Coral Growth Rate

[saltjohnswharf]

I plan to drop my light down all at once. My light is attached to the studs of the wall and I cannot make a thousand adjustments. Probably weaken the stud too much. I may be risking a lot there but if I have to I will move the coral into the sand.

If you don't want to buy a PAR meter then check and see about borrowing one from the LFS. There was a store in San Francisco that let me borrow one for a weekend. I live more than an hour from there and they just took a $10 rental fee. I mailed it back to them. Of course I have to admit I would never use one often. I tested a bunch of bulbs and arrangements but when all is said and done the best judge is by watching the coral. How large it opens and how fast it grows. Sounds to me like you used the PAR meter in your brain. Truthfully if the coral looks good and grows well who gives a crap what the PAR says?

 

[chatyak]

Yea ha

I don't know if this helps any... but my return loc-line (near surface) has a lot of coraline algae all over it... and not much else further down into the tank.

 

[atxryan]

how long has the tank been running. SPS wont grow quickly in a young tank. Also, small frags will generally encrust the rock and build a strong base before growing up.

 

[chatyak]

The tank has been running since August. Why won't sps grow in a young tank if the parameters are there?

 

[saltjohnswharf]

atxryan is correct. Young tanks grow slower. SPS from frags grows slow and then really fast.

Coralline only at the top does not necessarily indicate that not enough light gets to the bottom. You can grow coralline under lights that are not very powerful. Now if there was a defined "line" of coralline then I would probably want to investigate that one! Usually starts at the top of the glass and splotches its way down. Time and adjustments will tell.

 

[saltjohnswharf]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15259391#post15259391 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chatyak
The tank has been running since August. Why won't sps grow in a young tank if the parameters are there?

There are a lot of factors. As a tank matures more and more natural foods become available. Also when a tank is young there are itty bitty ammonia spikes and fluctuations that the coral is not accustomed to. During this stage in a tanks life the coral will likely survive but not yet thrive. Once your tank hits that stage of all grown up things will grow quite large very quickly. Depending on the rocks age and the quality of life on it and in the sand bed the tank may grow up over a time period of as long as 5 years or as little as a year. Seeding a tank with LR from a well maintained and aged system helps a ton. Can shorten the maturing process by years in some situations.

 

[chatyak]

Interesting... what is the reasoning for SPS not growing in a young tank? Because my SPS frag is the only one with visible growth, other than the GSP. My frogspawn and hammer and not growing.

 

[saltjohnswharf]

Frags are accustomed to hardships in the aquarium. They tend to be the best way to go when first getting SPS. Wild SPS will NOT tolerate any bull crap. Especially acros. Frogspawn and hammers grow fairly slowly at first also. Make sure they are positioned correctly and not getting too much current. Don't feed them chunks of food and just be patient. The GSP will grow. Then you will have to harvest it non-stop because it won't stop growing!

What were the calcium and alk levels? PH? I had a frogspawn that came from another guys tank. Grew like mad right away. A wild specimen I bought has yet to show quick growth. Coral, like fish and people, are individuals. They are all similar to their counter parts but have uniquenesses.

 

[chatyak]

450 CA
9 for dKH (really hard to tell on Elos... it's like a soft yellow and gradually gets more yellow)

I had another test kit laying around (hagen) and it was a sudden change around 135 CaC03 which comes to about 7.57 dKH

PH i rarely ever test.. has always been at 8.2--8.3 when I do.

I don't feed the coral food, except the odd phytoplankton (green bottle).

 

[chatyak]

The positions of the frogspawn and hammer may be an issue as well.. I'm not sure what to do with them... The frogspawn may be getting too much flow... maybe a video will help? Can do that tomorrow..

 

[atxryan]

my frogspawn has done much better since I put it in the sand. also, it is hard to tell how much the skeleton has grown since the poloyp generally govers the base.

 

[saltjohnswharf]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15259479#post15259479 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chatyak
The positions of the frogspawn and hammer may be an issue as well.. I'm not sure what to do with them... The frogspawn may be getting too much flow... maybe a video will help? Can do that tomorrow..

Easy way to tell. The frogspawn and hammer are extremely similar and this applies to both.

Should be laying sideways at an upward angle. The tentacles should flow around softly and never whip around. They should be able to move in all directions at all time. If they flow in one direction they will not be happy. Most LPS prefer a low to moderate indirect flow. They can be fairly slow to grab food and if it is whisking by they may never feed. Phyto is fine but also try others. I recently started to add micro-vert by Kent Marine and noticed that some of my coral grow better now. By usiing a variety of foods you can feed them in a variety of ways. It is important to underfeed them. They need to get a good portion of their nutrition through natural filter feeding. Aiding with liquid foods is just a boost for them.

 

[saltjohnswharf]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15259515#post15259515 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by atxryan
my frogspawn has done much better since I put it in the sand. also, it is hard to tell how much the skeleton has grown since the poloyp generally govers the base.

Mine is very small and in the sand now as well. It is between two rock structures and seems to be able to feed easier. It also looks nicer and is kept a safe distance from corals that would be unable to defend themselves from the frogspawns sting.

 

[chatyak]

Hmm.. I have my frogspawn up on a rock and the same with my hammer...

 

[chatyak]

I just took a couple videos... am uploading..

 

[chatyak]

 

[saltjohnswharf]

Are those ricordea on oeyster shells? Judging by the vid I would just move the powerheads a little. It does not look like they are too unhappy. Though they are quite small. Should start growing before long. Check the bone and see if the top near the polyp looks fleshy.

 

[chatyak]

Just ricordea on a rock Where should I move the vortechs too? And check the top of the coral for fleshy material?

 

[saltjohnswharf]

I will send you a photo of the flesh tomorrow. I am going to be logging off for the day pretty soon. By the way the light looks pretty blue. http://www.dailymotion.com/user/saltjohnswharf Click on one of the videos there. The light there is 2 10K 175 watt moguls and a 96 watt dual actinics. Gives a rough idea of what it looks like. Perhaps not as blue as you may like but I like it. Some T5 users may try to chime in with mumbo jumbo about bulb combos and how they grow this or that. Just ignore it. From personal experience and scientific evidence, halide is better. Leave T5's or PCs to supplement the halide.

 

[heller792]

are any of your corals basing out, do you see any calcium growing at the base. I started with sps and th be honest they didnt gain any height at all to start with but just based out like this one

Then someone recommended that i changed to 10k for better growth and everything bloomed. I kept going on and on about no growth but luckily I had took some pics of my sps to look back on and was surprised by how much they had grown.
Also im only using the cheapest bulbs avalible, we have a guy who posts worldwide and his lamps are only 27 dollors but im not sure if thats cheap for you guys or not. We did a par test on these lamps and they beet iwasaki and blv hands down.

Dave