Sps like watching paint dry!

[justy]

Sorry I have a jebao 25 and a tunze nano stream plus the return pump Ehiem1060. There is a fair bit of flow most polyps move around well. Although I think I could probably do with more.

 

[reefmutt]

have you had a very close look for pests?
sometimes red bugs will not kill a coral or reach plague levels but exist on the coral just enough to slow it down..

 

[justy]

have you had a very close look for pests?
sometimes red bugs will not kill a coral or reach plague levels but exist on the coral just enough to slow it down..

To be honest I do not check routinely due to funds I have stocked very slowly I also have two wrasse in the tank.
I have never noticed any pests or damage and I do stare at the corals very often.
I am fairly sure it's a lack of food and nutrients.
I am increasing input at the moment and watching carefully.
Many thanks for taking the time to comment.

 

[Piper27]

Check the smoother skin acros very close for any small bugs that could be irritating it. There are red, black, and other various "pest Pods" that are impossible to see unless looking for them that will slow growth a lot. Check your rodi unit maybe? How much and what are you carbon dosing?
There are pretty telltale signs that nutrients are holding back growth. What makes you think it's nutrients? What do your acros look like? Dark and not fully colored? Kinda pale? If nutrients are lacking things perk up pretty quick for most people when some nitrates are added. Could give you an idea if that is what's happening. But I agree pictures are the only way to help.

 

[rovster]

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.

This is so true lol!

 

[Bpb]

+1 on tiny frags taking forever to get going. Once something has encrusted and is able to put 2-3" on with multiple branches, it should be off to the races. But the little booger sized frags you may get from other hobbyists or boutique vendors will take a year to even sprout a few branch buds and encrust over the plug. That's why I hate buying those because you have to accept that you won't see dividends for a year if all things go well.

You mention you "recently" switched to the ATI lights. How recent is recently? I made the same switch and the growth among my larger/easier SPS colonies like stylophora and montipora was dramatic and shocking. Within one month of changing, Size has increased by roughly 15-20% and PE is phenominal. I expected that. But the 1" acro frags, encrusting, but their size basically guarantees it will be slow going at first. Even if everything is perfect, small frags just grow slow. Keep Alk stable, keep a bit of NO3 and PO4 present in the water. Keep the fish fat. Keep the temp in range and stable. keep the salinity stable and in range. Keep the bulbs fresh. keep the flow high and turbulent. Things will grow. But be realistic in expectations. Take monthly pictures of each frag as well. You'll notice small changes among the first few, and by the time you notice big changes, you'll no longer care to keep up the growth documenting experiment and will be more focused on fragging

 

[justy]

+1 on tiny frags taking forever to get going. Once something has encrusted and is able to put 2-3" on with multiple branches, it should be off to the races. But the little booger sized frags you may get from other hobbyists or boutique vendors will take a year to even sprout a few branch buds and encrust over the plug. That's why I hate buying those because you have to accept that you won't see dividends for a year if all things go well.

You mention you "recently" switched to the ATI lights. How recent is recently? I made the same switch and the growth among my larger/easier SPS colonies like stylophora and montipora was dramatic and shocking. Within one month of changing, Size has increased by roughly 15-20% and PE is phenominal. I expected that. But the 1" acro frags, encrusting, but their size basically guarantees it will be slow going at first. Even if everything is perfect, small frags just grow slow. Keep Alk stable, keep a bit of NO3 and PO4 present in the water. Keep the fish fat. Keep the temp in range and stable. keep the salinity stable and in range. Keep the bulbs fresh. keep the flow high and turbulent. Things will grow. But be realistic in expectations. Take monthly pictures of each frag as well. You'll notice small changes among the first few, and by the time you notice big changes, you'll no longer care to keep up the growth documenting experiment and will be more focused on fragging

Wise words thanks for your input I agree completely.
Thanks justin

 

[justy]

Quick update

To try and kick start growth I'm doing a factory reset!
I've stopped adding all AF products and iodine. And I am carrying out 20ltr water changes every week. I have never done wc on a regular basis, on average once a month. I'm still using the AF probiotic salt though.
I have done 4 x 20ltr, so far no obvious improvements.
I think I may have a few dormant acros as mentioned before, to test the theory i am looking for a larger piece of coral from another tank that is fast growing ie bali slimer.
I just wonder if something is out of wack? Over the last two months cyano has started to show up. Tank is three years old maybe detritus build up or an imbalance through carbon dosing? :headwally:

Thanks Justin

 

[justy]

Update.

A couple of recent additions are growing fairly well still have some acros that are dormant.
Finished doing intensive water changes a month ago and I am now adding AF products again.
A large blue staghorn has developed blistered flesh up and down its length not sure what has caused it but does seem to have slowed growth on this one particular coral.

Justin

 

[bif24701]

Sps like watching paint dry!

+1 on tiny frags taking forever to get going. Once something has encrusted and is able to put 2-3" on with multiple branches, it should be off to the races. But the little booger sized frags you may get from other hobbyists or boutique vendors will take a year to even sprout a few branch buds and encrust over the plug. That's why I hate buying those because you have to accept that you won't see dividends for a year if all things go well.

You mention you "recently" switched to the ATI lights. How recent is recently? I made the same switch and the growth among my larger/easier SPS colonies like stylophora and montipora was dramatic and shocking. Within one month of changing, Size has increased by roughly 15-20% and PE is phenominal. I expected that. But the 1" acro frags, encrusting, but their size basically guarantees it will be slow going at first. Even if everything is perfect, small frags just grow slow. Keep Alk stable, keep a bit of NO3 and PO4 present in the water. Keep the fish fat. Keep the temp in range and stable. keep the salinity stable and in range. Keep the bulbs fresh. keep the flow high and turbulent. Things will grow. But be realistic in expectations. Take monthly pictures of each frag as well. You'll notice small changes among the first few, and by the time you notice big changes, you'll no longer care to keep up the growth documenting experiment and will be more focused on fragging

This is me, everything is stable, just finished adding fish for awhile. Just got my nitrates and phosphate to show up, my pH is now stable and high. Light acclimation is complete. Flow is there now, added another 6105. Everything look great, a little pale some of them but good. Slow growth but I can tell it's there. Starting with mostly very small frags 1/2"-1" so I'm just happy now to finally see encrusting and growth tips.

