fast coral growth
 

What do you guys do to boost coral growth and color?

Are those supplements such as Red Sea Color, Fauna Marin, and etc actually works?

3 things are needed. Good water, good light and good flow. That is it!!!

Sounds easy right. I do feed my coral and soak the food in vitachem. Not sure how much it really does but it makes me feel better.

mostly stability:

consistent alkalinity, calcium. magnesium..

low nitrate and phosphate.

good lighting

supplements work... but not for everyone. some people run their tank ultra low nutrient. So they need supplements to bring out coral color. If you have high nitrate/phosphate and consistent with water change, chances are those supplements won't do much.

I've used Red Sea ABCD. ok results. nothing impressive.

Switching to "Korallen-Zucht Pohl's Xtra Special". Heard many good things about it. I keep my system nutrient very low so I dose some supplements.

Agree 100%

I'm sorry I forgot the 4th thing. You must have patience grasshopper!!

I think ReefBum's video on "SLIGHTLY DIRTY WATER" is spot on. You want to have detectable levels of nitrate and phosphate. If you always have (0) nitrate and phosphate that's a bad thing and your corals wont grow or color up as well as those in a "slightly dirty tank."

All those things mean different to different people and tanks.

What's good water? Alk at 8 or at 10? Ca at 380 or 480?

What's good light? Radions or MH or T5 or Kessils or Chinese black box?

What's good flow? 6' tank with 6 hydors or 4' with 2 MP40s running mixed programs or 8' running closed loop with a oceans motions 4 port head?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Then they should figure out what works for them and go with that. But if your water chemistry fluctuates too much and you aren't using 0tds rodi water then your water is no good. The light depends on the coral you want to keep so do some research. Good flow doesn't mean buying a nice power head. It means that you have enough water movement to keep you corals thriving.

Really there's no secret to good growth and color. As others have said, "good" water chemistry, lighting, and flow as well as stable conditions for all of the above. Now, what "good" means varies from coral to coral. Sometimes the trick is to simply do routine water changes and don't mess with anything else. Take pictures of your coral every month or so, that way you can monitor growth. Like watching paint dry or water boil, it'll never happen if you're watching it. What fast growth means also varies greatly from one coral to the next. Even 2 different colors of zoa may grow 10 times faster than the other with identical conditions.

IMO, water chemistry most affects coral growth. Lighting most affects color. Flow most affects growth patterns. Of course it's not that cut and dry, but those seem to be the biggest factors IME. Each parameter affects color and growth. Just get them in a good range and stop tinkering. I don't know of any coral that likes changing parameters. It's almost like every time you tweek lighting, chemistry, or flow all growth stops until they re-acclimate.

This just recently made me open my eyes a bit..

I've ran a ZEOvit system for the past year and I've loved it. I've had great success with my Acropora and a nice clean tank. However, recently downgrading to a fresh reboot with ZEOvit, I'm having slight trouble. Partially my fault.

After running my stones for too long before switching, my nitrates reach 8PPM. Before I realized they were so high, I was impressed with how much growth and color I was getting. Thinking wow the ZEOvit is taking its opposite path. Instead of pastel colors, I'm getting deep vibrant colors with the usual impressive polyp extension.

This was great until my alk was getting used up so quickly. Tested after my corals looked iffy and it read 5.4dKH. I over dosed on accident, setting my BRS 1.1ml doser for 2 minutes too long, which tested at 9.8. Along with my newly cycled Zeolite stones, it stripped my nitrates a tad too fast.

Now my corals look just OKAY, with my most vibrant a bit pale and iffy looking.

Point is, I've run an ULNS with awesome success. I'm quickly realizing however that having nitrates is really where it's at!!!