Growth problems

[CheckitOut]

I have 105g sps tank and for some reason I get no growth. I have awesome color but no growth. I've had some of these frags for like 1 1/2 now and they have only grown maybe a 1" in that time period. My tank dimensions are 48"x18"x29". I have two 400w halide with radium 20k using the dimmable galaxy ballast. I also do weekly water changes, 25gallons per week. Please help.

 

[borcu]

i dont know additives or your values, you can try kalkwasser a bit. or maybe its time to change your salt. and give some time frags for addaptation. dont touch and dont move much.

 

[nvdiz]

"1 1/2" inches in a month? or year?

 

[seminolecpa]

Probably a dumb question but do you add anything to your tank AFA CA, KH Mg or do you just rely on water changes?

What are your tank params.. salinity, KH, MG, CA, PO4 etc.

 

[CheckitOut]

"1 1/2" inches in a month? or year?

Sorry I left it out. I get that growth every year.

 

[CheckitOut]

Probably a dumb question but do you add anything to your tank AFA CA, KH Mg or do you just rely on water changes?

What are your tank params.. salinity, KH, MG, CA, PO4 etc.

I do I use the aquavitro chemicals. My salinity is at 1.025

 

[Logzor]

My vote is photo inhibition. Corals can only soak up so much energy - after that it actually damages the tissue of the coral. Your corals could be spending most of their energy on repairs rather than expansion.

I'm not sure how long you are running the halides or if they are dimmed or not but try running them only 4 hours a day.

 

[CheckitOut]

I run them for 8hrs a day

 

[schroder_reef]

Have you thought about switching the bulbs out to a 10k or 14k? I wouldn't think 8 hours would inhibit growth. How high are your lights off the water?

 

[Dejavu]

Probably a dumb question but do you add anything to your tank AFA CA, KH Mg or do you just rely on water changes?

What are your tank params.. salinity, KH, MG, CA, PO4 etc.

This values are really needed to help.

 

[Mattik]

This values are really needed to help.

Agree...need to know or there is little we can do to help.

I will say that once I added my ATO with Kalk and started monitoring to keep dKH and CA stable, my mille's started taking off.

A couple of other things I have noted. Adding chemi-pure a month ago seems to have had positive influence on growth. I assume I had some slightly high PO4 that stunted growth, and with its removal I have seen improvement.

Also, I used to run 20K XM's. I swtiched to 14K Phoenix, and like both the color and the growth much more. I had run the 20K for about 2 years, and it never really resulted in growth. After the switch to 14K, things picked up a bit, and following the chemi-pure (elite), things have really begun to look up.

 

[CheckitOut]

Ok I tested my water and it came as the following: Salinty-1.026, Temp-79to80, ph-8.5, Alk-9, Calcium-425, mag- 1250, Nitrite and Nitrate- 0. Should I change my bulb out to a lower K to get growth, because I have such deep tank? I have radiums and read that the Giesemann coral 14.5k have a much higher par level on my ballast but I worry about the look of the tank, if it would be to yellow. Here is a link to the test of those bulbs Product Review:http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/6/review

 

[seminolecpa]

My tank is just as deep as yours with 400W Radiums (5.5 hrs per bulb staggered for a total of 7 hrs MH light time) and I have no problems with growth.

How bout phosphates? PH is a little high at 8.5. When you say these frags have only grown 1" are you talking about just a few corals or all of them? what kind of flow do you have in the tank?

 

[CheckitOut]

My tank is just as deep as yours with 400W Radiums (5.5 hrs per bulb staggered for a total of 7 hrs MH light time) and I have no problems with growth.

How bout phosphates? PH is a little high at 8.5. When you say these frags have only grown 1" are you talking about just a few corals or all of them? what kind of flow do you have in the tank?

I did not test for phosphates, but I do change out my chemi-pure every month to help out. No I wish it was like one or two frags, its all of them. For flow I have two vortech mp40 and a eheim 1262 for my return pump.

 

[Mattik]

Here are the things I would do:

1) Keep checking those params daily for a week or two. Something could be swinging around on you and stressing the corals a bit. Take a couple of a.m. and a couple of P.M. readings each week to get a handle on intraday swings.
2) Replace your bulb. You don't state the age, but you refer to growth over 1.5 years. If the bulb is that old, it probably needs replaced anyway. Even if it is not that old, it wouldn't hurt to switch it out. I would recommend 14K's
3) Back the light cycle down just a bit (especially if you switch to 14K). Maybe start at 6hours to see what that does. It won't hurt anything for sure, and it just might help.
4) make sure your flow is high enough. I believe your vortech's are adjustable, and max out at 3000 GPH. If they are on a wave maker, your total flow may be a bit low (eheim is ~900gph, but with bulkhead loss, lets say 500gph). That means you may only be getting around 3500gph total, but you really need more like 45-55X tank volume worth of GPH total flow. So, mininum 4500 GPH...ideally a bit higher.

Also, if you do not have the Mp's on a wave maker, try adding one. The random flow really helps with PE, so I'm guessing that makes the corals happy....and happy corals are growing corals.

 

[seminolecpa]

You should check yur phosphates, though if your colors are good I am doubting that may be a problem.

How do you top off for evaporation?

How do you add your chemicals? Do you dump dose or do you use dosers? How often do you dose chemicals?

 

[elijaher]

What type coral you have in the tank and placement that you in the tank ie high low? Are you using two part solution or just salt change?

 

[CheckitOut]

You should check yur phosphates, though if your colors are good I am doubting that may be a problem.

How do you top off for evaporation?

How do you add your chemicals? Do you dump dose or do you use dosers? How often do you dose chemicals?

Twice a week, I dose using aquavitro liquids and seachem powders.

 

[CheckitOut]

Here are the things I would do:

1) Keep checking those params daily for a week or two. Something could be swinging around on you and stressing the corals a bit. Take a couple of a.m. and a couple of P.M. readings each week to get a handle on intraday swings.
2) Replace your bulb. You don't state the age, but you refer to growth over 1.5 years. If the bulb is that old, it probably needs replaced anyway. Even if it is not that old, it wouldn't hurt to switch it out. I would recommend 14K's
3) Back the light cycle down just a bit (especially if you switch to 14K). Maybe start at 6hours to see what that does. It won't hurt anything for sure, and it just might help.
4) make sure your flow is high enough. I believe your vortech's are adjustable, and max out at 3000 GPH. If they are on a wave maker, your total flow may be a bit low (eheim is ~900gph, but with bulkhead loss, lets say 500gph). That means you may only be getting around 3500gph total, but you really need more like 45-55X tank volume worth of GPH total flow. So, mininum 4500 GPH...ideally a bit higher.

Also, if you do not have the Mp's on a wave maker, try adding one. The random flow really helps with PE, so I'm guessing that makes the corals happy....and happy corals are growing corals.

Well the vortech's I really not sure if they are really running right. I have one with a green light and the other with a white light. As far as the return eheim really has a hard time make enough flow to go through the chiller and then into the tank. So should I get some more powerheads?

 

[fishguy597]

Well the vortech's I really not sure if they are really running right. I have one with a green light and the other with a white light. As far as the return eheim really has a hard time make enough flow to go through the chiller and then into the tank. So should I get some more powerheads?

Are you saying you are running one pump for your chiller and return to your tank? I would think you'd loose a ton of head that way. I have a deticated pump for my chiller and one for each return. I doubt that's what's causing your problem. But I like redundancy in case a pump goes down I'm not up a creek. Check out the rio hf series they are cheap , small, and have gph head.