No coral growth? Please help

[foundnemo11]

I have had little to no coral growth jn months. Even my star polyps wont spread to a rock i have near by. My hammersplit a head a while back but that has been it. I have about 8 sps , 3 different mushroom, hammer , torch , brown and orange zoas, maze brain( hasent grown barely at all in the 8 month ive had it. And a few others.

My nitrates are lowmaybe 5ppm before a water change
Calcium is 400-450
Ph 8
Kh7
Amonia phosphates and other bad ones all 0

My temp is between 78-80
Lights run 10-10 with daylights 11-8 lunars 10-8
They are aquatic life t5 fixture 4x54
I feed fish 1-2 tines a day and corals about 1 a week

Not sure what else to put here please help me though

 

[Anemone]

What size tank, and what depth are the corals? What test kits do you use for calcium?

Kevin

 

[Khemul]

How are you judging growth, eyeball and memory or comparing pictures?

 

[jp634]

i would look at your carbon source. I had the same problem and started researching about carbon dosing. I now us reef biofuel by brightwells and i think its starting to work i also increased my water change to 20 gal every month instead of every 3 months

 

[foundnemo11]

I am using API test kit. It is a 75 gallon ( 18 inches deep i think) i do us rodi . I alsodo water changes at least 1 a month at about 20 percent

 

[zoafarm]

I few things come to mind.

1. 5ppm nitrates and 0 phosphates -- you feed fish twice a day, coral once a week and change water once a month. This seems to good to be true. Do you have good coraline algae growth? Are any other algae growing?

2. Water Changes -- I personally like the idea of bi-monthly water change--10 to 15% each time. I have a couple tanks. I tried the monthly water changes with my 48 gallon tank; however, the overall tank seemed to appreciate bi-monthly more and saw noticeable change in growth of my candy cane corals.

3. Lights -- I don't know what kind of SPS you are trying to grow or your placement, but IMHO a 4 bulb T5 is on the lower end of light needed -- a 6 to 8 bulb is really needed. I use to have a 6 bulb T5 over my 72 gallon -- growth of my SPS was marginal at best. When I switched to LEDs, my SPS exploded with growth.

4. Circulation - Finally, what type of circulation do you have?


This is a progression of my 72 gal tank starting under 6 bulbs T5 and ending under LEDs. The only changes made to this tank are lighting and circulation (added 2 additional powerheads). Of course, I added coral and 4 fish over the year and a half.

Dec 2011 - 6 Months after water was put in tank-- T5 lighting (12 hour cycle)

Mar 2012 - 9 Months after water was put in tank -- LEDs were added the day this picture was taken.

Dec 2012 - 18 Months after water was put in tank -- LEDs on 9 months

 

[foundnemo11]

Yeah that looks good. I know a guy who has tons of sps and they grow crazy fast under the same light fixture i have. I have montipora birdsnest a milli and a couple other of te easier sps corals. I dont have any algae other than in macro in my fuge. When i feed i dethaw the frozen in a cup with a strainer then i dump the strainer in leaving the water that it thawed in out of the tank. I get a little on the glass but thats about it. I have ok coraline growth. My rocks mostly have it. Its not growing on the glass though. I also lost a lot with my sea urchin i had. I got rid of it though.

I am really stumped anout this. It doesnt seem to make sense. Maybe i need more flow. I feel like i have a decent amount. I have 2 power heads with approx 950 retrn. Not sure the size of the power heads but everything moves and seems good.

 

[zoafarm]

So, not lights, not chemistry, not flow... hmmm? I'd be stump as well. So, it's one of two things.

1. Coral is not growing as fast as you would like and maybe it's just a matter of patience. In this case, just wait and time will prove valuable.

or

2. One or more of the above (light, chemistry, or flow) is not right for your tank.

If it were my tank, I would first try increasing the frequency of water changes. If that didn't seem to work, I would look into adding more light. Sorry, I couldn't help more. I sincerely hope you resolve your problem. When you solve it, please let us know what it was.

 

[foundnemo11]

Thanks zoa farm, I do plan to upgrade flow to an mp40 in the spring/summer, also maybe your right , maybe it is just taking longer for me. I will just wait patiently to see. Hopefully it'll take off soon!