Coral growing

[swalke2]

I am not sure what info to provide, but ill tell you what is going on and if I leave something out please ask.

So I have a 40 breeder set up with a hob filter, deltec skimmer, 6 bulb nova extreme t5 stock bulbs ( 3 actinic,3 10k) unit is 3.5 months old and bought new.
I do water changes at very least every other week and change filters in hob about every three weeks, filter floss every two.

So here is what the deal is. I hear and see people talk about how their coral is growing like weeds, but mine does not. The color is great but growth is slooooow. I have duncans, orange oxides, lotr, what was sold to me as tubs blue, ( never seen the blue), whamins, some electric gsp, and some others. I also have a birdnest and pocalipora that do grow.

Take the orange oxide for instance. I bought them in Nov, 5 heads. I think I only have 7 heads now. I should have more right?

I have feed coral freenze and elementals 1x a week, along with fish food.

I have also tried the majority of these corals in different spots of the tank, to no avail. I am also under the assumption that a 6 bulb t5 would be plenty for anything mostly anywhere in the tank.

Will zoas and palys just grow slower until there are more heads or its bigger?

So I guess after all my ramblings, I am trying to figure why my zoas and others wont grow.

Please ask if you need more info, I am open for advice and suggestions. If anyone is close to Dunwoody come one by and tell me where im messing up

Thanks
Steve

 

[wbrown]

nothing in a reef goes fast except bad stuff.
If you are not having losses, consider that a WIN!
Growth is not going to be quite as fast as weeds in the lawn, but it sounds like you are having some if you are gaining heads.

 

[cbj25]

^ yup and to add to that coral grows exponentionaly in most case

 

[swalke2]

Okay thanks. Everything appears healthy and happy. Guess I am just jumping the gun and expecting to get up one morning and have coral growing out of my tank and on to the floor

 

[thanh386]

Everyoen growth is different, some are more fortunate with faster growth. it can also depend on the coral.

 

[jimknutson]

In my experience, my zoas and palys that are in more flow grow faster. Some will POP 3 heads in one day then nothing for 2 to 3 weeks. Stabiity is key. Check parameters weekly. Different colors grow faster too. My watermelons grow 2 to 3 polyps a week no matter what but my hornets get 1 to 2 every other week. As far as sps, the larger the colony the faster the growth. This is all my experience as others are probably different.

 

[raz0945]

One of the things I have noticed is my older tank does better with zoas, in my newer tank the color is not as good and has slower growth. I'm calling it new tank syndrome! The acro's are the same way, when I moved them into a different older tank, same lights, they color up in a few weeks. :confused2: