Stability and SPS: How long?

[Arkayology]

I know we talk about stability as being key to successfully growing SPS. I wonder what everyone has experience as far as how long it takes to get SPS to grow and be happy once you have reached "stabile conditions". How long it takes most definitely varies from tank to tank and coral to coral, but I thought it might be interesting to see how long it has taken your corals to grow and color up once you have reached the sweet spot.

As for me? I am still trying to find out what the sweet spot is... :lmao:

 

[Allmost]

I dont think the question is presented correctly.

stability = keeping KH, CA++, MG++, feeding, skimmer, water changes and ... Stable.

when YOU [the reefer] keep those stable, system is stable, corals grow and color up, when you get lazy and skip tests, then system will become unstable. corals will loose growth and color ...

if you are asking .... how long it takes corals to start growing[recover], after unstabilities have been removed ? then that depends on the original health of the corals, usually 2weeks to 2 months.

 

[rovster]

You need to define grow and color up. How much growth and from what? 1/2" frag to a basketball, or 2" frag to a grapefruit? In my experience, it takes a few weeks to notice any growth or basing out. May take a couple of months before depending on the coral before you start to see vertical growth. Color can take months to develop, mine have been coloring up for ever it seems, and they are still not there, LOL! Curious to hear some responses here......

 

[animalkingdom]

after a shift out of the norm in parameters I can normally expect about a 3 week set back in growth. usually the shift is cause by forgetting to refill two part reservoirs and the like. sometimes its failure to realize growth has increased and adjust dosers accordingly. to combat the latter issue I now dose a little higher than I need and rely on weekly to bi weekly water changes with instant ocean to bring the parameters back down if they have crept up any.

 

[sirreal63]

This may help Matt, or maybe it won't.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21375899

IMO stability as you are suggesting has to do with chemistry and biological diversity. Stability in chemistry is easy, we can do that from day one, but biological diversity takes longer and reflects more the health of the entire system and not just the environment needed for SPS health. You can certainly fill a container today and add SPS tomorrow and have them grow, import food, export leftovers with large water changes, GFO, carbon and carbon dosing and keep it up indefinitely. People have done that for a long time but it should not imply a "stable" system. A little rocking of the boat can lead to a crash, that isn't a stable system, just a nursery.

The thread linked above gives some clues, biology is important and should not be overlooked. The time factor isn't set in stone, it can vary based on the setup.

 

[Arkayology]

To clarify, I am asking people to comment on their experiences on how long it takes for corals to become adjusted to tanks that have stable params. Additionally, if you have a sudden change in params, how long does it take to rebound? Since I asked for info on how long it takes for "good" growth and color to return, I will leave it up to you to determine what that means (I think this means different things to different people). I'm not trying to split hairs or anything here with terminology, I was just curious as to what others have experienced.

I dont think the question is presented correctly.

stability = keeping KH, CA++, MG++, feeding, skimmer, water changes and ... Stable.

when YOU [the reefer] keep those stable, system is stable, corals grow and color up, when you get lazy and skip tests, then system will become unstable. corals will loose growth and color ...

if you are asking .... how long it takes corals to start growing[recover], after unstabilities have been removed ? then that depends on the original health of the corals, usually 2weeks to 2 months.

Well, thank you for clarifying that for me. I wanted to see what experiences were with recovery once your params have been stable

You need to define grow and color up. How much growth and from what? 1/2" frag to a basketball, or 2" frag to a grapefruit? In my experience, it takes a few weeks to notice any growth or basing out. May take a couple of months before depending on the coral before you start to see vertical growth. Color can take months to develop, mine have been coloring up for ever it seems, and they are still not there, LOL! Curious to hear some responses here......

Well, since many sps grow at different rates, I would just say any noticeable growth over time. Color, well, aren't we all chasing better color no matter what? hah

after a shift out of the norm in parameters I can normally expect about a 3 week set back in growth. usually the shift is cause by forgetting to refill two part reservoirs and the like. sometimes its failure to realize growth has increased and adjust dosers accordingly. to combat the latter issue I now dose a little higher than I need and rely on weekly to bi weekly water changes with instant ocean to bring the parameters back down if they have crept up any.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Arkayology]

This may help Matt, or maybe it won't.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21375899

IMO stability as you are suggesting has to do with chemistry and biological diversity. Stability in chemistry is easy, we can do that from day one, but biological diversity takes longer and reflects more the health of the entire system and not just the environment needed for SPS health. You can certainly fill a container today and add SPS tomorrow and have them grow, import food, export leftovers with large water changes, GFO, carbon and carbon dosing and keep it up indefinitely. People have done that for a long time but it should not imply a "stable" system. A little rocking of the boat can lead to a crash, that isn't a stable system, just a nursery.

The thread linked above gives some clues, biology is important and should not be overlooked. The time factor isn't set in stone, it can vary based on the setup.

Thanks for the thread link. I will give it a look over. I have been keeping SPS for about 4 or 5 years now and am constantly learning new things.

 

[sirreal63]

To clarify, I am asking people to comment on their experiences on how long it takes for corals to become adjusted to tanks that have stable params. Additionally, if you have a sudden change in params, how long does it take to rebound? Since I asked for info on how long it takes for "good" growth and color to return, I will leave it up to you to determine what that means (I think this means different things to different people). I'm not trying to split hairs or anything here with terminology, I was just curious as to what others have experienced.

This is more of a moving target, at least for me. Frags from friends do well usually from the minute they are put in the tank, corals from other places, especially Maricultured ones can take months to become what they will. I have had some Mari's change colors several times and finally become adapted after many months. I have one that went from green to brown to brown with purple and finally purple with a green tint. All during this it didn't grow much. I have rarely had any frag from a friend change much and most continued to grow in my tank as it did in theirs.

 

[Bpb]

Without getting as technical as some of the previous posts....
For me, when I add an acro (or any sps really) to my tank it normally takes about one month before it starts really growing. Just takes time to adjust to a new environment. To date, I've only received sps frags from people who run calcium reactors and led lighting. I run t5 only and kalkwasser. Fairly different environment. Let alone the biological difference. To date though the only corals I've lost shortly after acquiring are zoas. Never any sps.

 

[Chrisjbarry]

My experience is after a week after doing a 20% water change I will see new growth. I only do water changes every 6 months or so. Once I see growth slowing thats when I do a water change. I dose alk cal on drews Dosers setup with apex. Then dose mag as needed each week. Test 2-3 times a week all parameters. Clean skimmer once a week and filter sock every other day. Feed pellets 2 times a day with auto feeder, as well as a small cube of home made mixed foods and sheet of algae. In my food I added amino acids as well as garlic. I agree that some new additions can take a month or more before seeing up word growth. But after a week you should start seeing it spread on the rock.

 

[ssscuz]

In my tanks it has depended on which parameter or parameters have gone out of stability. An increase in phosphate can take a month or two to regain colour. An alk spike can wipe out a few corals and take months to recover others.
I recently had a two week period where I didn't touch my dosing pump and found my calcium had dropped from 420 to 340. The tank has taken a hit and it's taken two weeks for the corals to look good again. I must have had growth tho as my dosing has tripled