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mikster

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Is this a sponge? It just started growing out of nowhere I have had this tank for about 10 years now.
 

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steveb

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Looks like one to me as well. Either it was recently introduced or has been hanging on and now the conditions are right for it. As long as it doesn't start smothering corals I would leave it. Its quite pretty actually.
 
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mikster

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Looks like one to me as well. Either it was recently introduced or has been hanging on and now the conditions are right for it. As long as it doesn't start smothering corals I would leave it. Its quite pretty actually.
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Oh ok, now I remember. I had these in my sump about 9 years ago but haven't seen any in at least 7 years and forgot about it. Now it's growing in my display tank. Man, I can't believe they hung dormant that long! It even survived a tank move where i I had to expose the rocks briefly to air!
 
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mikster

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It’s a sign of a very healthy mature tank.
Can you tell me why I can't keep any hard corals then? Even frogspawn (supposedly beginner coral) dies. My alk is at 8.8 and cal is at 477 and salt is at 1.023. I am running Kessil AP700 light with a Octopus 150int skimmer. The only thing I have no problem with is softies. I will say my nitrates is 20 ppm thoght, kinda on the high side.
 

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Joeyjoeyjoey01

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Tanks looks good you got a anemone. Corals shouldn't be a issue. ... How long they last? How old is the the tank? Drip acclimate works best
 
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mikster

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Tanks looks good you got a anemone. Corals shouldn't be a issue. ... How long they last? How old is the the tank? Drip acclimate works best
Corals last about 2 to 3 weeks and then start to die pretty quickly. Tank is about 10 years old. Yes I drip acclimate everything for about 3 to 4 hours.
 

Joeyjoeyjoey01

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Best thing to do is have a lfs check parameters or maybe a voltage in tank.. I had my salinity off since I started never had my refractometer calibrated. I was 4 points off.. Now everything is on point.. I had a anemone, some lps some sps .. Last a few weeks then slowly die off.. Didn't see anything off.
 

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Also consider doing a Triton or ICP test of your water. I lost most of my Acros and a frogspawn after a screw from the light fell into the tank, and a Triton test revealed a high level of tin.
 
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mikster

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Also consider doing a Triton or ICP test of your water. I lost most of my Acros and a frogspawn after a screw from the light fell into the tank, and a Triton test revealed a high level of tin.
How much does that test run?
 
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I thought hard corals can survive at 1.023-1.025?

They can survive in phosphate levels of 2.0+, Nitrates 50+, and other abnormal variables, but these are not ideal. 95% of Acropora dominated systems will not run the salinity below 1.025-1.026.

Do you want your hard corals to “survive” or thrive?
 
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BTW, I have the same white stuff on the bottom of my Florida LR. I have no idea what it is. I have a lot of yellow sponge as well, but this has what appears to be a harder smooth surface. It could be a different species of sponge, but who knows. I didn’t touch it to see if it was hard.
 
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mikster

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They can survive in phosphate levels of 2.0+, Nitrates 50+, and other abnormal variables, but these are not ideal. 95% of Acropora dominated systems will not run the salinity below 1.025-1.026.

Do you want your hard corals to “survive” or thrive?
Oh wow, thanks for the info. I no one ever told me salinity was most likely the reason my hard coral never survived. I will give it another go. Thanks so much!
 
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