I think you made a mistake in doing a "reset". I think it's wiser to keep things simple and stable. I'm adding nothing but Kalk, NOPOX, and food.

I felt there for a few months that I spent countless hours reading, researching, and discussing also over 5,000$ in equipment for a "cool" fish bowl. But now I look at my tank and the algae is gone, cured my pests, used a QT so all fish are healthy, corals have begun to grow, getting my reds, blues, purples and I see that I did good and this is going to be a hell of a system. I may never make TOM but I'll impress the hell out of anyone that comes see it. I'm proud of my "cool" fish bowel, lol.

Patience !!!!!!!!!

You can not buy it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[supscribe]

I feed often multiple times a week and when I do that I notice growth. When I don't I also notice less growth

 

[justy]

Update and help and advice needed DESPERATELY!

I am convinced that growth rates in my tank are not normal. As i have said before i am an experienced reefer of 30 years BUT...! As discussed in this thread earlier i am struggling.
As suggested in some recent replys stability is likely the cause.
But just to eliminate other possible causes could people comment on...
Metal contamination.. found a rusty impeller spindle on my tunze nano stream!

Cheap bulk balling salts..

Hydrogen sulfide in my siporax..

Trace element build up from dosing fauna marin balling lite trace elements..

I have ordered a triton test.

Many thanks Justin

 

[Piper27]

Can you share a picture of the tank? Blisters on a stag sound like hyperplasia and that happens to a lot of people when the big three are not balanced.
I would stop dosing any elements or metals that are not necessary, or that are "color enhancing" since these are better to use when things are growing very well and you want to shift colors a certain way. Maybe some stuff built up to a bad level, the Triton test will tell you something I am sure. Please share your results.
I am still confused at exactly what your trying to solve though. Can you please share pics and elaborate on what is exactly the issue?

 

[justy]

Hi thanks for the reply i am basically trying get to the bottom of very slow growth of acros in particular.
I used to grow acros for fun10 15 years ago under 10000k halides with t5 actinics.
But for some reason i have struggled in this tank that has now been set up for three years.
I can put a frag in the tank and it can sit there without basing out for a year!! Thats not normal!?
Ca 410-460 kh 7-8 mg 1350 no3 1.0 po4 0.08
How do you post pictures tried doing it and it nevé seems to work.
Thanks

 

[nanomarine]

You can upload picture with the "go advance " and use the paper clip button to choose the file for upload.

Make sure the file size is smaller than the stated limit though. If your picture file is too big, you have to crop or resize it with some pic editing program like paint - not the best but it works for me.

 

[organism]

Hydrogen sulfide in my siporax..

Hydrogen sulfide is in your rocks and sand too, it's a natural byproduct of the denitrification process. They're the bubbles you see between your sandbed and the glass if it's deep enough.

imo just forget the trace elements and do some water changes or run carbon to clean up the water from that rusted impeller. You should be getting enough trace elements from water changes and they're easy to overdo.

 

[Pife]

Post pictures by hosting on a site like photo bucket and the copy and paste the URL link.

 

[brad65ford]

+1 on tiny frags taking forever to get going. Once something has encrusted and is able to put 2-3" on with multiple branches, it should be off to the races. But the little booger sized frags you may get from other hobbyists or boutique vendors will take a year to even sprout a few branch buds and encrust over the plug. That's why I hate buying those because you have to accept that you won't see dividends for a year if all things go well.

You mention you "recently" switched to the ATI lights. How recent is recently? I made the same switch and the growth among my larger/easier SPS colonies like stylophora and montipora was dramatic and shocking. Within one month of changing, Size has increased by roughly 15-20% and PE is phenominal. I expected that. But the 1" acro frags, encrusting, but their size basically guarantees it will be slow going at first. Even if everything is perfect, small frags just grow slow. Keep Alk stable, keep a bit of NO3 and PO4 present in the water. Keep the fish fat. Keep the temp in range and stable. keep the salinity stable and in range. Keep the bulbs fresh. keep the flow high and turbulent. Things will grow. But be realistic in expectations. Take monthly pictures of each frag as well. You'll notice small changes among the first few, and by the time you notice big changes, you'll no longer care to keep up the growth documenting experiment and will be more focused on fragging

this. so true makes myself and others believe we are doing something wrong or incorrect at times but it does take time.

 

[justy]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Havent had my triton results yet, should be any day.
I was talking to an experienced reefer yesterday about the very slow growth. He suggested that raising kh to about 8.0 might make a difference i normally run around 7.0
He commented that my milka stylo and calustraia are growing well and it could be they are taking the lions share of macro elements and leaving just enough for the acros to survive but not enough to flourish and grow.
This does seem at least plausible. As the two aforementioned corals are huge and growing well.

Any body have ant thoughts on this or first hand experience.
Many thanks Justin

 

[justy]

Triton results back.
Quite interesting mg,k,br,b,sr,li,ni,v,zn,mn,i all low plus sulphur is low buy 231ppm indicating a small ionic imbalance.
Going to do a load of Water changes to bring things back into balance.
Just shows that we do not realy know what levels we are maintaining by dosing, at best its an educated guess.
Water changes are still a good method for maintaining balance.