Acropora/Birdsnest look normal?

[gklossner0916]

I just bought my first sps coral and placed it in my tank two days ago along with birdsnest, recordia, and a pulsing Xenia . I haven’t seen the polyps open up on it or the birdsnest yet though. Would anyone mind looking at the pictures of it and give me some input if it looks okay?

For context. It’s in a 11gal tank (probably only 6gal of actual water) placed near the top for more light/flow. Measured par in that area to roughly be 220. As for parameters, the most growth specific are below:

Calcium: 420ppm
Alkalinity: 11 dKH
Magnesium: 1280Mg
* started to use Red Sea formula to bring numbers into their suggested mixed tank range. Numbers above are 1 day after first doses*

Pictures attached are of both corals, zoomed out location in tank, detailed water parameters, and original picture from online store for what they look like at their best.

Thanks in advance for input!

 

[mdpitts]

I feel your pain as a fellow new reefer. I have a 13.5 gallon tank at the 9 month mark. I bought some birds nest about 2 months after set up and both really grew great and their polyps look good. I had them up near the surface of the water in my tank on a frag rack which was just luck because they had good flow and better light being closer to it.

I applaud you for trying some easy sps and I believe you are going to get them to thrive. I did. I’m very diligent about water changes, cleaning the sand and changing my “soft” filter media. I feed Reef Roids a couple times a week although I don’t know if those guys took it in but they grew like crazy.

Flow is hard on small tanks like ours because everything just gets blasted. I put random flow generators on my return nozzles to help with flow. If you get on Etsy and do a search you’ll find all kinds of 3D printed stuff. I can give you a link for the ones I got - less than 10 bucks for 2 I think.

You got this! Oh, more more thing and I’m serious - I talk to my corals. I sweet talk to them. My Grandma Gert swore by talking to her plants and I did it when I planted my first house plants and I’ve got a crazy green thumb. I think corals will recognize positive vibes too. You gotta give it some feeling. Yeah, so that’s my spiel.

 

[mdpitts]

Glad it was helpful! Some people don’t like my direct nature, but its just who I am at this point lol.

If you are using one of those floating dial type salinity meters, it will make your life 100x easier to get a refractometer. You can find them on amazon for $20 or less. Just make sure you get one for saltwater and not the wine-making ones that have wrong measuring units.

Ha. I’m known for being blunt but I’m not mean - sometimes you gotta pull out the ol’ “bless your heart, darlin’, you just need to get that little ol messy tank…..

I get aquarium things to test out in the Amazon Vine program and I picked one of those pen type testers which sucked and I also got a refractometer that said it was for saltwater tanks and swimming pools. My 58 year old eyes have a bit of a rough time seeing the little ticks but I can make out the 35 and that’s what I’m going to nail down.