Tips for Acropora?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Ive got about 25lbs of rock right now, and will be adding a bit more. LED lighting, eh? Seems better to wait on that technology to get cheaper, better first. I could likely build something similar. (Getting my major in electrical engineering). Just need to find the actual high power LED array and the rest is just a current controller. :-D

Matt
 
a 150 watt over your 20g would do great.. i dont see any major temp fluctuation in my 10g and i have my light about 3 inches from the surface. Keep good surface movement and you wont need any fan.

and yes there are several lights out there thats nice and would do good for what your looking to do, pending you have the pockets for it. :)
 
also, thats a nice amount of LR for your set-up, you should be good with that.

Got any good critters? snails, hermits, ect...?
 
Hello,
Yeap, good amount of live rock. I have snails, hermits, emerald crabs, a pom pom crab, and a cleaner shrinp (skunk).

No funds for MH, unless its possible to build one. Might it possible to just buy a bulb, reflector, and a ballast? I dont understand why these 150W MH setups goes for over $200.00 when it looks like a street lamp.

Matt
 
Good thread. First of all your "Actinic" is NOT a true Actinic bulb. True Actinic peaks at 420nm, and that is what you should be looking for to help coral growth.
Everyting else looks pretty good. As previoulsy stated, growth will usually start at the base and it takes a few weeks for a coral to acclimate to the tank.
When getting new corals you should try to find out what lighting they were under and light acclimate them accordingly. Generally you want to start them low in the tank and move them up over time. With your lighting that is probably not a problem.
Corals do need lots of flow. Get another powerhead so you can always have two in the tank to create a chaotic water flow. You want the flow to wash back and forth across the coral vs. having it always come from one side.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Congrats on keeping the water parameters in check in a small tank, BUT a refractometer is a MUST HAVE IMO. I still have a swing arm in my aquarium spare parts/junk box, but I won't even give it away. It's just there to remind me... <g>.
 
MH is still too much for me. I will keep a lookout on ebay though, maybe something of good quality will pop up. How about those Viper MH lights? I like that idea of them...

Yeap, my water is clean. :) I am always trying to keep it cleaner as I HATE to scrub off the brown whispy algae that forms every day. I figure cleaner water will equal less algae. Now my new chaeto needs to start doing the work!

I have an actinic bulb that peaks at 420nm if that would be better than the 460nm ones I have now. Should I swap them?

The corals I get come from MH+T5 lighting. They are all in different tanks with both MH over them and T5. Very bright in that place! Im sure my tank was a shock in the wrong direction for them, but then again they are now much closer to bulbs than at the LFS.

Matt
 
mrg02d said:
MH is still too much for me. I will keep a lookout on ebay though, maybe something of good quality will pop up. How about those Viper MH lights? I like that idea of them...

Yeap, my water is clean. :) I am always trying to keep it cleaner as I HATE to scrub off the brown whispy algae that forms every day. I figure cleaner water will equal less algae. Now my new chaeto needs to start doing the work!

I have an actinic bulb that peaks at 420nm if that would be better than the 460nm ones I have now. Should I swap them?

The corals I get come from MH+T5 lighting. They are all in different tanks with both MH over them and T5. Very bright in that place! Im sure my tank was a shock in the wrong direction for them, but then again they are now much closer to bulbs than at the LFS.

Matt
Click to expand...

I think with the right bulb configuration and coral placement you will be fine for now with what you have. I used to run all VHOs and I had sps which grew and held color. Theoretically what you have now should be more PAR than VHOs. If you had extra money to spend then you should go with a "high end" Halide system (ballast,bulb,reflector) or a "high end" T5HO system with individual reflectors on each bulb or an ATI system and be done with it. Or as you know there has been lots of talk about LED systems. I will probably switch to LED someday, but not yet. Right now it seems like there are always advances coming out since it is a new technology for reef keeping. Plus I assume the prices will come down eventually just like they did for Plasma/LCD TVs.
 
Yea id love a nice MH setup, but it looks like a decent one with supplimental actinic lighting will cost a few hundred. Thats too much for now, but down the road Im sure I will splurge on one when $$$ permits.

