Tips for keeping an Acropora

[reeflightforce]

I have recently acquired a blue tip acro and I was wondering if anyone could give me any insight into optium conditions for keeping this beautiful coral healthy?
Any other info about this coral would be useful aswell.
:D

[cdixon]

Hi,

Acros are not the easiest SPS corals to keep, and i would not recommend them for beginners.

Having said that you need to provide at least the following:-

0 Nitrate
<5 Nitrate
0 Phosphate
0 Ammonia

The following should stay as stable as possible over a 24 hour period

Stable PH 8 - 8.3
Stable Temp 25oC to 27oC

Stable Calcium levels 400 to 460
Stable DKH 8 - 11
Stable Magnesium 1350

And Very good Lighting MH IMO

have a look at the SPS section of this forum and read some of the threads for more specific info.

[cdixon]

Also forgot to say...

You need lots of water flow in the tank.

Tunze Streams etc.... are good for this

[arrows]

i can keep every coral going and get good growth, stick an acro in my tank and boy i al lucky if it lives 6 months, do not know why but its just the way it is monti's go mad in my tank.

[MarineManMercer]

My nitrates are 25ppm and i have lots of sps

[simon garratt]

Recomended ranges:

Lighting of the correct spectrum in exess of 350w/sq meter of surface area (1000-1300W is classed as on a par with natural conditions).

Nutrient levels on a par with NSW. ie 0.03ppm Po4 or lower, No3 below 1.0ppm preferably.

medium to strong flow. dispersed and alternating.

No picking fish,

Dkh 8-12
Ca 420-470ppm
Mg 1350ppm
(whichever you decide on, they should be in balance)

SG 1.024 -1.033 but stable whichever level you decide on.
temp 75-80 but stable whichever temp you settle on.
Ph 7.9 - 8.3 but as stable as you can get it.


just some general guidelines.


regards

Si...

[mikeadams1985]

what would you guy srecommend for an intro to keeping sps?

im keen to keep a couple of sps, not loads just 2 or 3 :)

[hairyduck]

Montipora digitata's are a good start, colourful, quick growers and hardier than acros generally

[cdixon]

what would you guy srecommend for an intro to keeping sps?

im keen to keep a couple of sps, not loads just 2 or 3 :)



Seriatopora histrix are a good starter SPS IMO. Nice colours available, red, pink, purple etc...

Bought a small reefworks frag a while ago and within the first month it had doubled in size...

[Social D]

start with frags if unsure, miliporas seem easier to keep than others

[]-[ellcat]

I would call myself a noob at looking after sps, particularly acropora. But my params are as follows:

150w 13000k Aqualine MH
2x55w PC T5 blue moon
25w T8 Actinic

Temp: 76-80
Nitrite: 0
Amm: 0
Nitrate: last time I checked, last week <10

Calcium: My test kit is a little inaccurate, within 10-20, around 440ppm

pH: 8.0-8.3

I have never tested for alk, I read through some internet sites including this one, and found the same "if your pH is correct, generally your alk levels should be fine". Of course I could be doing something really bad by not testing it, however:

I bought a blue tip acro around 5 months ago. It developed some sort of tissue erosion but not RTN. So I followed some instructions on how to frag healthy parts of the acro.

2 months later, I have 4 new colonies of acro which has now covered the epoxy putty stuff in new tissue. All four are doing well, not very fast growers compared to other sps I have in my tank.

The original acro is still doing well and "looks" like the erosion has stopped.

My water flow is not too great, there is LOTS of movement, but not random. It flowsin one direction which I hope to correct when the new nano streams are avaliable.