why won't my coral grow?????

[willandmelsreef]

I have a 90 gallon mixed reef tank, I can not figure out why half of the coral in my tank show no growth and the other half does. On the SPS side I have an orange montipora thats doubled its size since I've got it and a green plate monti that hasn't grown at all. I have a birds nest thats growing very well and a green slimmer that hasn't grown at all.On the LPS side I have a frogsspawn and torch thats growing like crazy and acans and candy canes thats not growing at all. I have a lot more in my tank then just these coral, I'm just using the as examples. I dose every day with seachem 2 part.

Calcium 450
temp 78
ph 8.2
nitrates 5
nitrites 0
phosphates 0
ammonia 0
salinty 1.025
alk (ran out of test 3 weeks ago but before then within range, can't remember the exact #)

A month ago I swicthed fron 2 250w reeflux 20k MH bulbs to 2 10k 250w ICECAP MH bulbs, to see if that would help, but I haven't seen any additional growth most coral have been in the tank for 6 months can anyone help?

[mike_cmu04]

Alk is one of the most important things for sps growth you have to test that to know if that is the problem. If that is good your magnesium could be too low which will also cause the sps to not grow.

[thegrun]

If you are maintaining a 450 calcium level, your magnesium is most likely okay, but it should be checked.

[RonMidtownStomp]

Ca/Alk/Mag/Phosphate are the most important parameters and the only ones you likely need to be testing in a stable reef. They also vary significantly in the ease of testing. Getting an accurate Mag reading is nearly impossible in my experience, however, with 2-part you're likely not dosing any mag at all.

What is your water change schedule? I'd be very surprised if you switched to 20 gallons/week if you didn't see a transition to the results you are looking for within as little as 3-4 weeks. You could jump start that with 20 gallons every other day for a week. This relies on you using a high quality salt, which I would expect you are doing. If that works, then I'd add a CaRx as soon as you're comfortable. It could also be due to a reduction in phosphate as high phosphate can also stunt SPS growth.

A green slimer should grow very fast in a stable system with lots of light and good water parameters.

[willandmelsreef]

Ca/Alk/Mag/Phosphate are the most important parameters and the only ones you likely need to be testing in a stable reef. They also vary significantly in the ease of testing. Getting an accurate Mag reading is nearly impossible in my experience, however, with 2-part you're likely not dosing any mag at all.

What is your water change schedule? I'd be very surprised if you switched to 20 gallons/week if you didn't see a transition to the results you are looking for within as little as 3-4 weeks. You could jump start that with 20 gallons every other day for a week. This relies on you using a high quality salt, which I would expect you are doing. If that works, then I'd add a CaRx as soon as you're comfortable. It could also be due to a reduction in phosphate as high phosphate can also stunt SPS growth.

A green slimer should grow very fast in a stable system with lots of light and good water parameters.
I do 20% water change every month. Maybe I'll try a weekly water change. Originally I was using Seachem reef salt, this last time I picked up Instant ocean. I'm going to switch back to the Seachem's reef salt.

That's what is so confusing. My birdsnest is growing which is suppose to be harder to keep then my green slimmer which is not growing at all.:sad2:

[jeff@zina.com]

Are you doing any feeding? Have you tried moving a coral further up in the tank to see if it changes growth rate?

Jeff

[willandmelsreef]

Are you doing any feeding? Have you tried moving a coral further up in the tank to see if it changes growth rate?

Jeff

I do feed with DT's premium reef blend 2x a week and I have all my SPS at the top of the tank, my LPS is at mid to lower in tank.

[davelinks]

if youre changing water once a month you might want to change that up. i used to do once a month changes, my coral was alive and well but not flourishing. i saw a night and day difference in growth with weekly changes. do less water more often

[DustinB]

I do 20% water change every month. Maybe I'll try a weekly water change. Originally I was using Seachem reef salt, this last time I picked up Instant ocean. I'm going to switch back to the Seachem's reef salt.

