Very Little PE on Acros

[Mark 75g]

My tank is running great. But my PE on my acros is terrible. And it does not get much better at night.

I know that having a Regal Angel and Blue Face Girdle is not the best for acros but I thought that I would still have some PE on acros.

Feed my fish at least once a day.I have blonde naso, Blue Hippo, 4 anthias, 6 line, Melanarus Wrasse, yellow tang, 2 clown fish, mandarin, flame angel

I have tested my water and it is
Water temp 79f
Alk 7.5 to 8.
Cal.480.
Mag. 1350.
and Phos 0.

I just installed bulbs 3 250mh
14k bulbs with 4 38w T5 Blue Plus. Lights sit about 6 to 7 in above the water due to hood on the tank. Acros sit about 6in to 12in or so under the water line.



Color is very good and growth is going well. Any ideas on what else to check for or is it just the fish and I will have to live with no PE

 

[Quiverfull]

How is the water flow in your tank?

 

[Mark 75g]

Sorry, just was going to add that. I have 3 mp 40s running. 2 are in nutrient mode on either side of tank running at 75% and the other is on reef crest on the one side as well running at 50%

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Same boat here. I got a flame angel that nips. im debating whether or not to take him out

 

[evolutionZ]

My flame nips once in a while. Probably why i do not have good pe too. But i do have a couple pretty hairy millie.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

lmao the little bastard only nips at my nice corals like ssc, pink lem, and loves my garfs and Oregon tort. I would loveee for him to just mess with my ugly blue birdsnest but noooo he likes the pretty ones lol

 

[jackson6745]

What is your nitrate reading? Your tank looks to be ULN.

 

[Lostinthedark]

Since I added angels I no longer get much PE during the day. The effect was almost immediate so I guess they know the angels are there. Great PE at night though.

 

[Mark 75g]

Jackson, Waiting for new Nitrate test kit. So not sure at this point. What do you mean by ULN???

Yeah, I guess its probably the angels but I love having the colorful Regal. He is an awesome looking fish.

 

[Av8bluewater]

ULN = Ultra low Nutrients. Sometimes ULNS S being system.
That tanks looks great. Obviously you know what you're doing. I suspect the angels.

 

[Mark 75g]

It could be low. Not sure. I do run a gfo system and change skimmer probably once a week. Now that I think about it I used to have a little better pe when I fed the fish and also did coral frenzy every two days or so. I slowed down because I was having a bubble algae break out and have been trying not to have it again.

 

[trueblackpercula]

Well after seeing your amazing tank and your Sps have some amazing color only two things come to mind.
1) fish ( flame angel )or hermit crabs
2) red bugs
Can you get some close ups of the acros? They sure look healthy

 

[Mark 75g]

Thanks. Unfortunately I do not have a macro lens for my camera. I definetly do not have red bugs.I have checked for them. I think it is the Flame, Regal and Blue Faced girdle Angels.

 

[sahin]

Wow Mark, first of all let me say that you have a most beautiful tank! :thumbsup: you must start a tank thread if you don't have one already.

If you are sure there are no pests, then it is most certainly the fishes causing the lack of PE.

 

[trueblackpercula]

Well just to give you an idea as I am also experiencing on a couple of my Sps great color but little PE. After looking and looking a took a picture at night with flash on only to find a tiny tiny little bugs that is not red bugs. I am still trying to find out what they are before nuking the tank with interceptor. I am not saying you have them buy I took me months to finally get to see them in a picture. Good luck and hope it's the flame angel.

 

[Mark 75g]

Trueblackpercula,
I think that I had the same bugs as you just took a picture. I had a very up close shot and they are not red bugs. They are some type of pod. I did nuke my tank with interceptor twice so I have not seen them since. This came of one of my acros and we got a great picture of it swimming.

 

[Mark 75g]

Sahin,
Thanks for the compliment of the tank. Maybe one day I will start my own thread.

 

[sahin]

Today is as good as any other day to start a tank thread.

 

[dowtish]

I heard a story the other day from my LFS that someone recently lost their 8 yr old flame angel and wanted to order another one. They had always said it was a perfect inhabitant and it never ever saw it nip at SPS. The LFS could not get one for 2 weeks and when it arrived they called them and he immediately cancelled and said that suddenly his Acros were showing insane PE and signs of more growth. LOL 8 years of never seeing it nip...