Calling All Acan and SPS Lovers- Help Needed!

[BulkRate]

If you have good lab technique (or just use a set of nitrile gloves while handling the cuvettes) I think the Hanna alk tester's a must for anyone with a serious investment in LPS/SPS. But let it get scratched or smudge a fingerprint on it and you're going to have to clean and retest.

 

Are they as accurate as the manuals/manufacturer's website purport to be? Maybe, maybe not. But the real value of hobbyist grade test kits/devices is in showing relative levels & trends... I like not having to titrate/shake/compare colors enough that this is the product for me.

 

As for salt? I'm currently running with Continuum's "Halcyon" product and have been for the past year. Needs a little dosing post-mix to get it where I want it but so far, so good - mixes quickly with minimal fuss & does so consistently. I tried Salinity for about a year prior... never really wowed me either way and I started having some pretty noticeable variances in what it'd mix to versus what the bucket & batch analysis said it would. Rolling the bucket didn't fix it, nor did a wide variety of different mixing techniques.

 

In the end there's probably no one perfect set of products for reefing... just what gets the job done in your particular case.

[RIP Sebastian]

If you have good lab technique (or just use a set of nitrile gloves while handling the cuvettes) I think the Hanna alk tester's a must for anyone with a serious investment in LPS/SPS. But let it get scratched or smudge a fingerprint on it and you're going to have to clean and retest.

 

Are they as accurate as the manuals/manufacturer's website purport to be? Maybe, maybe not. But the real value of hobbyist grade test kits/devices is in showing relative levels & trends... I like not having to titrate/shake/compare colors enough that this is the product for me.

 

As for salt? I'm currently running with Continuum's "Halcyon" product and have been for the past year. Needs a little dosing post-mix to get it where I want it but so far, so good - mixes quickly with minimal fuss & does so consistently. I tried Salinity for about a year prior... never really wowed me either way and I started having some pretty noticeable variances in what it'd mix to versus what the bucket & batch analysis said it would. Rolling the bucket didn't fix it, nor did a wide variety of different mixing techniques.

 

In the end there's probably no one perfect set of products for reefing... just what gets the job done in your particular case.

Thank you so much for your help.

 

 

Same for everyone else. I will refrain from water changes until my alkalinity is where I want it and then I will switch over to AquaForest. What's the difference between prebiotic and reef?

 

Nick

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

Sounds fancy. IMO this is a situation best settled by trying $10 bag of reef crystals on amazon prime ?

Cheap, simple, and will arrive 2-3 days faster than any other seller

[markalot]

 

Sorry to hear about your rogue shrooms. Do you dose anything?

 

Nick

 

I use Kalk in a timed topoff to keep Alk right around 7.

[Clown79]

I don't necessarily think its your params. Tons of ppl use the salt with no issues. As long as its stable params.

 

Are you dosing?

 

You said they melted away. To me that sounds like too much light on them.

 

From my experience, it can take a while for acans and other brains to go downhill.

 

I've noticed that they also don't do well in lower alk levels. Mine were less puffy with alk in the 8. Now that its 10 they are super full.

 

One things for certain, they don't like high light, they are far happier in moderate to lower settings.

 

Are there any other corals around them possibly stinging them?

 

Do you have peppermint shrimp?

 

Are they in high flow area?

 

You need to rule out other possibilities.

[Reefkid88]

I was using RSCP about a year ago and my alk was 14+,and believe it or not my salt was testing super high for phosphates as well and I lost all my Acro's and even some Zoa's and Acan's,the store I got it from tested every bucket they had and ended up tossing about 20 buckets of it because of that. Alk can be a issue,and so can light for Acan's. Depending on what your local store has them under,will really decide how much light they can initially take. I have some frags that were grown under halides,and get 5x fluffier and are the size of golden dollars while my Acan's grown under Radions and Hydra 26's are more vibrant and stay smaller.

 

From what I have learned about Acan's is if you don't spot feed the colony at least 2 times a week (I feed mine a mixture of sps max reef roids and mysis put into a shot glass with tank water and a eye dropper and feed every single polyp on each frag),and don't give them but only a little light,they shrink up and eventually let go of the skeleton and die or just stay shrunken up and never fully open. I also learned that some don't like a lot of flow,and some do. Mine don't mind the flow and get huge when given in-direct random flow,to the point where the ployps move but aren't getting thrown around. Once again,that's what I've gained out of keep a lot of Acan's.

[Clown79]

My acans love being fed too. I feed oyster feast and reef roids. They love it!

[RIP Sebastian]

I don't necessarily think its your params. Tons of ppl use the salt with no issues. As long as its stable params.

 

Are you dosing?

 

You said they melted away. To me that sounds like too much light on them.

 

From my experience, it can take a while for acans and other brains to go downhill.

 

I've noticed that they also don't do well in lower alk levels. Mine were less puffy with alk in the 8. Now that its 10 they are super full.

 

One things for certain, they don't like high light, they are far happier in moderate to lower settings.

 

Are there any other corals around them possibly stinging them?

 

Do you have peppermint shrimp?

 

Are they in high flow area?

 

You need to rule out other possibilities.

 

 

My acans love being fed too. I feed oyster feast and reef roids. They love it!

 

Thank you both for your input. I am certain it has to do with unstable params.

[basser1]

Reefkid88, on 20 Nov 2016 - 7:45 PM, said:

I was using RSCP about a year ago and my alk was 14+.

 

And yet I've used RSCP for years now and my SPS corals love it......

 

Go figure

[Clown79]

I use the salt too. Its been the most consistent out of the 3 I've used. So far my corals love it.

 

None of them are perfect, theres always an issue ppl encounter.

[Reefkid88]

 

And yet I've used RSCP for years now and my SPS corals love it......

 

Go figure

I think it was the insanely huge amounts of po4 that killed everything off,but Im sure alk played a small roll. I can say Im happy with the Aquaforest Reef Salt now. I used Aquavitro Salinity and didn't have good luck.

[basser1]

I think it was the insanely huge amounts of po4 that killed everything off,but Im sure alk played a small roll. I can say Im happy with the Aquaforest Reef Salt now. I used Aquavitro Salinity and didn't have good luck.

 

I'm just having a difficult time trying to understand how a salt mix could be high in PO4?

[Reefkid88]

From what I was told,during certain times of the year on certain moon phases stirs the shit up at the bottom of the Red Sea causing some batches to test positive for phosphates.

 

I had never thought that was the issue until I was told that went home and mixed a batches and sure enough my just mixed gallon had po4. I called my store where I got it from and they tested and got the same results. You'd think quality control would catch it,but I guess not.

[RIP Sebastian]

This thread, is being consolidated with another and is being moved to the tank chemistry forum.