why are my acans dying?
 

hello all, just got some acans and they are all pretty much trashed now! when i got them they looked pretty good.
alk is about 7 - 7.25
salinity 1.024
calcium 400
ph 8
nitrate 5 ppm
ammonia 0 ppm

the only other thing i can think of is they came from a tank that was lit by xm250 20k's that might have been on their way out, and now they are under 2x24 t5's for 5 hours a day...

TIA

you alk is SUPER low... you need to keep it at least 8.0

whats your Mag?

i feel like the lights aren't enough? how close are the acnas to the t5's?

that and 5 hours of light is not enough.. you need at min 8 hrs...

Alk. is low my friend!

I would say it's the lighting that's not enough rather than the alkalinity.

Consolidate your tank and use the money to get some decent lighting. You can't skim on that.

Let me baby sit it.
 

Take it to my house on Sunday before it dies! Id be glad to baby sit. LOL>

thanks all, my lighting is actually 4x24, and i will adjust the alk accordingly. i saw by black blenny picking at it today...

seems like 4 x 24 is still not enough? how close is it to the lights?

lights are 3 inches from the water and the acans are about 4 inches from the water.

heh, acans are TOUGH, they can survive in really low alk, they just won't grow. what kills them is if you don't feed them, they actually need to be fed once a week or so.

they went from fluffy to boney in 2 days...

i don't think it's alky, i had my alky below 7.5 for 2 months and didn't have any problem. Those acans are the only things have problem in your tank?

So before we say that the problem is lighting or anything else don't we need to know how big the tank is? Also maybe the blenny picking at the coral is the problem?

its a 29gal, i think its the blenny...

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11580102#post11580102 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ezcompany [/i]
[B]heh, acans are TOUGH, they can survive in really low alk, they just won't grow. what kills them is if you don't feed them, they actually need to be fed once a week or so. [/B][/QUOTE]

I beg to differ. you absolutely do not need to feed acans if lighting is sufficient.

could be the blenny, but what about the other corals in your tank. How are they doing?

sorry, but i find my acans do really poorly if not fed. they are 12 inches under 70watt halides so lighting is sufficient, and parameters are spot on.