How to get them to fill in

[Kolkri]

Do I have to keep buying corals to fill my tank? I am tired of looking at all the blank places but I also am tired of spending money on mushrooms ect that don't grow?
5 gallon a week water change.
superlux light set at 13

Mostly mushrooms and a few others but it is the mushrooms I want to grow. I have one that I got over a year ago that turned into four but has stopped. My rica has never grown at all.
No additives and I have not taken my water up in a while to be tested. I only have api test kits.

Any tips?

 

[71xlch]

Feed them and they will grow. I used to feed all my ric's once or twice a week and they multiple

 

[vhuang168]

Buy Zoas n Palys. Most grow fast and will cover rocks easily. Don't really need tons of lights either. And don't need high Alk or any Ca supplements.

 

[Kolkri]

I have a couple Palys. Zoas always die on me for some reason. I order some fast growing "pest" corals so maybe that well fill in some.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Get a Kenya Tree.

Most softies love what I call dirty water, this is water high in nitrates and phosphates. What are your parameters of your water?

 

[organism]

imo patience is the best way to get a tank to fill in nicely. The gaps get solved through time, if you start putting corals everywhere to fill up space then once they really start growing in the one with the strongest sting will eventually overgrow the others. One of my friends just "finalized" his SPS tank it looks like a bunch of rock with little piles of sticks here and there, but in a year it's gonna be fire. Gotta think long-term

 

[NS Mike D]

My tank is a year old.

I have the API for Amonia/Nitrate/Nitrite/Phos testing (Red Sea for Calc/Alk/Mg). The API continues to read zeros, although my tank is overstocked and over fed, so softies do well in my tank. I trust what my the tank is telling me over what the API tests are saying - I presume I have temporary "dirty water spikes" after feeding that are not being picked up by the API tests.

As for mushrooms, my red ones are the same dime sized and have never split since putting them in. The green split and are a mix of nickel size to half dollar. My blue spilt, the original is about 4" now and the babies are quarter sized. They all look healthy.

My recordia is healthy and about 20% larger that when I got it, but no signs of splitting


My GSP is expanding, the kenya is triple in size, the torch is just hanging in there and Ducan when into hiding for a month now. Zoas are colonizing nicely


What does all this mean?

1. I don't rely 100% on the test kits and look to the tank and common sense.

2. Take you time to see what is doing well and what isn't and stock according to that. but slowly.

3. They are living animals and even is one coral is doing well in your tank, another identical may not respond the same way.



I'm also considering some artificial decorative corals as a way to fill in the blank spots while I wait for nature to do her thing. Why not? Better than dropping hundreds on corals that don't make it.

 

[H2OCulture]

Good coral food such as Roti-Rich, given to each mushroom with an eye-dropper, works quite well. Tease them with a little food at first to cause a feeding response. Look up "Mesenterial Filaments", these are what you should see around the mouth of the mushroom. In mushrooms, they look like a bunch of worms or coils. Make sure you get a drop of food in these coils since that's the most efficient way for them to eat. They should grow well for you after that!

 

[vashawn]

Can i ask what exactly do u guys feed zoos or mush?
I squirt some mysis/brine on the top of zoos but what about zoos?

 

[10GNano4Me]

A mixture of LRS Nano with Reef Roids, or Coral Frenzy. Coral Frenzy .5mm pellets every week on Saturdays.