trouble getting growth

mason90

Non-member
hey everyone im having trouble getting growth out of my coral. it seems like everything is sustaining fine but nothing seems to be growing except my torch and my hammer on the sand bed... zoas, monti's, sps, especially acans dont really seem to want to grow at all. I don't know if my parameters are off or im not adding something that is necessary. I would like to spot feed sps and acans but not really sure what to use here are my parameters...

mg= 1250
cal= 420
kh= 9 dkh
phosphates=0
nitrates= 0
salinity= 1.026

please help really want to see some growth

thanks mason
 
im hearing some awesome reviews on feeding coral reef chili. great growth and polyp extension. I should be getting some in tomorrow and will try it out. hopefully someone will help u out tho.. good luck
 
What are you using for lighting? I tried EVERYTHING to get my coral to grow, and nothing. I build an LED light back in April, and now I am in the process of upgrading to a 120, because everything is growing like weeds. I am not saying its your light, but you would be surprised. I had a brand-name light with 2 150 MH, and PC and nothing really grew except for my LPS.


GoodLuck


I just read your sig, how many do you have, and are you checking with a PAR meter. I was talking to someone with them and they told me if they didn't have a PAR meter they wouldn't get any growth. If you are interested PM me, and I will send you his name, maybe he can help you.
 
thanks iv been looking into trying some food... forgot to mention im running AI sol blues that I have had for 6 mo slowly I have moved them up to 50% blue 45% white previous lights where 250w halides and 4 t5s if that helps...
 
I have 2 over my 90 set up the long way 12" over the water I get good light coverage, like no shadowing at all. I am actually really worried about burning coral with them what you think?
 
Sps will not really take off until the base has encrusted.If the coral move at all and are not stuck down good they also don't grow very good.
I wouldn't feed Sps but acans I think need some kind of food.I have used Reef Chili and you have to be very careful how much you feed.
It will definitely lead to a cyano bloom if too much is used.Night time is the best time to spot feed.
 
Hey Mason
Ive had to move around some acans to make them happy, they were fading and not opening, but once I found a spot they liked they puffed out and color came back. And these were acans that came from AA's frag tank that's running the sol's. I just put some sps in so i'll keep a eye on them. My monti is getting real good growth and the duncans(bought as single head frags) and acans are spouting new heads. Here are my water #'s
.026
8.1 ph
79.4 temp
10 alk
450 cal
1400 mag
I feed the fish w/ brine and then I shut the return pump and feed the tank.
 
Thanks for the input so far appreciate it is there any trace elements that I might be missing I feel like there like starving
 
Not much will grow as fast as euphyllia. They are almost like weeds of the LPS world, so, you may be comparing growth to the wrong corals. SPS should grow fast, but 2 AI Sols is nothing for SPS, especially at just 50% power, unless they are directly in the hotspot. The AIs, for shallow water SPS are only really good if spaced 18" apart and still on more than 50% output. On the other hand, if you had 3 SOLs, which is really ideal for a 90g, then you may have too much light for some LPS and they may not grow as well, unless you are careful about placement (i.e. putting a chalice in the hotspot of a SOL at shallow depth may melt it LOL). That's one reason why mixing corals is tough, they come from very different environments and are accustomed to different light intensities and spectrum. Some of this can be overcome by providing extra light and acclimating the corals to it; usually corals can adapt to more light than they can use, but if they get less light than they can use, they won't grow well.

I agree, you may want to borrow the clubs PAR meter and test PAR levels. It can vary quite a bit, but generally speaking, most SPS shallow water SPS will probably do best with around 300 PAR. Deeper water SPS more like 100-150. LPS can vary quite a bit, acans, chalices and others that like lower light LPS, probably do well 50-150. Euphellia probably 100-300. Clams 600+. These are kind of generalized ranges, ideally you would match the PAR for a given coral to the corals photosaturation point. This can sometimes be found in the published data. Alternatively sometimes hobbyists can tell you what they have had luck with although more anecdotal. Again though, usually erring slightly on the side of too much, will give better growth as long as your careful about acclimation. Also, going substantially over the photo-saturation point becomes stressful. So, balance is always good.
 
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