Miss Wiggle And Big Ian's First Marine Tank!
- Thread starter Miss Wiggle
- Start date
Nice polyps on there. I'm actually not sure what Acro species that is, lol. Definitely not a digi or a mille but I'm not sure what else it could be (dont know my acro species by heart 
)
Most Acros will mucous up a little when first introduced, thats normal. If it has its green polyps out its doing well. Polyp Extension (PE) and tissue stability is what you should look for in Acropora.
Xenia are somewhat of a saltwater Canary. They'll close up and wilt when water chemistry gets out of whack. When my salinity crept up to 1.028 it was my Xenia that first alerted me that it was high by closing up and shrinking. Had my LFS test my water to find out my hydrometer had drifted. My Xenia also alerted me when my alkalinity mysteriously dropped dangerously low (7dKH). At the same time they're very hardy so if they do look stressed, they can take a lot of stress before they really suffer. One of the guys at my LFS likes to say that Xenia can survive a thermonuclear attack
)Most Acros will mucous up a little when first introduced, thats normal. If it has its green polyps out its doing well. Polyp Extension (PE) and tissue stability is what you should look for in Acropora.
Xenia are somewhat of a saltwater Canary. They'll close up and wilt when water chemistry gets out of whack. When my salinity crept up to 1.028 it was my Xenia that first alerted me that it was high by closing up and shrinking. Had my LFS test my water to find out my hydrometer had drifted. My Xenia also alerted me when my alkalinity mysteriously dropped dangerously low (7dKH). At the same time they're very hardy so if they do look stressed, they can take a lot of stress before they really suffer. One of the guys at my LFS likes to say that Xenia can survive a thermonuclear attack
Upon further poking around you have whats commonly known as a staghorn acro I think. There are LOTS of species of Acro that fall under the staghorn moniker but if I had to take a guess, I'd call that one an Acropora Nana
glad we got one now....
the xenia isn`t opening up properly yet, about 1/3 of the polyps are open i`m going to give it a day or to sette in, besides the nitrate the stats look fine, the SG is maybe a little and i mean a little. it`ll top it off tomorrow
the xenia isn`t opening up properly yet, about 1/3 of the polyps are open i`m going to give it a day or to sette in, besides the nitrate the stats look fine, the SG is maybe a little and i mean a little. it`ll top it off tomorrow
OP
OP
Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
Right.....
So if i`m thinking this through right then if the Mrs and i get enough corals in there then we shouldn`t have to do water changes, as the corals will such up the nitrates but we will have to add calcium as the corals will be suching that up?
So if i`m thinking this through right then if the Mrs and i get enough corals in there then we shouldn`t have to do water changes, as the corals will such up the nitrates but we will have to add calcium as the corals will be suching that up?
OP
OP
Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
hmmm i don't reckon you'll ever get to the point you don't have to do any water changes. same theory works with planted tanks but very rarely comes off in practice
I know, i just want to know if the theory is sound we`d probably need a much bigger diffrently hsaped tank with a fuge to never have to do water changes but if we can get it down to once every 2 weeks or once a month it would be much better
OP
OP
Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
yes it is sadly
we haven't got him anymore as he was too big for the tank.
they do get fairly large and like a lot of swimming space
If you have enough photosynthetic organisms you wont need to do water changes on account of nitrate buildup. For example, my 45 reads 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates all the time. I've got a lot of corals, and tons of algae growing in my sump/fuge to help with that, but it works out. I still do bi-weekly 10% changes more for trace elements and other possible toxins I cant test for.
pics 
Lynden
a "fish hater"
I would have thought your guys' nitrates would have been too high for SPS... 
Maybe I could get one then?
I used to have a large "Colt" Cladiella Coral, but my crab saw to it's demise. I would figure a stony coral would withstand him better 
That is, until he is "sumpped".
Excellent job on your guys' tank.
It was obviously a little neglected before you two got a hold of it (what with the 80 PPM nitrates if I recall correctly 
). But now it's good enough for SPS.
-Lynden
Maybe I could get one then?
I used to have a large "Colt" Cladiella Coral, but my crab saw to it's demise. I would figure a stony coral would withstand him better That is, until he is "sumpped".Excellent job on your guys' tank.
It was obviously a little neglected before you two got a hold of it (what with the 80 PPM nitrates if I recall correctly ). But now it's good enough for SPS. -Lynden
Mr Miagi
Veins are flowing with SW, now going back to FW!
Is it the same colour as the one you posted in the link, because if it is, it looks alot like the famed "Dallas Acro" down here in Aus
Identifying Acropora is extremly difficult unless you have some decent reference books on hand to help you identify coral skelton structure, and then youll need to kill the thing!
So your probably only going to get "Acropora sp." as an ID, not any actual species name.
Depending on the frags past, SPS can be quite tough. If it comes from a long line of aquacultured coral, it should b more acclimated to tank environments, than say a wild collected frag. Try and get frags that go back a number of generations in captivity. You can do this by buying it from a decent record keeping frag farmer or fellow hobbyist.
Identifying Acropora is extremly difficult unless you have some decent reference books on hand to help you identify coral skelton structure, and then youll need to kill the thing!
So your probably only going to get "Acropora sp." as an ID, not any actual species name. Depending on the frags past, SPS can be quite tough. If it comes from a long line of aquacultured coral, it should b more acclimated to tank environments, than say a wild collected frag. Try and get frags that go back a number of generations in captivity. You can do this by buying it from a decent record keeping frag farmer or fellow hobbyist.
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