Sps like watching paint dry!

[justy]

Hi wondering if anybody can shed some light on why my sps grow at such a slow rate.

Tank details 300ltr set up three years.
I have recently put on a 8 bulb ATI sunpower as i was using a led t5 hybrid but was convinced that was my problem.
But I have not had an explosion of growth that i had expected.
Tank parameters are stable two part with doser Kh 7.8 Ca 420 sg 35
I have quite a lot of filtration, live rock, 2 ltr of siporax, 4 ltr of matrix and i use aquaforest products. No3 has ran around 5ppm for the best part of two years since adding the siporax and matrix and carbon dosing nitrates fell to 0.25 Po4 runs around 0.08 to 0.04
I recently wondered if that was the issue so added three more fish and started to feed more to see if that will increase growth.
Does any body have any thoughts what would hold growth back.

Many thanks Justin

 

[Pife]

Pictures would help and a list of your daily /weekly /monthly routine. How many fish and what they are. How much and often you feed, ect.

 

[kevin_e]

Have any comparative photos? SPS growth is like watching paint dry.

 

[Bdial]

What's your magnesium? How much flow in tank? There are a million variables for growth.

 

[justy]

Fish list
Yellow tang
2 cromis
Algae blend
Anthias
2 wrasse
2 cardinals
Perchlet
I now feed 1 and a half cubes of frozen food a day.
Coral e 2 drops a day
Also red plankton and rotifers a couple of times a week.
I run carbon passively.
Magnesium is 1360

is there a tutorial on how to upload photos? I tried to post a picture but failed.

 

[kevin_e]

Try from Tapatalk. The desktop version doesnt allow modern image sizes to upload for some reason.

 

[rovster]

How big? The smaller the frag the slower it grows once they get s certain size they grow too fast lol. If you have a lot of "vendor sized" frags it can take a year or two before they are the size of a fist for example. YMMV.

 

[karimwassef]

What's your PAR? What's your temperature? How much do you feed?

 

[justy]

Hi thanks for your comments, generally the frags I've added recently are basing out but slowly. Small colony's that have been in the tank for a couple of years are completely dormant.
I have milka stylo that has all growing tips and is growing well. But I have a hystrix that has not grown for over a year.

Keep the suggestions coming please.

 

[justy]

I presume that I have enough par ati sunpower 8 x 24 watts
Temperature is 78
Thanks

 

[karimwassef]

Don't assume. Your corals aren't growing. Borrow/rent a probe

 

[Pife]

Pictures would help and a list of your daily /weekly /monthly routine.

How far off the water is your light. What bulb combo? How old are the lamps? What is your lighting schedule? What temperature is your tank? How do you measure the temperature?

 

[tom obrecht]

Lol! I felt the same way when I started. Once parameters get in range and flow/light are adequate I think you will be surprised how fast dos can grow. Not all species are the same but many do grow fairly fast.

 

[Myka]

Upload a photo to either Flickr or Photobucket and then paste the URL here. Photos would really help.

You mention an 8x24W fixture, what are the dimensions of the tank?

 

[C.Eymann]

Hi thanks for your comments, generally the frags I've added recently are basing out but slowly. Small colony's that have been in the tank for a couple of years are completely dormant.
I have milka stylo that has all growing tips and is growing well. But I have a hystrix that has not grown for over a year.

Keep the suggestions coming please.

Pics would help,
Sometimes lightly chipping or clipping some of the tips can help spur new growth on "dormant" SPS in my experience. Also agree with what has been said about that in general frags grow slower than colonies.

 

[karimwassef]

well... frags tend to be more resilient to change while colonies may grow faster. However, once frags find that conditions are stable, they actually grow very fast.

 

[justy]

How far off the water is your light. What bulb combo? How old are the lamps? What is your lighting schedule? What temperature is your tank? How do you measure the temperature?

Light is 6" off the water tank is 24" deep x 24" × 30"
The light fits the footprint of the tank perfectly.
All lamps are new, lights on for a total of 10 hours.
Tank temp 78

I am an experienced reefer believe it or not!! Been keeping corals for over 20 years, but don't remember ever struggling this much to get good consistent growth.
I'm sure it's something to do with nutrient cycling.
The tank was fairly unstable for the first couple of years due to messing with LED's and getting the dosing right ( traditionally I used a calcium reactor)

 

[karimwassef]

have you tried new frags?

sometimes, a coral becomes "unhappy" with instability and will refuse to grow until it knows things are safe. It's reserving its resources to deal with the next batch of crazy coming its way instead of using it to grow...

New frags may be more willing to trust that you have things under control - don't mean to anthropomorphize so much, but it's more fun that way.

 

[justy]

:dance:Sounds like a plan! and I think there is evidence to support it as the last three frags I put in are basing out and the SSC is putting some new tips out. Maybe an excuse for a shopping trip :dance:

Thanks

 

[twon8]

It was asked above but I will ask again, what is the flow in tank?


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