Man you should have leave the coral a lone and take the rock out and give it a good scub with a good strong brush to get rid of all the algae. Do the same to all the rocks. vac your substrate under the rock and every where. Do large water change. If you think your coral is not use to the MH light, get the light defuser from home depot and place across your thank for a few week. Bring your Mg/cal/alk/ph up at or higher than the recommended level. Throw the Phospate/nitrate test kit in the garbage. (In a relatively mature reef tank you, have phospate/nitrate but will read zero because it consume by algae and by the coral) regular cleaning will keep them down. Keep the Mg/cal/alk/ph high will keep the phospate from leaching back into your water from gravel and rock. Too bad with the coral good luck.
Algae on Acropora
- Thread starter Inconservatory
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Inconservatory
Well-known member
Thanks, TC.
Unfortunately, the acropora has cemented itself pretty firmly on the biggest piece of rock in the tank. Some of the branches are still holding on strong, but I'm not sure how long that will last. There's a small frag far away from the main colony which looks to be bouncing back every so slightly (or at least not receding).
I don't quite understand what you are getting at when you tell me to throw my test kits in the garbage. Are you suggesting that they are old, or just that having the kits are pointless in an "established system?" It's always beneficial to know what's going on in your tank at any given moment.
My lighting situation could be better. By recently adding a digital thermometer to the setup, I've found that the water increased by 2 degrees *f during the day! I may have to trade my 175mh for a set of 48" t5s!
Off the top of my head, here are the stats on the tank:
Mg: 1500
Cal: 640
Alk: 9-10 dkp (usually closer to 9)
Ph: 8.2ish
Temp: 79.8-82*f
Should I... frag the rest of it and give it a ring of glue around the decaying areas?
Thanks!
Unfortunately, the acropora has cemented itself pretty firmly on the biggest piece of rock in the tank. Some of the branches are still holding on strong, but I'm not sure how long that will last. There's a small frag far away from the main colony which looks to be bouncing back every so slightly (or at least not receding).
I don't quite understand what you are getting at when you tell me to throw my test kits in the garbage. Are you suggesting that they are old, or just that having the kits are pointless in an "established system?" It's always beneficial to know what's going on in your tank at any given moment.
My lighting situation could be better. By recently adding a digital thermometer to the setup, I've found that the water increased by 2 degrees *f during the day! I may have to trade my 175mh for a set of 48" t5s!
Off the top of my head, here are the stats on the tank:
Mg: 1500
Cal: 640
Alk: 9-10 dkp (usually closer to 9)
Ph: 8.2ish
Temp: 79.8-82*f
Should I... frag the rest of it and give it a ring of glue around the decaying areas?
Thanks!
tell us how you are getting these numbers. like test kits, monitors and such
the calcium is way high imo and i would think your ph is higher than you would think it could be with cal being that high
Mg: 1500
Cal: 640
Alk: 9-10 dkp (usually closer to 9)
Ph: 8.2ish
Temp: 79.8-82*f
this is just regarding your perams. not to say thats exactly what your problem is with that coral but, with the combo of light you had and those numbers you had that baby in an acid bath with a bad sun burn i believe.
correct me if i am wrong guys.
the calcium is way high imo and i would think your ph is higher than you would think it could be with cal being that high
Mg: 1500
Cal: 640
Alk: 9-10 dkp (usually closer to 9)
Ph: 8.2ish
Temp: 79.8-82*f
this is just regarding your perams. not to say thats exactly what your problem is with that coral but, with the combo of light you had and those numbers you had that baby in an acid bath with a bad sun burn i believe.
correct me if i am wrong guys.
ciao
Reef Newbie (SOS PLEASE!)
I really don't think that you need to replace your lights over 2 *f during the day. That's very normal if not pretty tame compared to some other temperature swings I've heard from other people. I have a 210G under 3 400W MH and 2 Actinics and it goes up by as much as 4 degrees during the day. As I understand it, it's a matter of acclimating/training your corals to be used to the temperature swings. Other people I've talked to let there tanks swing by as much as 8 to 10 *F over the course of the day and have not noticed any bad effects from it as long as it didn't drop below the 73 *F mark. I have 2 250W heaters in my sump tank set to 76 *F to make sure it doesn't fall below that during the winter and let the temperature of the tank go to 79 *F during the day without any ill effects.
Save your money and don't baby the coral so much!
: Your problem isn't the temp swings. It's like a kid, it's better to let it feel some stress to toughen him up a little than to baby him their entire life and not be prepared for small disasters(or in this case temperature swings)
Yes Phospate and Nitrate is very hard to measure with mature system. Just know that it is there and do everything to clean your tank.
Like others responding to your problem. Leave the coral alone and it will do fine. I think your Mg/Alk/Cal measurement might be off. Get better test kit or bring your water to a good LFS. Your temp is ok no need to worry.
The other guy saying something about acid. Well your system is definetly not acid. If it is you would have a cal/carbonate snow storm in your tank.
Also don't be afraid to take the rock out and clean it. It is just rock. Coral can stay out of the water for about 3 min and do just fine. Just be careful when you clean near them.
Have Fun....
