I have had a nice sized frag Red Planet for about 7 months now and I have not seen any growth at all from the branches. What is happening and doing quite well is the frag has grown down the plug and growing across the rock. Is this normal? I know every frag and every tank is different but should I expect at some point to see the frag start growing upwards, away from the rock?
Red Planet...
- Thread starter eg8r210
- Start date
Bizzle Wizzle
New member
Mine is basing out fast, I've only had it 9 days... It's under 8tube Ati. Medium to high flow.
I also have frags and corals that grow slow, just depends how happy they are in that position.
Some throw a big base down to feel happy then shoot up....
I also have frags and corals that grow slow, just depends how happy they are in that position.
Some throw a big base down to feel happy then shoot up....
Keithcorals
New member
How long are your lights on?
Mine started branching when I moved my lights from 8 to 10 hrs a day
Mine started branching when I moved my lights from 8 to 10 hrs a day
Flow = Pretty high
Lights = Blue + T5 on for 12 hours and MH on for 6 hours (with the caveat that I have trouble controlling temp and they turn off it temp gets too high).
My T5s are pretty old but then again they were fine way back when I bought the frag. I still need to replace them. The MH are a few months old. Everything else has been growing pretty well and I have a mixed reef. My SPS are slower growing than anything else but that isn't the problem. I just wondering if the Red Planet will continue to spread out like a monti and stay flat or does it eventually some time down the road start growing up.
Lights = Blue + T5 on for 12 hours and MH on for 6 hours (with the caveat that I have trouble controlling temp and they turn off it temp gets too high).
My T5s are pretty old but then again they were fine way back when I bought the frag. I still need to replace them. The MH are a few months old. Everything else has been growing pretty well and I have a mixed reef. My SPS are slower growing than anything else but that isn't the problem. I just wondering if the Red Planet will continue to spread out like a monti and stay flat or does it eventually some time down the road start growing up.
Keithcorals
New member
They seem to do different things for defferent people but it is normal for them to encrust before starting to branch. I really do believe mine start branching because of the longer light cycle. My white light was moved from 6 to 8 hr a day with the blues going from 8 to 10. In two weeks I had several sps that had been encrusting for months start to branch. Two of them being red planets.
I could be wrong and I'm sure someone will be happy to tell me so but nothing else was changed and it seems unlikely it was a coincidence the 5+ corals that had been doing nothing but encrusting for months started branching withen two weeks of the longer lighting.
Hope that helps
I could be wrong and I'm sure someone will be happy to tell me so but nothing else was changed and it seems unlikely it was a coincidence the 5+ corals that had been doing nothing but encrusting for months started branching withen two weeks of the longer lighting.
Hope that helps
chessmanmark
New member
I bought one from Saltwaterfish a few years ago before I moved. I mounted the frag high in the tank under 250w MH in a Lumenbright pendent. When I got the frag it had that nice green and red two tone hue. It quickly shed it's green and grew branches immediately.
I've since moved to a new house and my tank crashed. With the rebuild I tried mounting it almost at the bottom of my tank in a shaded area. It's mostly green with brownish red polyps. It has been basing for about 6 months. It is wrapping itself around the rock and spreading toward an area with more light. I think showing patience will pay off as I would like it to retain the green and red two tone appearance. FME I know how to keep it red. Now I want to see if I can retain the green hue as well.
I predict your frag will grow branches once it feels it has a sufficient base to support the growth it is shaping for the flow of your tank.
I've since moved to a new house and my tank crashed. With the rebuild I tried mounting it almost at the bottom of my tank in a shaded area. It's mostly green with brownish red polyps. It has been basing for about 6 months. It is wrapping itself around the rock and spreading toward an area with more light. I think showing patience will pay off as I would like it to retain the green and red two tone appearance. FME I know how to keep it red. Now I want to see if I can retain the green hue as well.
I predict your frag will grow branches once it feels it has a sufficient base to support the growth it is shaping for the flow of your tank.
Arkayology
Active member
Sometimes they will form a nice base before growing upwards. Just be patient.
Sisterlimonpot
Premium Member
I've had mine for over a year with very little growth and after about 10 month it finally started to shoot up it's now branching out, I expect it to grow fast now... hopefully....
afamousjohnson
Just Keep Swimming
Isn't the red planet a plating acro? Maybe it is looking for an edge to grow the plate off and up? I mounted mine hanging sideways and up off one of my shelves and its taken off.
Thanks for all the responses, it definitely gives me some hope that mine will hopefully one day grow upwards and start branching. The idea of creating a large enough base to handle the flow makes plenty of sense as far as theory. I will just leave it alone since it looks healthy and see what happens.
jroovers
New member
This is the one he speaks of... it has a base and then some! Colours are amazing though.
LOL, this is the whole point of my thread.
From what I am hearing they will grow up when they are ready. My is spreading across the rock and seems happy to do so. One day I hope it will grow upwards.
chessmanmark
New member
IME more light and they will turn red and grow outward. Less light and they will base and keep the green.
Here's a frag at the bottom of my tank as opposed to the picture from the top.
Here's a frag at the bottom of my tank as opposed to the picture from the top.
Useful_Idiot
Artificially Intelligent
Mine did not grow for the first year or more that I had it also. New tank upgrade and it took off, it now has ideal flow being across the tank from a mp40 within nothing in between them. Mine has hardly encrusted more than the ORA plug maybe because it's mounted on the edge of a rock and would have to encrust down into the shade? I have red fuzz algae all over my rock I didn't ps this pic.
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