Acropora why can’t I grow you?

Like the title says I can't grow acropora. I have several montipora corals that are doing fine in my tank they have good color and growth is noticeable. All my soft corals are doing fine and growing well. My clam has noticeable growth on it. My sebae anemone is a good healthy anemone with good color. All my fish are happy and living very healthy in fact I have only lost one fish that jumped out of my tank. But when it comes to acropora being put in my tank its polyps start to not extend as far then it turns brown then dies. I have been told that it is because my tank is only 6 months old and that some day I will be able to grow acros fine. 

When is the special time when my tank is old enough to grow acros? How much water flow should I have to grow acros? Right now I have a mag 9.5 for a return flow that is connected to 2 inlets that alternate because of a scwd. I have been thinking of getting a Seio pump or 2 but don't know which one to get. My tank is a 55 gal so what do you recommend?

I have 2 X 150 watt 14k hamilton MH, and 2 X 110 watt VHOs. Light should not be an issue at all.

I immediately placed Acro and Monti frags in the recent 10 gal. for my friend. It's now a month old. By the end of week 3, one of the acros had already grown 1/4 inch and now has grown down around the base and onto the rock. I don't go by that old rule of thumb and I kinda think that John really doesn't either... (he told me he likes to experiment) ...and any SPS could grow in Chris's tank if Montipora are doing well and the following are considered:

First, if a skimmer is not being used, 5 days prior to the next time you add an Acro frag, place a large fist sized bag of AC (activated carbon) next to the return pump inlet. That will prepare the tank water for any SPS that you want, by eliminating the chemical warfare. If you don't already have a mesh bag, go to the fabric store and get some finer mesh bridal veil material. This works great, is cheaper and the mesh size is larger than the bags sold in LFS allowing more water movement around the typical particle size AC.

Secondly, look at placement/location. The Acro frags could be downstream from another coral like a large soft coral that is bothering it, or it could be that it got sunburned by placing it higher up/in brighter light than it came from, or it could be that there is so much soft coral in the tank that it cannot get a foothold against the warfare.

IME, these things should do the trick.

Edited by Mark Peterson

jpiotrowski wrote: How big is your tank?

I have a 55 gallon tank.

The coralline algae growth is only about dime size but there is so many dime size spots that if they were the size of quarters the back wall would be covered.

Mark/Corey I have been running carbon for about a month now with no change in acro growth. I have one small frag that is around 3 months old that has not even mounted to the rock yet. This is the only acro that I have that is not dead but it is brown and has never had polyp extension more then 1 mm and has had no polyps for over a month now. I bought a acro frag from frag fest that died within a week (RTN) this was the last acro I tried. The acro before that was a healthy colony from marine aquatics that turned brown within a week so bugzme is watching it for me until I can grow acros. 

I don't have that many soft corals in my tank. Corey has 5 times the softies in his tank as I do. None of my softies are close to each other the closest is about 5 inches.

Maybe I should try another acro but I fear loosing money to something that will probably just die or turn brown. What are some of the easiest acros to grow? Does anyone have any mounted acro frags for sell cheap?

I keep thinking lighting also ... but, I am going to say that it might be the Hamilton bulbs. I had poor (IMO) SPS color with 250w Hamis and couldn’t wait to change them out. I'm with shane on this one I'd try a Phoenix or a 10K bulb. I think the XM 10Ks are supposed to be a bit more blue than most.

I have the xm 10k's... not so blue. Kinda white/yellow(actual 8-9k). I do recommend them for the acros, though. My acro's, monti's, poci's, porites, and the rest of my sps, lps, zoas, rics, shrooms, etc are doing very well!!! I attribute this to water quality, activated carbon, great skim, water movement, and lighting. I am running 2 65 watt act 03, 2 65 watt 50/50, 2 175 watt 10k XM's, and a single 20k 250 watt ABDE(on HQI ballast). Those 10k's seem to give what it takes for the growth and the AB is a great source for the coloring I'm getting in my sps. The actinics are more for the dawn-dusk effect... overall, I wouldn't change a thing.

Jason

Have you checked your nitrates and phosphates?  Particularly the phosphates.

Your lighting might not be enough to bring out the best color, but I'd be surprised if it was bad enough to kill acros.

No, I haven't.  Maybe it is inadequate.

I'm running 250 watt 14k's on all of my tanks and everything is doing fine! Chris's colony is starting to get a green tint and there is some polyp extension. The tank that has Chris's has a hamilton bulb and everything in the tank is o.k.  But I mount my lights withing 4" of the water! I know I've lost a bulb to spray already

Edited by bugzme

The polyps on my acros were not extending when I had a fish in my tank that was nipping at them.  Is there any chance a fish is causeing problems for them?