Slow to no coral growth??

[bkostuch]

Okay so the impatient part of me is now showing as I have added a few frags and larger pieces. Not sure what I should be expecting when it comes to coral growth but here goes. Tank has been up and running with corals for about 3 months but cant seem to get good growth, or what i think is good growth.

I have the following corals:

3 Zoa frags - Smallest has about 8 heads, largest has about 20
1 GSP rock - about 1/2 dollar size
1 larger Frogspawn - about 12 heads
1 small Torch - started to split but seems to have closed up no matter where I place it.
1 Large PomPom Xenia colony.

Parameters are:

PH 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Salinity - 1.024
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Mag - 1300
Calcium - 420
Alk - 10.2

I haven't tested for anything else but have been doing 10% water changes weekly.

Thoughts?

 

[reeferj]

We've all been there. Try and not look at or mess with your tank for about 10 days. The eleventh day, you'll prob notice some changes. Slow and steady

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[bcavalli]

Brent stay on the course. Stability is the key, if you keep everything in check like you have been, you will see increased demand and everything will take off.

 

[bkostuch]

Yeah , the tough part is that my tank is in my office at home and I'm in there for most of the day. Oh and Brett, what's your intensity of your lights? I have a 4hr 60/50 time during the day rest is ramp up/down time.


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[cment]

your water may be too clean for those corals since they tend to like water that's a littler dirtier. Try feeding some more but obviously keep an eye on your po4 and no3. It's always a fine balance and once you find the sweet spot they'll take off.

 

[camellia]

On your Zoas, count how many on a frag. In a week, see if it's grown a new one.
Do you have them placed where they appear happy? Zoas can take a lot of flow.
Are you feeding anything?
What is your lighting, how many hours and flow?

 

[bkostuch]

Zoas are getting good flow, I have 2 rw8's and they are wide open most of the time.

Running a reefbreeders 48, running a 10 hr cycle with 4hrs at 60%


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[bcavalli]

bkostuch;1046211 wrote: Yeah , the tough part is that my tank is in my office at home and I'm in there for most of the day. Oh and Brett, what's your intensity of your lights? I have a 4hr 60/50 time during the day rest is ramp up/down time.


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I have my reefbreeders set with blues @ 90% and white @ 35%. I use the calculator for the ramping % off their site.

 

[zachary2220]

Turn off your skimmer...if you're doing 10% water changes weekly you don't really need it unless you are overfeeding. Once my tank started to get dirtier the corals liked it more

 

[bkostuch]

Any issues with adding more bio load to the system? I have been spacing my fish additions out so I don't spike my parameters. Continue adding fish or let the tank dirty up, or both


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[crew]

Hey Brent - I wouldn't turn off your skimmer - I've seen plenty of people claim success with this route, but it almost always ends in disaster down the road. There is a reason we all run protein skimmers.

It may seem like certain coral likes "dirty" water, but I think people get carried away with what "dirty" water really is. In probably 99.9% of aquariums, the water is plenty dirty enough for good coral growth. Do you have any algae growing in the tank? If you do, there is a good chance that your nitrates aren't actually 0 - which would mean you have plenty of nutrients for your coral to munch on. My hunch is that your coral is growing and you simply haven't noticed because you look at the tank every day. Take a few photos of your corals and then come back in 2 weeks and compare the photos to what you have in the tank. Coral growth is a lot like weight loss. You aren't going to notice anything because you look every day and the slight changes obscure what you remember seeing weeks ago.

In my personal experience, 2-3 months wouldn't be long enough to say that coral isn't growing. Sure, zoanthids can be fast, but I've also seen very healthy colonies with very slow growth. Like Camellia said, count the polyps that you can see - I bet you are getting growth and just haven't noticed.

With the Frogspawn and Torch, growth can be very slow - a camera is probably the best way to go.

With the GSP, I find that it takes a while for the GSP to establish itself in the tank. Once it does, then it will start expanding and you will be asking us how to slow it down

Stick with water stability and just enjoy the tank

 

[bkostuch]

Thanks crew! Yeah I figured since I watch it daily, on purpose and not, I'm not seeing it


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[bcavalli]

Crew;1046286 wrote: Hey Brent - I wouldn't turn off your skimmer - I've seen plenty of people claim success with this route, but it almost always ends in disaster down the road. There is a reason we all run protein skimmers.

It may seem like certain coral likes "dirty" water, but I think people get carried away with what "dirty" water really is. In probably 99.9% of aquariums, the water is plenty dirty enough for good coral growth. Do you have any algae growing in the tank? If you do, there is a good chance that your nitrates aren't actually 0 - which would mean you have plenty of nutrients for your coral to munch on. My hunch is that your coral is growing and you simply haven't noticed because you look at the tank every day. Take a few photos of your corals and then come back in 2 weeks and compare the photos to what you have in the tank. Coral growth is a lot like weight loss. You aren't going to notice anything because you look every day and the slight changes obscure what you remember seeing weeks ago.

In my personal experience, 2-3 months wouldn't be long enough to say that coral isn't growing. Sure, zoanthids can be fast, but I've also seen very healthy colonies with very slow growth. Like Camellia said, count the polyps that you can see - I bet you are getting growth and just haven't noticed.

With the Frogspawn and Torch, growth can be very slow - a camera is probably the best way to go.

With the GSP, I find that it takes a while for the GSP to establish itself in the tank. Once it does, then it will start expanding and you will be asking us how to slow it down

Stick with water stability and just enjoy the tank

+1 great advice!

 

[bkostuch]

I have algae growth on powerheads and on the glass only. Nothing that is going crazy. I clean the glass (the film on it), no coralline algae yet though.

I have also read something about my nitrates being 0 and the high Alk possibly causing issues, any thoughts on that?

 

[snowmansnow]

Dude, have patience!!!!
6 months isn't too long for things to START to settle.

Reefing is a patient man's game. Make slow changes one at a time until you get the right environment.

B

 

[bkostuch]

my lovely API kit :confused2:. I have checked with LFS and they run the Red Sea and its 0 for them also. Personally I don't believe it, I have a hanna test kit for NO3 and PO4 coming from amazon.

 

[bkostuch]

SnowManSnow;1046299 wrote: Dude, have patience!!!!
6 months isn't too long for things to START to settle.

Reefing is a patient man's game. Make slow changes one at a time until you get the right environment.

B

Hey at least I posted I wasn't patient I think the placement of my tank is killing me. As I type it now I am peaking over watching it. D$#n work from home!!! well not really.

 

[bkostuch]

Okay so weird thing today, noticed a diatom bloom and ammonia bumped up. Wtf


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[camellia]

Are you missing anything large? Fish, turbo snail...
How high is it? Do a WC if needed for live stock.

 

[bkostuch]

Okay, so to add more mud to the water (not literally) , I just got my Hanna PO4 kit... tested and i am sitting @ 0.59 phosphates.... ugh this is probably hindering any growth correct? And on to the next question, how to lower it and keep it down.

Thanks.