Tabling Acropora

[phastroh]

I am pretty sure the care for this is the same for all Acropora but no matter I have a question anyone who actually owns this species.

It says they need a temp of 72-78 and a PH of 8.1-8.4

I have other corals that have these same parameters but my temperature is always 79-81.5 and my PH is always 8 at the max and actually my API says 8.2 but my Salifert says 7.8.

Now considering I have other corals that have the same requirements as this Acropora and they grow and look perfect can I consider these readings they require to be as exact as the coral thriving in the conditions of my tank as I wrote them for you to see.

My lighting is only 3x150MH and 8x39T5 but the way my tank is set-up open I left a bunch of spots for corals in the future and I have a few places that are near the top for corals such as these that I would have to surely get much more powerful light to place anywhere else.

On top of that 2 of my 4 my powerheads blow across the crowns of my rocks which can easily be seen in the torch coral that sits exactly where I would put this Acropora. It may actually be getting to much flow.

Now I was shocked to read forums and websites saying the Torch Coral is Moderate in care with some forums with people saying they are difficult to take care of.

I say this because the Coral Corral told me it was easy when I bought it in like February and it actually has been a sinch. I never even do anything with it. It has been perfectly awesome always.

In a way it seems to be rated as just as hard to care for as the Acropora and some people I know said it is easy to do the Acropora if you just give it light and water and keep your water good.

The Torch calls for the same temp and PH as the Acropora so like I said back in the start of this post those corals are growning and look great.

Should I not be scared of this coral like I was before this post haha.

 

[phastroh]

I just want to add that I do know that different species of the Acropora take different care and some are more difficult than others.

I am not just saying that I am going to buy one now or soon I just was always staying away from them.

 

[Dana42078]

i personally think if you keep your params in check you should be able to keep any coral. Placed in right flow and right height any coral should thrive with like i stated good params.

I was skittish to jump into sps the way i did because i looked to much into it and certain ppl scared me away. I jumped in slowly and am still adding. Honestly its not hard. Thats just my experiance.

 

[Smitty]

+1 Dana...

 

[chuck78]

I just started SPS & it's not that bad. I run 3 250 watt MH bulbs. All I did was increase the flow in my tank & everything's doing great!! Nothing beats a failure but a try.

 

[Dana42078]

Chuck is right......like all corals. Some are a hit or miss. You'll never know if you don't try. Jus give it a shot. Acclimate it to your lights correctly if ordering online especially. If bought from a lfs and the light it was under is equal or greater than your light. I'd mouth it right away where it shall sit the rest of it's life. I've never had an issue yet doing this. Most lfs here use wayyy more light than I have and ice mounted my sps right away. No light acclimation and had no issues. If you light is greater I'd acclimate it. Def light acclimate if ordered online. Some may argue that fact but I've never had issues. Good luck! You should be fine tho.

 

[Live Rock]

Keep in mind that tabling and cluster Acropora require more water movement than other sps corals.

 

[Smitty]

The closer the branches of sps's, the more turbulent flow they need...and vice versa.

 

[phastroh]

Yeah ok I will. I actually decided to get 2 Acros from Divers Den. They are not too big though but a green and a purple. I have a powerhead that blows right through the area they will go.

I got an Aussie Worm Brain Coral from there and t has been a week and it has no color like it had when they had it. I have weaker lights than they do but my lights can support this Aussie.

It just seems like it is now only showing some plumpness but nowhere near what it should have. The color is not bleached looking but nowhere near the color it should be. All other corals in my tank look awesome.

 

[Dana42078]

Is it getting TOO much light?

 

[Brian_G]

I have quite a few acropora species. including a red planet which is a tabling acro.
all in all, when I dosed weekly and had t5s, the growth out of my sps was nowhere near what I get now with 250w MHs and a calcium reactor.

so i would say you NEED to find a way to keep your cal, alk and mag in check and you will be smooth sailing.
CCapt doses daily to keep his peram in check and his sps do amazing. it all about how hands off you want to be but I think my calcium reactor was one of the best investments I have made for my tank.

