acropora question

spike99gt

AC Members
Aug 12, 2006
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About a week and a half ago i purchased 2 frags 1-Acropora loripes 2" and
1-acropora secale 5" when i first put them in there they looked pretty good the secale had full polyp extension for the first couple of days but not barely anything..... the loripes is still very small and kind of hard to see the polyps because they are white. i have a 175 watt mh light 20,000k & 2x65 cf
1- dual actinic 1-50/50 .... i have plenty of water flow and a wavemaker. i feed my tank live phtyo everyother day and keep all the levels where there supposed to be. i have a euphylia, fungia, pocillopora, and a flower pot coral which are alll doing good. so should i worry or do you think there still acclimating??? or should i maybe change my light i have a 15000k bulb also???? :help:
 
if you could please post your levels instead of jsut saying they area where they should be that would help. also include temp, Ca, and ALK
when you say you have good flow.... we need a number. how many gph for what sized tank? are they directly in the path of the flow?
it might be that they are unhappy with the nutrient levels. even if all your levels check out at 0, it doesnt mean that you dont have high nutrients. in fact, i can garentee you do if you are dosing phyto every other day to a tank which contains no corals that can actualy injest phyto (so i would recomend stop those feedings unless you have some corals that you didnt mention that can injest it)
what lighting were they under at the LFS?

were the polyps open in the store? it is possible of a parasite such as AEFW or red-bugs. are the acros colored up nicely? were they colored nicely when you bought them?
if you have a pic, that would also help

thanks, and good luck
 
tank levels
temp 79-80
salinity .025
ph 8.2
ammonia 0-.01mg/l
nitrites 0mg/l
nitrates 0-2mg/l
alkalinity 4-4.5 meq/l
calcium 350-400 mg/l
iod .06-.08 mg/l
phosphate 0 mg/l
magnesium 1375mg/l

i have a 30 gallon tank with a 10 gallon sump/refugium.....i have approximatly 600 gph of flow. the acropora secale which has a purple body with flourscent green polyps is more of less in the direct path of one of the powerheads that is on the wavemaker. The Acropora loripes has a light purplish/blue body with white polyps and is not in a direct flow path of a power head.
I was feeding the phyto because i have a some small bivalves and featherdusters which hitchhiked into the tank and i wanted to make sure they were getting food and i thought that it was good for the microfauna. I always have my skimmer going. i do a 10% water change every sunday, and i also supplement the tank w/marc weiss coral boost. the coral frags were ordered from aquaria central both acropora and the pocillopora. they were all captive grown frags that have a 30 day arive alive stay alive gaurantees. check out the web link:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=2487
I dont currently have any pic's. hopefully soon though....
 
ohhhh
they are probably still adjusting from shipping. i hadnt realized they were bought online and mailed. it may take a while for them to get back to normal. was the shipping okay? was there a heatpack? or did the bag at least arrive at an acceptable temp?
i would take the acro out of completly direct flow. they do like high flow, but if they are in direct flow, it can sometimes rip the tissue and polyps off. wait, jsut to clearify, whhen you say direct flow.... how close are they to the powerheads and how many GPH are they?
also, where currently are they in the tank in relation to the MH?
i'm sure they wont love being in a tank that is fed phyto every other day, so it is probably a mix of the high nutrients and being shipped overnight.

to be honest, i wouldnt bother with the phyto if you are looking to keep acros. the bivales and feather dusters will often do fine in a system without being fed jsut from natural nutrients in your tank from feedings and such. they jsut wont propogate as quickly because there arent enough nutrients for all of them to survive. if you dont feed them, they suddenly become part of your cleanup crew. if you do, they suddenly become part of your bioload. JMO.
 
the shipping was good heat packs overnight all three pieces came at the same time. By direct flow of the power head it is about a foot away and the powerhead is a maxi-jet 600 160gph I have one on each side of my tank. and a sea swirl right in the middle of the tank and then also flow coming in from my refugium/sump also.
In relation to the MH light it is hanging about 12" above the tank or about 18" above the actual piece which is about 5-6" to the left of the center of the light.
I'll cut the phyto feeding and see if that helps first
 
the shipping was good heat packs overnight all three pieces came at the same time. By direct flow of the power head it is about a foot away and the powerhead is a maxi-jet 600 160gph I have one on each side of my tank. and a sea swirl right in the middle of the tank and then also flow coming in from my refugium/sump also.
In relation to the MH light it is hanging about 12" above the tank or about 18" above the actual piece which is about 5-6" to the left of the center of the light.
I'll cut the phyto feeding and see if that helps first


Just an update i havent feed phyto since friday the 12th and i did a water change on sunday no changes yet
 
You might also try running a little carbon in your tank. Often times your new additions will release a little bio-chemical warfare on your other corals etc. This will iritate your long term inhabitants causing them to release a lot of turpines etc. into the water.
I hope this helps
Max
 
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