When should I expect SPS growth?

[Uncle Luke]

I just recently set up a 50g starphire cube with 2 things in mind:

1. Higer end equipment
2. Stabilty, stabilty, stability

Here's my equip list

SE 250 mh Reeflux 10k
Icecap 250 ballast
Lumenmax 2 reflector
BubbleMagus dosing pump
2 part BRS
BRS mag
AC III (keeps temp rock solid between 79-81)
Fans
1/10 chiller
ATO
Euro Reef skimmer
40lbs live rock
Vortech MP20
Two Tunze Nanostreams's 6025
Elos CA, DKH, MAG test kit
Deltec salt for water changes
Rowaphos on a TLF reactor (offline as of now).


Now my question is... the tank is cycled and params are rock stable at 450 cal, 9 DKH, 1350 Mag 0 nitrate, 0 phos with a few SPS frags that I introduced 2 weeks post cycle. I get excellent PE.

How soon should I expect growth?

TIA

 

[Allmost]

the temp swing is prety high, try to lower it.
I get best result when swing is in order of 0.5 degrees or lower. right now 79.8-80.1

do you have any fish in there ? how are you exporting PO4 and no3 ?

any Fuge ? what is your PH ?

I'm not sure what PE is.

 

[Uncle Luke]

the temp swing is prety high, try to lower it.
I get best result when swing is in order of 0.5 degrees or lower. right now 79.8-80.1

do you have any fish in there ? yes, a sixline wrasse.
how are you exporting PO4 and no3 ? Will be putting Rowaphos online in a TLF reactor shortly. Waterchanges

any Fuge ? No

what is your PH ? 8.2

I'm not sure what PE is. Polyp extension

 

[elijaher]

Your temp swing is ok some sps tank has swing higher then that and doing great.

 

[ryanjiang]

Just be patient, as long as your frag has good PE and no bleaching, don't worry. It will take awhile for the frags to settle down with the new environment, for SPS once it is determined to take off you will notice the growth almost very day, some of them really grow like weeds.

I am about 6 month into seriously SPS keeping, some of my early frags started to take off and doubled/tripled their size. Check out my udpate here.

BTW I don't believe the temp swing thing, in their nature environment, it is common to have 5 to 10 degree swing. It is summer now I turned off the heater, with my MH light, I get easily 6 to 8 degree swing in 24 hours cycle. My SPS seems don't mind at all.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Your temp swing is ok some sps tank has swing higher then that and doing great.

I agree, I have had a 4* swing for years and have been getting great growth.

IMO, temp swings (( within the high/low tolerance )) are a good thing. Will be helpful when a temp spike occurs.

 

[ryanjiang]

I agree, I have had a 4* swing for years and have been getting great growth.

IMO, temp swings (( within the high/low tolerance )) are a good thing. Will be helpful when a temp spike occurs.

Exactly, if you keep the temp too tight and have a short power outage in summer or winter, corals might have very hard time to take temp swing.

 

[Uncle Luke]

Great advice! So let's say a month or 2 I should start seeing some growth?

 

[Toddrtrex]

Exactly, if you keep the temp too tight and have a short power outage in summer or winter, corals might have very hard time to take temp swing.

And that is why I feel I didn't lose anything when my temp went up to around 89* when I accidentally pulled my temp probe out the water (( it was a cool evening and I had the windows open, so the probe told my heater to stay on ))

Great advice! So let's say a month or 2 I should start seeing some growth?

Sounds about right, but also depends on the coral, and how it is "laid". I have found that if it is a "stick" frag and you place it horizontally will get greater growth -- at least at first.

 

[madkeenreefer]

I find that frags show rapid growth around the 3.5-4week range in my tank (but not every frag lol)

 

[ryanjiang]

Wow Todd, you let me learned another lesson without going through it personally. That's how I love RC. I will discount the chiller from controller, if any of them go nuts for whatever reason, I have thing to hedge each other.

Luke, from my limited peronal expericence, some are very fast and start to encrust the plug in term of days, some are sensitive and take up to two months, it also depends on the source of the frag, how close in terms of lighing and water parameter between your and the owner's tank. I also had very few never made it in my tank.

If it take too long, change the placement of the frag. Maybe too much or too less light and/or flow.

 

[seminolecpa]

One thing to keep in mind is that form my experience growth rate can be a little slower overall in a newer tank. Especially if the startup period was short before adding livestock. Every tank needs time to season itself.

Lots also depends on the coral itself. Some are just good/fast growers while some will be slow no matter how perfect things are in your tank.

AFA temp swings a 4 degree swing IMHO is no big deal I go from low to mid 75's-roughly low 79's consistantly without problems and have for many years.

 

[Allmost]

well then no fish poop, so means less bacteria which in turns means less food for the corals right ?

I like having a active eco-system, personal preference though

I didnt know that about temp swings ! last I heard, temp of the oceans close to the indian oceans werwe raised 3 degrees and that caused all SPS in that region to bleach., so .... lol

I really dont see the point of putting your corals through stress daily, and not sure what you guys mean by corals getting used to temp swings lol
yes, I'm just sad cuase I spent alot of time getting my temp swing so low hahah jks , I need the consistency for my seahorses.

 

[spsfragger]

my temp has been swinging about 5-7 degrees everyday for about 2 years now and all my sps are growing rapidly i think ora birds of paradise from frag to about 2 softball size small colonies.

 

[Allmost]

ever thoght ure colors and growth would be better with shorter temp swing ?
many ppl say I do this and that and no Issues, but u wont knw for sure till you try other way as well, no ?

 

[Toddrtrex]

ever thoght ure colors and growth would be better with shorter temp swing ?
many ppl say I do this and that and no Issues, but u wont knw for sure till you try other way as well, no ?

Not sure I would want better growth...

10 months later -- and had knocked off a lot of tips cleaning the glass.

 

[DT's_Reef]

Todd....nice pics, zomg!!! I'm moving about 450 miles away in a couple months or so, and will have to dismantle my tank. I'm totally thinking of doing a 50% mille tank. Mille's are my favorite corals.

Back to the topic....


In my experience, growth will be quick when:

1. The nutrient cycle has reached balance and isn't accumulating to the corals' detriment (e.g., phosphate, nuisance algae, dinoflagellates)

2. The corals have excellent water flow and supply of nutrients

I think lighting is rarely the problem, as most high output systems will do just fine after a coral is adapted to bright light.

Feeding can be confusing, because so many people will say just feed your fish and the fish poop will feed your corals, but it doesn't always work. I have 2 medium/small fish and 4 small, and feeding them more doesn't seem to be enough for my corals, so I add Coral Frenzy a few times a week, and it did wonders for growth and polyp extension. So for me, that seems to be the answer.

And keep up regular water changes. I don't think they're needed every week for most, but 5%-10% every couple weeks should be fine. And if you have a shallow sand bed, vacuum a portion every water change. Your sand will stay sparkling clean, as long as everything else is going well.

Bottom line....keep nutrients low, but keep corals nicely fed so they'll grow and suck up more nutrients.

 

[seminolecpa]

July 09

Mar 10

[/quote]


I would say I am ok on the color and growth dept.

 

[ryanjiang]

Todd and Eric, Fantastic growth and color!

I love millis as well! So many colors available, and love it fuzzy looking.

IMO even your tank is matured and everything is perfect like SPS heaven, new frag still need time to settle in, from a tank to another is a huge change for corals. Some corals are fast adapter, some are super sensitive and take long time.

 

[Allmost]

nice growth

I withdraw my comment lol