Acropora questions

[hd dude]

I added 3 new corals to my tank yesterday, all are Acropora's, being I have never had these before I thought I would ask what to look for as far as them being happy. Also should I be doing anything different for them, then what I am doing for Lps corals.

Lighting - 400 watts MH

Flow - 4 pumps ( I think they are 70 gph )

all levels check ok


Thanks for the help.....

[MACH5]

You definitely need to increase your flow in the tank. Acros need vigorous water movement especially as they grow into full size colonies. I'm afraid a total of 280 gph is not nearly enough for SPS.

[hd dude]

how flow will I need?

[knowcrap]

Flow is a complex question...most people will tell you a minimum of 40x turn over rate (flow) is necessary. The main theory is to have a lot of chaotic flow trying (as best we can) to replicate the chaos of water flow in the ocean.

Example: 100 gallon tank should have ~4,000 gallons per hour of flow. This can be achieve with submersible pumps/power heads, a "closed loop" or even by increasing the flow through your sump.

There is a wealth of information on here and elsewhere on the web about the philosophy of and approach to successful flow.

[hd dude]

I have 4 70 gph pumps in the tank and a 1200 gph in the sump and it is a closed loop set up. The pumps set up, is 2 near the bottom of the tank each side and 1 mid way on one side and on the other side a little higher then mid way, then up top I have the two inlets. two of the pumps are on a wave maker every 20 sec. hope this makes sense.

[acrohead500ppm]

i think your sucess will depend on the the spieces/growth forms of these new inhabitants, are they sparsley branched?or are most of them clustered closer together?
pics would help too,
also, look at the coraliites: are they smooth and more rounded ?
or really pronouced and protruding (jagged)?
how are these 70gph pumps disperseing the flow evenly or is it going through a small 1/2in outlet on then pump?
again, pics of your set up would enable alot of us to give you some good pointers

[shred5]

I agree with acrohead500ppm in you need to look at the type of coral you have. The thinner the branches and the more sparsely they are spread out equals lower flow. Thinker branched and tighter branched need higher flow and these are just rule of thumbs.

If you have two acros you do not have to worry about flow at like lets say the bottom of your tank etc. You need to just get the flow to the two acro's that need it.

The acro in my avatar is a low flow acro. If it were in higher flow it retracts its polyps and starts to suffer.

Dave