Growth

[Dave VG]

I bought some corals from Nate about two weeks ago. They seem to be growing at thae bases already. I figured i would not see any growth for atleast a month. Still no good polyp extension tho

 

[jacksonpt]

What type of corals? Are they growing at the bases, or just attaching themselves to rocks?

 

[nwrogers]

I am guessing you are referring to the SPS corals right? SPS corals will grow with or without polyp extension if they are provided with enough calcium, alkalinity, and flow. Many SPS specifically acropora will encrust on the rock before they will show any significant growth so this is good news if they are encrusting. If your corals are not extending their polyps it could be a sign that one of your fish is picking on them. It could also be a sign of bad water quality but if you have any angelfish in there I would bet it is them and not anything to do with your water. I have heard people say that they have poor PE but they never see their angelfish picking on anything. I would suspect that is because every time your fish sees you it thinks you are going to feed it so when you’re present it appears to be very well behaved. Back when I had two angelfish in my tank I had no PE and I never saw any fish picking on my corals until one day when I came up with an idea. I sneaked into the room, my wife thought I was crazy but what is new, and I hid behind my dining room table to watch the tank. The fish didn’t know I was hiding there and what I saw was amazing! Those two damn angelfish were beating the hell out of corals! It was like the craziest coral polyp eating rampage I had ever seen. They were taking about a bite per second! It was one right after the next. What’s strange was they knew to stop when I stood up. They were moved within a few days and my PE returned within a few hours. You may not be experiencing the same thing but it is worth looking into IMO. Regardless of if your fish are picking on these corals if you have good water quality your corals will grow. They may grow faster if nothing was picking on them but then again they may not I can’t say for sure. Anyway just thought I would share my ideas…

 

[Dave VG]

Yes nate i have a coral beauty and i have seen it near some corals as if it was maybe nipping. but i have never seen it happen. i will check it out. thanks. and by the way your wife was right lol(I sneaked into the room, my wife thought I was crazy) sps jacksonpt

 

[fish1219]

Glad to here you getting growth in the SPSs. Mine also started at the base also before they started to take off. Some of the SPSs tend to grow like weeds. My Green slimer (from DrBronx) was a 1" frag and after 2 years is about 18" tall with approx 20 branches.

On a seperate note and not trying to steal the thread can anyone explain the tools/etc to reduce pictures (JPEGS) to a size fit for upload. I have a 5Meg point and shoot but the picts are to big to upload.

 

[stressed damsel]

Besides being picked upon, polyp extention can be attribuated to starving corals also . My corals have excellent color and growth The polyps do extend a bit but not all the way out except at night. I feed a little on the heavy side and they dont seem to be hurting rom the excessive urtients. Most people with Bare Bottom tanks have hugh polyp extention due to the fact they are starving thier corals. The reason a coral extends it polyps is so it can feed, and most on a reef wil not extend till the evenings.