A red planet doesnt like a heck of a lot of light either. its 6" off the sandbed.
on the contrary, I have an ORA scripps acro that likes the extreme light and is 4" from the surface of the water. and a tri color validia that doesnt like a lot of light either and is a good way down the tank as well. so not all acros want a ton of light. but most acros want the flow like stated earlier in the thread

 

[Dana42078]

IMO you don't need to dose unless you have a sps dominated tank which ccapt has. I have about 10 diff sps, acro's, monti's ect. I don't dose and check my params every two weeks or so. Never had a swing in cal. I've always battled my dkh but that's not due to the sps I believe it's the salt I've been using. All in all IMO if you have only a few sps pieces reg water changes should keep those params in check.

 

[phastroh]

The Aussie was at the bottom and now it is half way up but it seems moving it up has made it plump up but no color yet. You know how they look puggy and they close in on itself sort of well this has thickened but is far from the ridges touching. I have a pic of the way it was and now. Let me get them up in a sec.

 

[phastroh]

Ok finally I got them. Took them with my Droid X and the pix look not the best.

Ok I posted a full shot of the tank where on the left top you can see where i will be putting them. You can see the Torch blowing around in it and in the close up so you can see the high flow.

The Aussie in the photo is sitting behind where the Torch is on a rock. I had it at the bottom but moved it up and have seen improvement.

The shot of the right side is just to show that the Donut Coral is sitting on the very bottom on the right end.

So you see the Aussie in the good photo and now the recent photo. It looks like shart but Live Aquaria says to give it more time. It has been I think 1 week. Nothing else in the tank is looking sad, they all look awesome. That is the Divers Den photo becaise it is WYSIWYG.

 

[Dana42078]

Ok here's your real issue that alot of ppl forget. LA uses certain lights. You have your lights. Jus because a coral looks like that in their tank. You take that same coral under your lights it's not going to be happy nor look the same. Idk what to tell ya.

 

[phastroh]

The Acros I am getting on Friday are both Diver's Den Bushy Acropora Coral Fiji - One in Blue and the other is Green.

I am getting them on Friday along with the following
1 Purple Dottyback
2 Blue Linckia Sea Star
2 Spotted Cardinalfish
1 Horseshoe Crab

I am probably going to cancel the horseshoe in the morning because I think it is a bad idea to have it and try to take care of it.

 

[Dana42078]

You shouldn't have any issues and shouldn't have to dose as long as u don't go crazy with sps IMHO . Remember pix or it never happened ;)

 

[phastroh]

Ok here's your real issue that alot of ppl forget. LA uses certain lights. You have your lights. Jus because a coral looks like that in their tank. You take that same coral under your lights it's not going to be happy nor look the same. Idk what to tell ya.

I know what lights they use there and for their photos. They are 400Watt 20K MH

The coral should not be so skinny though and the color is purple no matter the light.

I have 14K MH and Actinic T5's and the coral has no color hardly and nothing approaching the photo at all. It does have some neon green in the center. The phone photo is not as colorful as it appears, I posted it to show the size or how skinny it looks.

I know it will eventually get used to my lights but it looks cruddy right now and I am concerned about the health of it over the color for now. Color should come back with the health.

I have a few corals from LA so I know the difference in the appearance and they state it on the site as well. 2 days ago i could see the ridge of the skeleton and now I can't.

 

[phastroh]

Yeah so the Horseshoe Crab has been cancelled. They seem to much to care for and I can't just get it to have it die.

Good thing I checked my order because they did not have 2 of the Spotted Cardinals on my order, just one.

Luckily they cancelled and reorder still keeping the Friday delivery.

One thing I was not happy with is that I ordered a Starfish last time and then they had to backorder it the next day so I was to get the free shipping still for it when it came in.

The lady said I could add to it with no problem.

Well I have to pay shipping on the corals and some pods I bought because they were not fish. I clearly asked if that means anything and she said yes but I had to pay $14.99 for the corals and $13.99 for the pods. Kind of sharty of them to charge like that.

Really $34 for a 8oz bottle of pods? I should have cancelled it and may still.