I should get that Koralia 1 back in the tank I guess shouldnt I? Do you think my live rock rubble will cure without flow? I could stir the water a few times a day. :) I just dont want to have to spend another 35$-$40 for a powerhead that I wont need. (My little 20g is looking cluttered with all the "stuff" in there such as powerheads,heater, thermometer, algea scrubbers, filter input and output, and my eggcrate chaeto holder.

The live rock rubble was fully cured when sent to me, but a few days in the mail wiped out the coralline and caused a 0.25ppm Ammonia spike in the bucket I put the stuff in. (Knew better than to put into the DT :-D)
Shouldnt be too hard to re cure this stuff. The rocks were clean as a bone. Im guessing the ammonia is from dead bacteria.

Those LED systems look nice, but SOOOooooo $$$$! If I could find a good source for the LEDs, I could build a system with plexiglas sheets, aluminum heatsinks, and my circuit building skills for so much less. But getting a 12000K 3W LED is not easy. And then Id need 30 of them with some other colors mixed in :p
MAtt
 
Hello all,
I was wondering how one knows if their acropora is happy? I have had two now for nearly a month, and my LFS is having 20% corals! Already picked up a blastomussa for $16 and a 17 polyp colony of large orange zoanthids for $12. Im dying to get some more acroporas while their sale is going on. (Ends saturday).

I dont want to get more if my current ones are sad. I have no idea how to judge whether or not an acropora is doing well. Would a month be enough time to know if my tank conditions suck for them?

Neither have grown one bit. The green one has its polyps out all day and night. The other, some sort of purple one that turned brown, never has its polyps out but a bit during the night. Its now turning a light purple blue rather than the solid brownish purple.

So, should I run back and get some more? Or should I wait longer to make sure I make no big mistake?
 
I'd wait untill you have better lighting. The one that was solid purple may be starting to bleach or loose its colour due to low light conditions.
IMO, save your money and buy better lighting then you'll be able to get any SPS you like.
 
I think you have enough light to squeeze by and as I mentioned before it would probably be even better to swap out your 2-actinics. If I were you I would take advantage of the sale and get another one. If the green one has polyp extension all day and is still green and the brown one is starting to color up again, those are good signs. Also, the 2-you have do not have any white tips/base or tissue necrosis that is another good sign. My vote is buy 1, just don't go nuts.
 
Im not saying his SPS will bleach out and die did i?
Didnt say it wouldnt be enough?

All i said was, Better lighting will give you better corals in the long run and brighter colours.
 
Turns out, I have two 460nm blue bulbs that I will swap the actinics out for.

I think I will go back today and get some more!
Is it possible for too much light? My acros are just 8in from the bulbs (5in from water surface) and there is a 12000k bulb directly above them. Could be a lot of light?

Matt
 
Just got back from the LFS with a nice 2.5in blue tort acropora frag for $16.00. Got another SPS, but I forgot what the guy called it. Looks like green apple stylophora. It was his favorite, and came off his personal mother colony. Really pretty! I will have to get some pics while they are down on the bottom, close to the side. Also got some more zoanthids. (Zoanthids are always a great deal there).

So Im guessing these guys will need to stay near the bottom for a week, right? They were under metal halides, but the guy said that the metal halides are so far from the water that T5s will cook them if placed at the top right away.

Matt
 
mrg02d said:
Just got back from the LFS with a nice 2.5in blue tort acropora frag for $16.00. Got another SPS, but I forgot what the guy called it. Looks like green apple stylophora. It was his favorite, and came off his personal mother colony. Really pretty! I will have to get some pics while they are down on the bottom, close to the side. Also got some more zoanthids. (Zoanthids are always a great deal there).

So Im guessing these guys will need to stay near the bottom for a week, right? They were under metal halides, but the guy said that the metal halides are so far from the water that T5s will cook them if placed at the top right away.

Matt
Click to expand...


Good deal! That placement sounds about right to me, start low and move them up slowly. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Is this fish ill with Whitespot/fungus, or just discoloured?
Replies
7
Views
341
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
highlarnia
Blue diamond discus accelerated breathing
Replies
4
Views
385
highlarnia
highlarnia
J
Oil surface cause may be damaging my tank?
2
Replies
35
Views
991
Aiken Drum
Aiken Drum
S
new neon tetra problems
Replies
1
Views
378
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
S
more shrimp problems
Replies
1
Views
311
Andy Sager
Andy Sager

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom