CroMag676
Community Member
Hello!
I have a 90-gallon tank that has been set up since September 2022. Until recently, I have had a really hard time getting any coral to stay alive for more than a month. On 20 Jan 24, I added a green-stem hammer to the tank and have managed to keep it happy since then. Inspired by this small success and an online sale - it offered some good discounts and a free frag -, I added 4 more Euphyllias: a gold hammer a yellow hammer, an orange Octospawn, and a yellow torch. The free frag turned out to be a newly fragged green Birdsnest! *Queue theme music from The Jeffersons*. I placed all the coral in a low-flow area of the tank, at the bottom center and left, on frag stands. The Birdsnest was placed 6” higher on the rockwork, 10” in front of the right powerhead. This order arrived on 15 Feb 24.
Fast forward to 2 March, all coral is looking happy – except the frogspawn died after a few days -, so I decided to add a purple Stylophora, a strawberry shortcake Acro, and another torch. Naturally, after I added more coral because everything was looking good, I noticed something wrong. The Birds nest, despite full polyp extension, was missing some polyps on the side toward the powerhead. I suspected that it didn’t like the flow, so I moved it 13” further away. When I moved it, I noticed that a lot more flesh was missing on the backside. Since the move, I have noticed that at least one fully extended polyp will slowly detach per day. At this point, I suspect a flow problem.
I am running 2 opposing MP40s in this 4’ tank. They may be overkill but they were running in lagoon mode at 2% power. I have since changed the right PH to a 4-second pulse at 5%. The below video show how the current flow looks on the Stylophora. I eventually want to move it closer to the middle of the tank and place the acro in that spot. The fate of the Birdsnest is mainly inconsequential except that if I can’t get a green Birdsnest to survive then my hopes of an acro garden up top is a pipedream. The reason I went with MP40s is so I would have plenty of room to increase the flow for a growing population of Acropora.
Do you think that flow is my problem? Is the new PH setting likely a good solution or do I need to downsize to some MP10s?
Equipment:
Oceanic 90-gallon RR tank (48” x 18” x 24”h) with Durso overflow (I know…I know).
50 lbs ish Pukani Dry rock
- Heald together with J-B Water Weld
Custom GEO’s reef with integrated Clarisea sk 5000 fleece roller, media reactor, and refugium.
- RO/DI reservoir with Neptune LLS and v2 utility pump
- 2 x Eco Chic Refugium LEDs
Neptune COR20 return pump
25 Watt Smart UV Sterilizer – Pentair Aquatics (Flow = 75gph)
Apex Pro Controller w/
- Trident
- DOS
- Probes: Tank Temp, Sump Temp, PH, Conductivity
- AFS (not programmed)
300W Titanium Aquarium Heater w/ Inkbird Controller
Elite 150-INT 6" Super Cone Protein Skimmer w/ CO2 scrubber
2 x EcoTech MP-40 power heads
2 x Radion XR30 G6 Pro LED (8” mounting height)
3 x 120mm ducted fan bank
Inhabitants:
Fish
2 x Firefish
The Wrasse-hole gang
- Yellow flanked fairy wrasse
- Solar wrasse
- Male/female pair of Pin wrasses
- Juvenile Radiant wrasse
- Juvenile Dusky wrasse
Shrimp:
Skunk cleaner shrimp
Fire shrimp
Cleanup crew
Trochus snails
Nassarius snails
Blue-leg hermit crabs
3 x Tiger tail sea cucumbers
Sand sifting starfish
Chaeto in the sump.
Food:
Fish Frenzy plus San Fransisco Bay spirulina mysis shrimp mixed with Selcon. 1.5 ml twice per day.
Additives:
Quantum Easy E/Z added with the DOS.
Activated Carbon in GEO media reactor.
Salt:
Quantum Mixed Macro Probiotic Salt
Parameters:
Temp: 78.0 – 78.5 degrees
PH: 7.89 – 7.79 daily (I can’t get it better than that)
Salt: 1.025 sg
ORP: 466 – 474 daily (If the probe is worth anything)
Alkalinity – 7.6 dKH (8.5 is the goal)
Calcium – 500 ppm (440 is the goal)
Magnesium – 1377 ppm
PO4 – 0.05 ppm (Hanna ULR)
NO3 – 16.3 (Hanna HR) (5.0 is the goal)
Lighting Schedule:
Modified CoralLab AB+
0700 – Start
0830 – 50%
1030 – 60%
1630 – 60%
1830 – 50%
1930 – End
Overall schedule intensity at 72%
Thank you in advance!
