SPS Experts Please; Need Some Feedback.

lubeck

lubeck

Active Member
I have 650w of Mh and 120w of pc lighting in my 110gal extra tall tank.
My turnover is about 24x.
Any hoo. I started about 2 weeks ago with 2 acropora.. one green and one brownish. I have noticed the small polyps extending somewhat during the day and have not seen much at night.. just becuase I can't see anything. I noticed today the tips seem to be getting whitish on both the green and brown acropora. The placement for the corals are on the very top of the tank around 12 or so inches from the lighting. But none are directly under them.. they are both placed in the middle of the tank. Still getting sufficient lighting... I think.
I am not sure if this is normal or part of the "dying" process. I would like to correct "what ever" before its too late.
My readings are all Zero but nitrates are at 2.0 which will be taken care of with the macro I just got today. Also, my calcium is a 450 and alk is at 3.3meg magnesium is 1300.
I do plan on stocking my tank with sps and want to be sure I fix my mistakes. So any advice would be great. I am adding a Dart pump with a 4-way ocean motion in the next week just need the time to install it.
Any advise would be appriciated.
Thanks
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
A picture of the tips would be helpful,
White tips "can" indicate growth, it just depends on how it looks and how fast it is happening.
There is of course STN and RTN, typically RTN starts from the tips and the corals can be gone in a matter of hours, most of the STN I have seen starts from the base.
What is your phosphate level?
Is your flow random, and turbulent around the corals? adding the dart and OM sounds like a good idea.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
i agree entirely with the above statement. i am not an expert by any means, but i will try helping:
did you measure your phosphates? were these part of the "0"?
what lighting were the corals under before you bought them?
how old is your tank?
how many/what types/whta size fish do you have? Are they all considered reef safe?
do you have suitible filtration to handle it all? what do you have?
what other inverts do you have?
are you makeing sure there are no hithcickers like flatworms? they would usualy start at the base, but you never know.
sorry to throw out all the questions, just trying to get a few possibilities.
but yes, it could also jsut be growth depending on the species and the fade.
 
lubeck

lubeck

Active Member
Birdy... Thanks for the reply.. I don't think its worth taking a picture tonight. I hope my camera will show a "true" picture.
I guess you could say my flow is somewhat random. I have a mag24 with 3 return lines. I do have my return from my sump and from c/l. they could use more though maybe. I don't know though I have just begun my experieces with the sps.
I don't have a very good phosphate kit and will have to pick one up.
first question where can I find information on the STN AND RTN. Also, The brownish one did start out with just a few tips and over the last week many have begun to change. And the green acro seemed to have changed in the last few days and is more noticiable today. I will try to get some pics for you tomorrow.
any recommended sites or reading material for sps corals. would be welcomed. Thanks
 
lubeck

lubeck

Active Member
Another thing is... I think this is normal... I had a crab on the brown acro and is now jumping over to the green acro. Whats this about?why the move?
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
Originally Posted by Lubeck
Another thing is... I think this is normal... I had a crab on the brown acro and is now jumping over to the green acro. Whats this about?why the move?
acro crabs, i wish i had one, they are a blast to watch! he was probably just scopeing out some new areas, trying to find some new food.
ill look around for some good reading for you.
good luck
 
lubeck

lubeck

Active Member
Hope this helps
Originally Posted by fishieness
i agree entirely with the above statement. i am not an expert by any means, but i will try helping:
did you measure your phosphates? were these part of the "0"? No reading yet.
what lighting were the corals under before you bought them?The brown acro was from lfs under 2-250mh the green acro was under ALOT of pcs for a short time... thats why he gave it to me.
how old is your tank? 1year
how many/what types/whta size fish do you have? Are they all considered reef safe?
All reef safe. 2 percula clowns/2 cinnamon clowns/2 blue reef damsels/1 sailfin tang 5inch/ 1 mandrin goby/2peppermint shrimp/1 carpet anemone/ 1pinktip anemone/ alot of assorted hermits/snails/ few other corals ....All the fish are under 3-4inches except for the tang.
do you have suitible filtration to handle it all? what do you have?2-3month old 75gal. sump/fuge with a ASM3 and just put macro in fuge today... tons of pods in the fuge. All plumbing in basement. Squidd helped with all the details. and still is... Have a 4" DSB in fuge and DT is a 4" DSB. Have about 80lbs or more in lr and am looking to get another 100lbs when I have the cash.
what other inverts do you have?snails anemones shrimp crabs
are you makeing sure there are no hithcickers like flatworms? they would usualy start at the base, but you never know. Don't think so
sorry to throw out all the questions, just trying to get a few possibilities.
but yes, it could also jsut be growth depending on the species and the fade.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
hmm... i dont see any imediate problems. some damsels do pick at sps corals, so once they die algae will grow in its place as a good food supply. But it isnt commonly seen in the home aquarium. But when you get pics it would be a good thing for people to be able to see.
is there any more progress?
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
it looks like growth to me, but it is hard to tell because of the lighting....
the "white" parts, can yuo seel the white skeleton? or is it just white colored tissue?
 
lubeck

lubeck

Active Member
its hard to say... but I would say more tissue... it seems to be pretty smooth rounded. I don't know.
on another note... do you have any recommendations on some new corals to color up my tank. just looking at the picture now seemed pretty drab.
 
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