Coral not growing much (1 Viewer)

[andrew7b]

I need some help. I don't understand why my son coral is not growing. The polyps is not coming out. Nothing is bleach nor dying. We have SPS,LPS and softie. I do a 25% water change monthly. His tank is about 9month old. Fish gets fed everyday and coral once a wk. It's a 185gal. I have check my water w/ salifert.

Tank 185gal
Silfigoi 2-250de w/ 4 T5
Sump 50gal w/ live rock and chaeto
Skimmer Euroreef
Cal rect.
Carbon & Phos. rect.
Cal. 460-470
Sal. 1.025
Ph 7.8-8.0
Nitrate 0
Phos. 0
Alk 9.5-10
Temp. 81-83

 

[2dawghouse]

What kind of corals and what do you consider not very much? Also your cal is alittle high, I would shoot for 420 range.

What is your waterflow within the tank like, gph?

What are the K lamps, brand, and lighting period you are using on the tank?

How long has the corals been in the tank?

It sounds like you/your son has a nice tank.

 

[thenewone]

well the sps particularly grow slower on less mature tanks

 

[andrew7b]

Coral are several monti cap, green slimer, tri color, ORA purple valida, green pocilla,green chalice,orange acan,frogspawn,hammer,blasto and other SPS unname. I have the corals in Jan 09.

Light are on @ 3-11pm
Pheonix 14k
2 Vortech mp40w
Return pump mag 9.5

 

[chriskb3]

Sounds like a very nice set up, and looks like the parameters are good enough (though a tiny bit high on the cal/alk). Have you checked your magnesium? You also mentioned a lack of polyp extension, what's the livestock list? Any possible polyp nippers like angels?

 

[tas5tas]

I'm having the same problem with my tank. Mine is too clean and becoming nitrogen deficient. I have started to dose amino acids daily for my SPS and since doing so the growth has really taken off. I wouldn't trust the phosphate kit either. Mine reads 0ppm all the time with an Elos kit and I had my water tested by AWT and my phosphates were at .78ppm. I found the source of my phosphates yesterday though with the help of Chris Brightwell. I tested all of the foods that I feed by letting the each soak by themselves in a cup of RO/DI water for 30 minutes and then testing. The Formula One Flake that I started using about 1 month ago tested at 5.0ppm. Let's just say that stuff went straight in the garbage. I had wondered why my growth had slowed since coming back from vacation and now I know. $35 isn't much to pay to send your water off and have it tested by the pros. Here is a link.....

http://aquariumwatertesting.com/

 

[andrew7b]

I just can't get the ca down. I was told to keep the alk between 9-12. He have yellow,blue,purple tang, six line wrasse, and flame angel. I never seen the angel nipping at any coral.

 

[chriskb3]

You are right about the Alk, I dont know what I was thinking..

Have you checked to see if you have any polyp extension at night, a couple hours after the lights go out? It just takes one little nip when no one is watching, to send those polyps into hiding for the rest of the day.

What brand of salt are you using?

 

[andrew7b]

I do watch it after light goes out. I see little extension on the dig. and slimer. I don't see it in other SPS.

 

[hank]

There are a lot of interesting theorys here. I don't think anyone has too clean of water though. Just try doing a bigger water change, for fun.

NSW alk is generally 7dKH, Ca 420; too too high can cause big problems so I suggest those targets. Don't dose anything else.

Your temperature is way too high for most sps. They will generally prefer mid-70s, so figure out how to get that down and I'll bet you see some interesting results.

To have high alk and lower pH means you have some gas exchange issues. If you have glass tops, they need to be changed for light diffuser or somthing else. Otherwise there needs to be more surface agitation.

Most LPS grows slowly. Maybe your sps frags are small and the relative size makes the difference and you'll see growth eventually?

HTH,
Hank

 

[andrew7b]

I'm using Oceanic salt and show it high in Ca. I have a Ca reactor going but it tune down to the lower setting. I will get a new thermometer to see if the temp. is correct. Ph showing 8.0. I don't not have a glass top.

 

[chriskb3]

Ok, I think I have my head screwed back on right...

Hank is right (as usual ), though I have heard that running higher alk should promote faster growth, but anything above 10 dkh is really pushing it, and you may start to see some burning on the tips of the sps.

If you are already running high in Ca with the salt, you could try shutting down the Ca reactor, or dialing it down a lot lower. You should see a bump in your Ph, and give the coral some time to suck up that extra calcium.

The temps are a little high, but not enough to stop all growth, IMO. My tank runs around 82 right now, my growth isnt spectacular, but my sps are growing. There is no doubt, however, that cooler would be better.

 

[Guest]

Perhaps I read this incorrectly, but is the coral you are having problems with a sun coral, or it's your son's coral.

If it's a sun coral, they can be finicky. I know many folks that keep them target feed them.

If I misunderstood, please just disgregard.

 

[andrew7b]

No, it's my son's coral not sun coral.

 

[flipside]

What's your Mg reading, Andrew?

 

[andrew7b]

Leo,
That's one test kit I need to buy as I ran out.

 

[FISHSTICK]

What brand test kit are you using?

 

[andrew7b]

I'm using Salifert.

 

[RR-MAN]

NSW alk is generally 7dKH, Ca 420; too too high can cause big problems so I suggest those targets. Don't dose anything else.

Hank, could you explain the above comment in more details? My understanding was that higher Alk actually encourages growth in SPS. I keep my Alk in 9-10dKH range and PH averages 8.3 and never had any issues with growth.

Thanks.

 

[xmjxflipx]

yea NSW alk is generally around 7...........everyone is different and has different tanks..........I have kept my alkalinity at around 9-10 and calcium around 450 with no problems.........in growth with a normal reef tank.......and yes RR it can help encourage growth with corals and will help to stabilize any ph swings a tank might have, but this is for some tanks. People that try to do the ULNS, ultra low nutrient system have trouble with their corals, mainly alkalinity burn at alkalinity higher than a 9. The cause of how this happens is really not understood but that is the only way why i would suggest only using NSW parameters if you are doing ULNS. Otherwise the general range of your alkalinity being 9-10 and calcium being 420-450 is fine.


Yea andrews calcium is a "little" high but thats fine, his sps and lps will use it up. But hey these are my opinions and information of what ive read throughout the years doing some research on my saltwater tank before i went full in on a reef tank.