I have a 90-gallon tank that has been set up since September 2022. Until recently, I have had a really hard time getting any coral to stay alive for more than a month. On 20 Jan 24, I added a green-stem hammer to the tank and have managed to keep it happy since then. Inspired by this small success and an online sale - it offered some good discounts and a free frag -, I added 4 more Euphyllias: a gold hammer a yellow hammer, an orange Octospawn, and a yellow torch. The free frag turned out to be a newly fragged green Birdsnest! *Queue theme music from The Jeffersons*. I placed all the coral in a low-flow area of the tank, at the bottom center and left, on frag stands. The Birdsnest was placed 6” higher on the rockwork, 10” in front of the right powerhead. This order arrived on 15 Feb 24.
Fast forward to 2 March, all coral is looking happy – except the frogspawn died after a few days -, so I decided to add a purple Stylophora, a strawberry shortcake Acro, and another torch. Naturally, after I added more coral because everything was looking good, I noticed something wrong. The Birds nest, despite full polyp extension, was missing some polyps on the side toward the powerhead. I suspected that it didn’t like the flow, so I moved it 13” further away. When I moved it, I noticed that a lot more flesh was missing on the backside. Since the move, I have noticed that at least one fully extended polyp will slowly detach per day. At this point, I suspect a flow problem.
I am running 2 opposing MP40s in this 4’ tank. They may be overkill but they were running in lagoon mode at 2% power. I have since changed the right PH to a 4-second pulse at 5%. The below video show how the current flow looks on the Stylophora. I eventually want to move it closer to the middle of the tank and place the acro in that spot. The fate of the Birdsnest is mainly inconsequential except that if I can’t get a green Birdsnest to survive then my hopes of an acro garden up top is a pipedream. The reason I went with MP40s is so I would have plenty of room to increase the flow for a growing population of Acropora.
Do you think that flow is my problem? Is the new PH setting likely a good solution or do I need to downsize to some MP10s?
Equipment:
Oceanic 90-gallon RR tank (48” x 18” x 24”h) with Durso overflow (I know…I know).
50 lbs ish Pukani Dry rock
- Heald together with J-B Water Weld
Custom GEO’s reef with integrated Clarisea sk 5000 fleece roller, media reactor, and refugium.
- RO/DI reservoir with Neptune LLS and v2 utility pump
- 2 x Eco Chic Refugium LEDs
Neptune COR20 return pump
25 Watt Smart UV Sterilizer – Pentair Aquatics (Flow = 75gph)
Apex Pro Controller w/
- Trident
- DOS
- Probes: Tank Temp, Sump Temp, PH, Conductivity
- AFS (not programmed)
300W Titanium Aquarium Heater w/ Inkbird Controller
Elite 150-INT 6" Super Cone Protein Skimmer w/ CO2 scrubber
2 x EcoTech MP-40 power heads
2 x Radion XR30 G6 Pro LED (8” mounting height)
3 x 120mm ducted fan bank
Inhabitants:
Fish
2 x Firefish
The Wrasse-hole gang
- Yellow flanked fairy wrasse
- Solar wrasse
- Male/female pair of Pin wrasses
- Juvenile Radiant wrasse
- Juvenile Dusky wrasse
Shrimp:
Skunk cleaner shrimp
Fire shrimp
Cleanup crew
Trochus snails
Nassarius snails
Blue-leg hermit crabs
3 x Tiger tail sea cucumbers
Sand sifting starfish
Chaeto in the sump.
Food:
Fish Frenzy plus San Fransisco Bay spirulina mysis shrimp mixed with Selcon. 1.5 ml twice per day.
Additives:
Quantum Easy E/Z added with the DOS.
Activated Carbon in GEO media reactor.
Salt:
Quantum Mixed Macro Probiotic Salt
Parameters:
Temp: 78.0 – 78.5 degrees
PH: 7.89 – 7.79 daily (I can’t get it better than that)
Salt: 1.025 sg
ORP: 466 – 474 daily (If the probe is worth anything)
Alkalinity – 7.6 dKH (8.5 is the goal)
Calcium – 500 ppm (440 is the goal)
Magnesium – 1377 ppm
PO4 – 0.05 ppm (Hanna ULR)
NO3 – 16.3 (Hanna HR) (5.0 is the goal)
Lighting Schedule:
Modified CoralLab AB+
0700 – Start
0830 – 50%
1030 – 60%
1630 – 60%
1830 – 50%
1930 – End
Overall schedule intensity at 72%
Thank you in advance!