That's what is so confusing. My birdsnest is growing which is suppose to be harder to keep then my green slimmer which is not growing at all.:sad2:

Blah, I haven't done a water change in 6 months and everything I have is exploding with growth. The thing I have noticed with most SPS is they need stability more than anything. Either don't do them or do them every month like clockwork, keep your schedule.

Make sure your phosphates are undetectable and that your cal/alk/mag levels are proper and stable. Usually when I get a new frag it doesn't take off for a couple months, other than encrusting quickly. Leave the light alone too, every time you change something the coral has to readjust.

Do you move them around at all? My fastest growers are the ones I haven't touched at all. All that said, I have some that just won't do anything really for a few months, then one day take off like a rocket. BTW, my bali green slimer is very slow too. I bet it hasn't gained a 1/2" since I got it 9 months ago, and a lot of people claim it's the fastest sps they have.

Best I can suggest it make sure everything is right, keep it right, and don't change anything. Once they get happy they will take off. I have this turquoise lovelli frag, just a 1" stick, that stayed like that for 6 months. One day it just started sprouting a bunch of stems from the base. Now there's about 8 stems all 3" or so from about 2-3 months of growth, the original stem is still about 1".

[chimmike]

Coral growth, well, especially for SPS, can be slow. If they're not RTN'ing or bleaching, it may just be a matter of water changes or feeding different things. What's your light cycle? flow?

[willandmelsreef]

Coral growth, well, especially for SPS, can be slow. If they're not RTN'ing or bleaching, it may just be a matter of water changes or feeding different things. What's your light cycle? flow?

I run my lights from 2pm to 11pm and I run 2 evo 750 powerheads and a 700gph return pump. All SPS are in high flow and LPS are in mid flow

[jeff@zina.com]

The thing that gets me is that one montipora is growing fine, the other not at all. I'd understand if softies grew and hard corals didn't, or vice versa, but it doesn't make sense for the reason to be system-wide for two almost identical animals to behave differently. I still come back to positioning and a difference in flow, light or feeding.

Jeff

[chimmike]

seems to me like you might need more flow actually, in a 90. I ran a vortech mp40w in a 75g and it could have probably used more flow.

[willandmelsreef]

The thing that gets me is that one montipora is growing fine, the other not at all. I'd understand if softies grew and hard corals didn't, or vice versa, but it doesn't make sense for the reason to be system-wide for two almost identical animals to behave differently. I still come back to positioning and a difference in flow, light or feeding.

Jeff

Thats my big ??? My orange cap monti is growing like crazy, but my green slimmer has no growth. The slimmer is actually sitting higher in the tank then the orange cap. I'm gonna pick up a new alk test kit and maybe add some more flow to the tank and give it a couple months and see what happens.

[Jstdv8]

FWIW, i recently switched to reef crystals from the standard instant ocean and all of a sudden alot of my corals that weren't growing before are taking off like crazy and I'm only 3 10% water changes into the new salt.

[willandmelsreef]

FWIW, i recently switched to reef crystals from the standard instant ocean and all of a sudden alot of my corals that weren't growing before are taking off like crazy and I'm only 3 10% water changes into the new salt.

Maybe I'll try switching back to seachem reef salt, from the regular instant ocean I've been using for the last few months.

[lloydkeller]

it took mine a year to get started now it wont stop it dose take time I thought I would never see it

[Fishguy15]

Have you or can you check for PAR readings at both the corals that are growing and the ones that are not. It could be the PAR changed for the better at the orange monti and for the worst at the green monti.

[Sk8r]

Could be lighting. Could also be the phosphate content in the phyto. SPS doesn't like a lot of nutrient in the water. And it really hates phosphate.

[ejcatmul]

I love to use phyto, seems to work well.

[willandmelsreef]

Could be lighting. Could also be the phosphate content in the phyto. SPS doesn't like a lot of nutrient in the water. And it really hates phosphate.phosphates are fine