Ok my parameters are
ammonia 0
nitrite and nitrate 0
ph 8.3
calcium 500
havnt checked phospate yet,
i had gotten some acros, brain, and acan frags from Dr. Macs and they just dont seem to be doing that great, one acro looks like its either bleaching or just loosing its meatyness, and the one acan wont “puff” up, its tentacles come out at night, but when the light is on it just doesnt look good???
how long ago did you get them? what kind of lights do you have? flow? what kind of acclimation did you do?
where in the tank are they placed?
the one acan wont “puff” up, its tentacles come out at night, but when the light is on it just doesnt look good???
what kinda lights? how did you acclimate?
placement on bottom and low-med flow. too much of either they don’t like at all. fornately, the one i got was acclimated in 1/2 hr and looks fine.
How about your Mg and Alk? If you have your calcium too high and your Mg too low you water chemistry could actually be pretty bad for these new corals.
Do you seen any polyp extension?
Most acros will have some color loss after transferring from one tank to another even if both tanks have pretty ideal conditions. It isn’t something to be too concerned with, but I wonder if you and your tank was ready if you aren’t measuring your Alk and Mg.
Post a little more info. Don’t make any sudden changes to your tank. It will all work out in the end even if it ends up being a learning experience. Hope we can help more.
im running 250watt MH, and 4 39watt acitinic,
acclimated by floating first then adding tank water to them slowly for about an hr…
they have been in there about a week, except for the one acan it has only been in since saturday…
placed all on sand bed up until today, i moved the favia and brain frags so they were not directly under light and put the acan off to the side with lower flow and indirect light??
Many favia and brains actually do best under low light, but it depends on the species.
I personally only float my corals for temp and then pop them right in with out any water mixing. Of course I always find out about the water chemistry they are coming from and if it is dramaticly different or can’t get a straight answer I might do a little mixing. Dr. Mac takes good care to make sure his chemistry is spot on so I don’t mix any water, just temp float for 5 mins.
I personally only float my corals for temp and then pop them right in with out any water mixing.+1 no acclimation
the only thing i point out that no one has is the difference between sps and lps can be like night and day. IMO LPS are very easy to keep and are much more forgiving of water conditions. IME, my LPS look the best when my tank is at its worse so ive been to intentinally overfeed to keep NO3 higher. As the others have said, most LPS will do better in lower light and lower flow. my lps frag tank has NO flow and my acans, duncans, and others LOVE it. the acros is a whole different story. i start almost all of my acros midway in my tank under 250 MH and adjust accordingly after a couple of weeks.
the fading is almost always nutrient related and not lighting. i didnt see anything about PO4, which would cause acros to fade quickly and possibly R/STN.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:7, topic:1820”]
the fading is almost always nutrient related and not lighting.[/quote]
Glad you used the word almost as I get fading in my qt tanks and 90% of the time they are very low nutrient systems.
Also want to push a word of caution.(especially now realize the title of this thread was probably intended to be “hard” corals and not “card”) Use caution when grouping corals together. The needs of most LPS are different then SPS, so simply grouping animals by hard or soft does not help much. Even under “SPS” the needs of Montipora Capracornis are often dramatically different then Acropora. Read up on each coral when ever possible. Or if you happen to be receiving the corals from a reputable source such as Pacific East Aquaculture talk with them about the needs of each coral.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:8, topic:1820”]
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:7, topic:1820”]
the fading is almost always nutrient related and not lighting.[/quote]
Also want to push a word of caution.(especially now realize the title of this thread was probably intended to be “hard” corals and not “card”) Use caution when grouping corals together. The needs of most LPS are different then SPS, so simply grouping animals by hard or soft does not help much. Even under “SPS” the needs of Montipora Capracornis are often dramatically different then Acropora. Read up on each coral when ever possible. Or if you happen to be receiving the corals from a reputable source such as Pacific East Aquaculture talk with them about the needs of each coral. [/quote]
+1
Glad you used the word almost as I get fading in my qt tanks and 90% of the time they are very low nutrient systems.
i said nutrient related, not high nutrients. IME, having 0 NO3 is almost as bad as high nutrients. i know this to be at least one factor in my ealier failures at keeping SPS. There is a such thing as “too” clean, although the effects just arent as catastrophic as having high nutrients.
The needs of most LPS are different then SPS, so simply grouping animals by hard or soft does not help much.
kind of what i said. its tough keeping a true mixed reef. i finally gave up. its much easier to satisfy one type of coral then mutiple types. IME, it seems to be a lot easier keeping LPS with sofites than SPS. the day i realized this was the day my life became a LOT easier and a LOT more satisfying. by no means am i saying its impossible to keep LPS and SPS, a lot of people do sucessfully, its just more difficult than not keeping them together.
i said nutrient related, not high nutrients. IME, having 0 NO3 is almost as bad as high nutrients. i know this to
kind of what i said. its tough keeping a true mixed reef. i finally gave up. its much easier to satisfy one type of coral then mutiple types. IME, it seems to be a lot easier keeping LPS with sofites than SPS. the day i realized this was the day my life became a LOT easier and a LOT more satisfying. by no means am i saying its impossible to keep LPS and SPS, a lot of people do sucessfully, its just more difficult than not keeping them together.
[/quote]
This is very true and one of the reasons that I don’t have many LPS in my 95g. I am starting another tank just so I can keep a few LPS. The flow in my 95g is just too much for them to be truly happy.
Keeping SPS and LPS only tanks was the best thing i have ever done. It does make me VERY envious of the guys that do both on a large scale sucessfully though
[quote=“bigbollos, post:5, topic:1820”]
im running 250watt MH, and 4 39watt acitinic,
acclimated by floating first then adding tank water to them slowly for about an hr…
they have been in there about a week, except for the one acan it has only been in since saturday…
placed all on sand bed up until today, i moved the favia and brain frags so they were not directly under light and put the acan off to the side with lower flow and indirect light??[/quote]
How deep is your tank?
[quote=“bigbollos, post:1, topic:1820”]
Ok my parameters are
ammonia 0
nitrite and nitrate 0
ph 8.3
calcium 500
havnt checked phospate yet,
i had gotten some acros, brain, and acan frags from Dr. Macs and they just dont seem to be doing that great, one acro looks like its either bleaching or just loosing its meatyness, and the one acan wont “puff” up, its tentacles come out at night, but when the light is on it just doesnt look good???[/quote]
As a note in the future always try to list Calcium, alk, mag, sg, and (if you measure it) pH. These are all interrelated, just measuring or expressing one of the measurements isn’t nearly as useful.
As some others have said the 'acan’s are your ‘LPS’ type corals and IME these like a bit more of nutrient rich environment, the lower flow, lower light types. Whereas the 'acro’s are your ‘SPS’ type of coral and tend to like a lower nutrient environment (or different nutrients) and higher flow and higher light. I keep most of my SPS together near a powerhead, higher in the water column and they seem happy with it. Mostly all the LPS I have are lower and in sections that don’t get as MUCH flow.
Good luck they might just need some acclimation time.