Light Acclimation

[ERICinFL]

Just curious to know how folks acclimate their new SPS frags to their specific tank lighting. I, thus far, have not been succesful at getting my SPS to stay alive longer than a few weeks. Fortunately, all my frags have come from friends and I haven't had to pay for them. All my water parameters are good, with exception to Nitrates, which hang around 20. The only other problem I can think of, would be lighting. I have two 250watt, 10k EVC bulbs on EVC e-ballasts. PAR is not an issue, because I've looked it up on Sanjay's site and the combo has about the highest of all tested. Thanks for your time.

[Milleme]

If they have come from a tank with lower lighting than mine I just start them at the bottom of the tank or in a more shady space and slowly move them up over like 2 or 3 weeks until I find a spot where they look good and show good colors. If you just throw them directly under more intense lights they might bleach on you. You can also run your lights for a shorter period of time every day and slowly bring the photo period back to normal or put layers of screen over the tank and slowly remove them.

[panic]

Eric - nitrates are pretty high for stonies, especially for new frags. I f they grew up in a reef with higher nitrates, they might endure it for awhile. A transfer of a cut frag to a new reef is stressful enough. You are a medic, right? Think of the break on the frag as an open wound. It needs clean water and plenty of flow to keep the infection off. Nitrates are dirty. And like Milleme says, start low in the tank and move up.

[ERICinFL]

Good point panic, never looked at it that way. I'm sure the fact, that all the frags I got had been placed in the same bag (Acros, Digis and a few Candycanes) didn't help either. Though they weren't in the bag for more than a few hours, I'm starting to think that may have added to the problem. It's just frustrating, because the Candycanes are all doing great. I also have a hammer coral in the tank that I got from my LFS. It had two heads that weren't looking to good and one ended up dying, but the other has grown like crazy.

[RichConley]

If nitrates are that high, chances are phosphates are high too.

What are we looking at for flow? Whats your Alk? Ca?

[ERICinFL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7965515#post7965515 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
If nitrates are that high, chances are phosphates are high too.

What are we looking at for flow? Whats your Alk? Ca?

Actually, phosphates read undetectable with my Seachem test kit. CA runs between 380-400, Alk stays between 12.6 and 14dkh. I have a Mag12 return pump, a SEIO 620 and two MJ1200s that I'm going to mod next week. All my frags have plenty of distance from my softies and LPS (at least 6-8 in.) Basically, my softies are on the far sides of the tank and my LPS corals and SPS frags are spaced in the middle.

[NuclearReefs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7965492#post7965492 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ERICinFL
Good point panic, never looked at it that way. I'm sure the fact, that all the frags I got had been placed in the same bag (Acros, Digis and a few Candycanes) didn't help either. Though they weren't in the bag for more than a few hours, I'm starting to think that may have added to the problem. It's just frustrating, because the Candycanes are all doing great. I also have a hammer coral in the tank that I got from my LFS. It had two heads that weren't looking to good and one ended up dying, but the other has grown like crazy.

YIKES..... Corals as a defense mechanism leach toxins.... You put them in a small confined space they gonna be fighting each other .
Candycanes Slime over pretty heavy .. as soon as the water was put in the bag the Oxegen content started dropping and the PH going down.... something to think about ehh..... :)

[ERICinFL]

Well, I think my problem is in the lighting. My friend who gave me the frags just told me some of his colonies bleached, after he down graded tanks. Even though he went from a 400watt bulb (over a 90gal cube) to a 175watt (over a 30gal cube) he didn't think there would be a problem. I'm not sure if he changed kelvin temps, but he is trying to save what he can by adding screen over the tank. I guess that's what I'll do next time I get an SPS frag. I may also try putting it at the bottom of my 30in deep tank and slowly move it up.