Define "rapid growth"

[toothybugs]

Hey guys, point of curiosity -

I picked up some LPS for my birthday a month ago to spice up a softie tank, and in doing my homework I have heard several times that my 2 LPS specimens, a pair of candy cane polyps and a 4-head stalk of frogspawn, will exhibit "relatively rapid growth" in good conditions.

Just curious what that means - I've never kept LPS before. I know there's nothing hard and fast here, I'm just wondering if I should expect a new polyp/ head every month, couple months, etc. until things start to launch once it is better established.

Tank params (most recent ranges over the last month):

Salinity - 1.025-26
Temps - 77-78
NH3/ NO2 - 0
NO3/ PO4 - undetectable (I need a better test, I know)
Calc - 420-450
Mag - 1260-1350
Alk - 8.5-10

40B lit by a 250W 14K HQI and supplemental T5s (4x39W) set up last February, >60lbs of rockwork

Had a recent outbreak of brownish-green fuzz but I think that was a result of running my lights longer than usual and some dying macro releasing nutrients at the same time. I only have to polish my glass every 8-10 days to get rid of a little fuzz to crispen up the look a bit. My tank is rather healthy, so, please, roughly what is "fast" in LPS terms?

Thanks
NG

 

[m0nkie]

not sure if considered "rapid"

I have a branching hammer that had 5 heads. Been in my tank for 3 months now and I see 4 new heads popping out.

my zoas grow 1-2 heads every few weeks..

 

[Turbo4toy]

I notice that most my corals grow slowly at first then exponentially take off from there. As it gets bigger you have more branches or polyps all sprouting new heads.

 

[aggie13reef]

I have had a branching frogspawn that started as 3 heads. In about a month and a half 2 of the heads have split making the total 5 heads. I would say the most "rapid" growth for me has been the length of the current heads, they have added a good inch in this time period. I never used to monitor calcium just base it off water changes, now that I am dosing I hope that my growth picks up a little. The growth of small pieces is probably my favorite part of this hobby.

 

[Stevenliu9]

I really haven't find the reason for LPS growth rate, but I know that my branching hammer went from 2 heads to 15 heads in the course of 6 months, but then it kinda pulsed there for a while and didn't grow a whole lot more since with everything else in the tank pretty constant.

 

[bullit]

Got a Duncan from a fellow reefer about two months ago started off with two heads now has eight that I can count maybe more I can't see in the back

 

[Monchompa]

I have had my 2 head candycane frag for about a month and its already starting to grow a 3rd head. I'll post a pic when my lights come on tomorrow.

 

[SloppyWhenWet]

It means if the coral settles in from flow/light/feeding/water perms. etc. etc. then it will grow quickly. I try to get the best color from my corals and let it be. I like to look at old pictures of the frags to really get an idea of how well it is doing. As far as counting heads and such it can be hard for things that need to build calcium shells. Small heads may show up but can take much more time to get it growing a calcium skeleton.

 

[billdogg]

I took photos a year ago when I upgraded to a 120 and then spent a little too much at a frag swap. I took comparison shots at 1 year and plan on doing it at least yearly for this point on. I was amazed at how some frags had gotten huge - from the size of my thumbnail to several inches across in that (relatively) short time span. A duncan has grown from 4 heads to well over 20, my Elegance has at least doubled in size, Frogspawn and torch have done well - more and larger heads, to name a few.

Some of the SPS have done just as well. A couple - most notably a red setosa has grown, but not very much.

The clam has done very well also.

hth