easy acropora

[Leo_ian]

So i have a 20 gallon cube with 4 fish, a gramma, a spriger's damsel, lubbock's and a red stripe cardinal, i am using a kessil(i forgot what model) and a wavemaker that i also forgot the brand and model. my luck with sps hasnt been the best. So what would be some easy acros besides the bali greens? i know ORA and WWC frags are quite good but i can't get them in my area that easily, so just some generic names and species would be good. Thank you!!!

[jservedio]

Any acro that isn't smooth-skinned and is aquacultured is going to be fine. Get it from someone with an old, big colony in their tank and don't ship it - that'll give you your best shot at minimizing stress getting it into your tank. Keep your alkalinity stable and ensure you don't bottom out nitrates and phosphates and that's all you need to do.

 

The reason you want to get it locally from someone with a big colony is because you want it to be healthy and not have experienced any alkalinity swings in the last few months since it'll do invisible damage that may not show up for a few months and cause it to mysteriously STN even if you did everything right.

 

Personally, the easiest, most durable, and fastest growing acro for me has been the WWC Yellow Tips, which is just an Acropora Tortuosa. If you can find a tort of any sort locally, they do extremely well. If you happen to be close to Raleigh, I'd give you a frag for free to try out. There are tons of other people on here if you post your location that'd probably help.

[Leo_ian]

Haha thank you for the offer but i live halfway across the globe

[Snow_Phoenix]

13 minutes ago, jservedio said:

Any acro that isn't smooth-skinned and is aquacultured is going to be fine. Get it from someone with an old, big colony in their tank and don't ship it - that'll give you your best shot at minimizing stress getting it into your tank. Keep your alkalinity stable and ensure you don't bottom out nitrates and phosphates and that's all you need to do.

 

The reason you want to get it locally from someone with a big colony is because you want it to be healthy and not have experienced any alkalinity swings in the last few months since it'll do invisible damage that may not show up for a few months and cause it to mysteriously STN even if you did everything right.

 

Personally, the easiest, most durable, and fastest growing acro for me has been the WWC Yellow Tips, which is just an Acropora Tortuosa. If you can find a tort of any sort locally, they do extremely well. If you happen to be close to Raleigh, I'd give you a frag for free to try out. There are tons of other people on here if you post your location that'd probably help.

He's in Singapore, I believe. 

 

 

[ReefGoat]

If your tank isn't ready you'll likely lose any sticks you put in, easy or not. Been there done that. I rushed it and regretted it. Have the journals to prove it lol. Don't know how old and stable your system is though. Some of these reefing wizards on here can have sticks growing in some pretty newly established tanks and its impressive. Hats off to them! Its amazing.....But just look around and you'll find way more journals where people rushed into sps in a system that isn't mature enough and then a page or two later their sticks are all dying and their tank has some algae they're battling and then the journal goes dark. I am one of those people. But I'm determined this time around to be sucessful lmao. Good luck with your sticks though. 

[jservedio]

Just now, Snow_Phoenix said:

He's in Singapore, I believe. 

 

 

Well, that'd be quite the trip for a free frag.

[Leo_ian]

2 minutes ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

He's in Singapore, I believe. 

 

 

haha yea

[Leo_ian]

One question, why is it that none of my corals(besides my leathers) grow? 

[Leo_ian]

Xenia doesnt grow, gsp grows slow and zoas never pop new heads

[Snow_Phoenix]

7 minutes ago, Leo_ian said:

One question, why is it that none of my corals(besides my leathers) grow? 

I think if you post a bit more about your full set up, parameters and even a pic of your tank, we could help you better. 

[Leo_ian]

Okie! ill do it tmr

[Leo_ian]

My magnesium is 1200

cal: 420

kH: 15.7 

nitrates: undetectable 

Phosphates: 0.25 yes i lowered them, its now a big mistake i made

 

so my mag is too low and my alk is too high

[paulsz]

6 hours ago, Leo_ian said:

Phosphates: 0.25 yes i lowered them, its now a big mistake i made

shouldn't be an issue. People seem to agree now that phosphates doesn't affect the corals negatively, except maybe make SPS a little more fragile.

 

6 hours ago, Leo_ian said:

kH: 15.7

did you mean dKH? which test kit do you use? I would say way too high. Bring it down to anywhere between 8-11. Do you dose alkalnity? or is your saltwater naturally this high?

[jservedio]

6 hours ago, Leo_ian said:

kH: 15.7 

That'll do it if that's what it really is - bring it to an LFS and have them check it. If it doesn't match, you need a new test kit and if you are planning on keeping acros, get s Hanna Alk checker - it'll make your life way easier.

 

No acro is going to make the jump from a tank of 7-9dkh into a tank with almost 16dkh. Find a salt that mixes up to 8-9 dKH and keep your alkalinity there. If you can maintain your alkalinity between within 1dkh for a couple of months, then you would be safe to try SPS.