Buying SPS frags
- Thread starter dawgface
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i hear ya! all my lps, z and p, etc are great... sps... not so much (birds nest is good though)! 
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)Hoes your water chemistry? I've never lost a single sps since I've had my 60 cube and this 93 cube. But I kinda understand where your coming from. I lost almost every sps colony I bought when I had my 120.
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all is good that i currently have tests for... i did clean right before it got bad (toothbrush to get hair algae off, little bit of the sandbed, and glass - in all tanks) so i think that is what it was..
Great thread!
That's why I have been talking to other reefers and even am meeting up with our current TOTM winner today. I'm getting together some new SPS and I really am scared about them not making it. I have introduced 10 or so small frags recently and most are doing well but a few didn't make it. My parameters have been good other than low alk which I'm trying to sort out now. I also just started with an RO/DI this week, previously just RO which has me a little worried because my "belief" is by removing more trace elements with the addition of DI I'll have to mechanically introduce them with supplements. Am I incorrect?
That's why I have been talking to other reefers and even am meeting up with our current TOTM winner today. I'm getting together some new SPS and I really am scared about them not making it. I have introduced 10 or so small frags recently and most are doing well but a few didn't make it. My parameters have been good other than low alk which I'm trying to sort out now. I also just started with an RO/DI this week, previously just RO which has me a little worried because my "belief" is by removing more trace elements with the addition of DI I'll have to mechanically introduce them with supplements. Am I incorrect?
It's wierd, like I said if they make it through the first week they often times look better than the tanks I bought them from. My Red Planet looks as if it has dreadlocks, the polyp extension is amazing.
Maybe my acclimation process is wrong?? I drip acclimate them like I do my fish. 30-60 mins temp and water adjustment, then a short 5 mins Iodine bath and in the tank.
Maybe my acclimation process is wrong?? I drip acclimate them like I do my fish. 30-60 mins temp and water adjustment, then a short 5 mins Iodine bath and in the tank.
you don't really have to drip your corals like you do fish. Just float and add a little water every couple of minutes. I've acclimated my corals both ways and both work well for me. Dripping just takes too long so I don't bother anymore and still no problems. I'm not sure why your frags are dieing like that. Are they freshly fragged SPS pieces or have they been fragged for some time before you pick up?
lol yea their a lot more hardy then SPS. I don't like to buy frags that have just been freshly fragged. I like to give them at least a week or two before I pick them up. Maybe thats your problem right there. Shipping doesn't help either.
Only time I ever lost an SPS frag was when I ordered some from an online vendor and they shipped the frags right after they cut it. I can tell because some of them didn't even have frag plugs. :/
Only time I ever lost an SPS frag was when I ordered some from an online vendor and they shipped the frags right after they cut it. I can tell because some of them didn't even have frag plugs. :/
Need to get more of these members to join so we can have more official swaps. I have planned a very large give away for new paid members. Everything from frags to ATO, refractometers, pumps.... Just don't want a bunch of people at my house I don't know.... Well my fiance doesn't want them.
Are the frags you are loosing freshly cut? Stay away from frags cut from recently wild collected coral. Buy encrusted frags from aquacultured sps, I think you will have better luck. Once in your system constant proper parameters need to be maintained.
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I too am baffled why some corals and frags do well and some don't. I have purchased several frags and mini colonies (red planet, blue millie, pink bird nests, ORA purple thick branched birds nest, sunset monti, green monti) from ARC members that have gotten out of the hobby and some are doing well great PE and color, but the ones I really want to do well (red planet and blue Millie) lost their PE after 2 days and are just barely peeking out but nothing like they had while the were floating in the bags in my tankwhile acclimating.
Water params are constant:
No3 - undetectable with Red Sea pro low range phos kit
Po4 - undetectable, running GFO (Rowaphos) in a reactor
SG - 1.026
Temp - 81
Ca- 460
Ak- 8.5 dkh
Mg - 1600
Have 2 3200 gph dual flow wave maker power heads on the way to increase turnover in my 125 gal with 40 gal sump system, but already have 6 power heads plus my 1100 gph return pump.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Want the same results I see in others' tanks.
Water params are constant:
No3 - undetectable with Red Sea pro low range phos kit
Po4 - undetectable, running GFO (Rowaphos) in a reactor
SG - 1.026
Temp - 81
Ca- 460
Ak- 8.5 dkh
Mg - 1600
Have 2 3200 gph dual flow wave maker power heads on the way to increase turnover in my 125 gal with 40 gal sump system, but already have 6 power heads plus my 1100 gph return pump.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
Want the same results I see in others' tanks.
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Have all that. Purple thick branch birds nest has great PE, as does green birds nest and Forrest fire monti. Also ORA Jeremy's green has great PE. Just all the acro's I have dos not show hardly any PE. Are they just that much more sensitive? Had an acro frag that was brown when I got it and after about 2 months it has grown out several new nubbs and turned from brown to green and blueish, and shows slight PE ( had none when I got it) so I know Iam on the right track with trates, phates, and Alk, Ca, and Mg. Am I just needing to be more patient when it comes to Acro's? How long does it take for Acro's to acclimate to their new surroundings and parameters?
Just seeking direction and expertise?
I've had great luck with sps frags that I've got from other ARC members. I've never ordered anything online so I don't have any experience with shipping. I always float my frags and add a little water from my tank every 5-10min. For me, I like to get frags that haven't been freshly cut. Knock on wood, I haven't lost one yet.
