they were brown and you discarded them? They could have still been acclimating to your system.

 

[Railhouse]

Just one tip I would pass on is not discard a coral just because it is brown unless the brown was algae of some type covering the dead coral. Corals can tend to brown up when they are unhappy for some reason (light, water parameter, etc). Usually once this is addressed the brown coral will color right back up. Also, how long from the time they went into your tank until they were brown and you discarded them? They could have still been acclimating to your system.

About a month and a half 6-7 weeks.

 

[Ratpack]

Yeah, you may have discarded corals that were just unhappy and not yet dead.

 

[SPS_Addiction]

Don't discard, unless tissue completely lost. brown just means unhappy. white and lost tissue is bad.

 

[Railhouse]

Well that sucks....

Changing gears a little bit, I managed to get the new Hydra 26s hung last night. I've got my output turned way down for acclimation on my current corals.

Moving forward from this point. With the current parameters I've listed from my tank, would their be any certain Acro I could give another try? Maybe some a little more hardy than others? Or would their be any water parameters that I needed to change first?

 

[sahin]

Well that sucks....

Changing gears a little bit, I managed to get the new Hydra 26s hung last night. I've got my output turned way down for acclimation on my current corals.

Moving forward from this point. With the current parameters I've listed from my tank, would their be any certain Acro I could give another try? Maybe some a little more hardy than others? Or would their be any water parameters that I needed to change first?

You can start with stuff like Montipora, Seriatopora and Pocillopora etc as these are far more forgiving.

Yeah, dont throw away SPS just because they brown out or look unhealthy. Brown SPS can turn from this:

To this:

Your parameters are generally fine, but I would raise the Specific Gravity to around 1.025 SLOWLY.

 

[Railhouse]

You can start with stuff like Montipora, Seriatopora and Pocillopora etc as these are far more forgiving.

Yeah, dont throw away SPS just because they brown out or look unhealthy. Brown SPS can turn from this:

To this:

Your parameters are generally fine, but I would raise the Specific Gravity to around 1.025 SLOWLY.

I've already got Montipora that's growing like crazy. So I know I'm doing well on that front.

The first picture you shared still had polyp extension. My acro had zero polyp extension for the last 4 weeks.

 

[Railhouse]

Picked up this little acro from my LFS today. So far so good. Immediate color and good polyp extension.



EDIT: Will also be raising salinity slowly over the next few weeks.