Question regarding growth of soft coral.

[.Chris.]

I find I'm having some trouble with growth on some of my softies. There is plenty of information regarding the needs and requirements for growing SPS and LPS, but I am having trouble finding information on soft coral.

I'm not having too much trouble with my blue clove polyps, GSP, or zoas. I imagine they could be growing quicker, but they're at least growing noticeably.

On the flip side, my Kenya tree, gorgonian, corky sea fingers and ricordea muchrooms aren't doing so well. They're alive, but they're not growing much or at all. I find I even have trouble with getting the Kenya tree to open fully.

Can you give me some tips and pointers on the general requirements of these corals?

My system:

Approximately 75g system, in a 57G rimless display.
Eshopps PSK-100 Internal.
Reefbreeders Superlux, running at 100% on CH1 and 50% on CH2.
Jebao RW-4 and RW-8.
Jebao DC-9000 return.
The sole media I use is ChemiPure Blue.

I feed a mix of rotifers, cyclops, Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast, Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast 3x weekly.

I confess I haven't tested my parameters in a while, though I took a water sample before and after my waterchange today and plan to update this thread with the results of both tests.

I am using regular Instant Ocean salt, and do approximately 20g of waterchange weekly.

I'm currently stocked with a Leuco Wrasse, pair of Black Ocellaris and a small Hippo Tang. And for the love of god, don't fish police me on the wrasse and tang, because it'll fall on deaf ears.

 

[taricha]

Interested to see advice here. Using regular IO instead of reef crystals is an unexpected choice. I thought gorgs sponges and even non skeleton corals used calcium for structure.

 

[PfenWendt]

My only advice is pretty much what you know...Test your water and go from there, From what i noticed after i added some softies into my tank they were all open and great at first but then any slight water change they'll close up a bit. It's to the point now that when my toadstool closes I know i need a water change. I do not personally have any of the ones your having issues with but have done a lot of research on the kenya tree specifically and they are pretty hardy and will grow fast after they have gotten use to the new water params.

Then again I myself am fairly new to reefs so i wouldn't use any of my advice over more experienced people

 

[.Chris.]

Interested to see advice here. Using regular IO instead of reef crystals is an unexpected choice. I thought gorgs sponges and even non skeleton corals used calcium for structure.

See, I wasn't aware of their use of calcium.

My argument for using regular IO is because it's very inexpensive, and I use it for my SPS tank, but with my SPS tank I have a dosing system.

Unfortunately I got sidetracked so I didn't have time to test, but I have a water sample from before my waterchange and I'll test tomorrow.

If anything is too low, I'll start dosing on that tank as well. Probably not with a pump, but manually as needed, if needed.

 

[civics14]

For soft corals - regular IO is perfectly fine. I seen many tanks locally that keep only soft corals and use the regular IO without dosing anything.

Your light setting though - 100% on 1 channel and 50% on the other? Seems a bit high. What optics are you using?

I have a mixed tank with LPS, SPS, and some softies running Two RapidLED Onyx (100 degree) over a 36"x18"x18" tank and I'm running at max 60% on blues, 30% on white, and 20% on red/uv. My softies are along the bottom, LPS along the middle, and SPS on top.

 

[3dees]

I changed from RC back to IO. my zoas don't do well with RC. I have mostly softies with a few lps and I never feed. they get whatever my fish get. maybe too much light? I have two Chinese fixtures and only run white at 50% blues at 75% on my 48x24x24 tank.

 

[.Chris.]

For soft corals - regular IO is perfectly fine. I seen many tanks locally that keep only soft corals and use the regular IO without dosing anything.

Your light setting though - 100% on 1 channel and 50% on the other? Seems a bit high. What optics are you using?

I have a mixed tank with LPS, SPS, and some softies running Two RapidLED Onyx (100 degree) over a 36"x18"x18" tank and I'm running at max 60% on blues, 30% on white, and 20% on red/uv. My softies are along the bottom, LPS along the middle, and SPS on top.

They're 120 degrees. It's also mounted about 14 inches from the tank to get the right spread. I had it at 60/30 for the longest time, but I think increasing the light might help with growth.

 

[.Chris.]

n>1ppm before and after W/C
p~0.04 before and after W/C
KH~6.5 before and 7.2 after W/C
Ca~375 before and 410 after W/C
Mg~1280 before and 1350 after W/C

All tests performed with Red Sea Pro test kits.

From this I'm going to assume that my alk has been too low. I'll probably begin a manual dosing regimen 3x weekly. I don't have much Coraline in the tank either, so I figured I might use Purple Up to tackle both problems at once.

 

[PfenWendt]

did you test ammonia and ph? those I find mine to be most sensitive to...

 

[.Chris.]

did you test ammonia and ph? those I find mine to be most sensitive to...

I did not because if I'm having ammonia in my tank at this stage I may as well rip it down and start fresh.

As for pH I'm not concerned with that whatsoever. Whatever my pH is doesn't affect me as I care mostly about stability in that regard. A stable pH is preferable to a fluctuating pH. So even if my pH is too "low" or too "high" it won't matter as I will not affect a change to "correct" it.

 

[civics14]

Even your numbers aren't terrible. So, regarding the growth, is it just slow? If that's the case, I would recommend to just wait and be patient. My tank was up and running for 6 months with almost no growth whatsoever on all my frags. Then all of a sudden, everything just started growing like crazy. Didn't change a thing because I've already read stability & patience is key.

I did not because if I'm having ammonia in my tank at this stage I may as well rip it down and start fresh.

As for pH I'm not concerned with that whatsoever. Whatever my pH is doesn't affect me as I care mostly about stability in that regard. A stable pH is preferable to a fluctuating pH. So even if my pH is too "low" or too "high" it won't matter as I will not affect a change to "correct" it.

 

[.Chris.]

Even your numbers aren't terrible. So, regarding the growth, is it just slow? If that's the case, I would recommend to just wait and be patient. My tank was up and running for 6 months with almost no growth whatsoever on all my frags. Then all of a sudden, everything just started growing like crazy. Didn't change a thing because I've already read stability & patience is key.

Unless I'm crazy, my gorg and corky sea fingers haven't grown whatsoever.

 

[PfenWendt]

I did not because if I'm having ammonia in my tank at this stage I may as well rip it down and start fresh.

As for pH I'm not concerned with that whatsoever. Whatever my pH is doesn't affect me as I care mostly about stability in that regard. A stable pH is preferable to a fluctuating pH. So even if my pH is too "low" or too "high" it won't matter as I will not affect a change to "correct" it.

I was just saying cause mine will get tempermental even with the slightest bit of ammonia.

Just throwing my opinions and thoughts out there.