Coral Growth Rates / Estimates

[Tigre9]

Help finding information on Coral Growth Rates, charts or data on more than just one or two types of coral would be appreciated? I have not been able to locate online any good references that would describe lighting requirements for each basic coral and propagation growth times. Thanks, more reading or info would be a great help!

[1DeR9_3Hy]

You can not find any, because non exist.

Too many variables, and not enough ways to accurately record each one. The only way to learn about how fast corals to grow is devote 12 months to a tank with corals Im sorry that there is not a better answer....but really good husbandry, strong lighting and time will make all corals grow.

[Salamander]

Here's a good rule of thumb.

If its cheap, brown and ugly - it grows too fast and can't be killed.

If its expensive and totally frickin awesome - it grows slow and dies for no reason.

[1DeR9_3Hy]

Thats pretty accurate (barring zoas and palys )

[SPSpirate]

each reef tank will vary..and 1DeR3Hy is right way too many variables..you should keep a log for your self and then after a good while graph your results and see what you come up with..try to keep parameters as constant as you possibly can.

[robvdv]

Well, it would be interesting to hear peoples' idea of maximum growth rate for a given species.

[1DeR9_3Hy]

Originally Posted by robvdv

Well, it would be interesting to hear peoples' idea of maximum growth rate for a given species.

I had some pink/red palys that looked great and grew like a weed. I started with 2 polyps and within 2 months i had 9-10 + many babys forming.

Ive also got some "Green Bay Packers" that cover an entire plug, and in the 8 months ive owned them they have not so much as sprouted one more head.

[sabien]

Par rating probably plays a big role here.

[fishguy86]

every coral is different but i have seen alot grow very fast in many different tanks one very fast growing coral is the one called hollywood stunner , i belive it is a chalice ,, it is also pretty with green eyes and doesnt die ,, some of the slower corals seem to be accants and certain chalice corals ,, over all soft corals grow very fast and stoney corals grow slow ,, if you have certain types of corals you are interested in list them and we can help more

[dustinlclarke]

agreed with everyone else no way to get good approx. rates way too many variables just keep a log of where the paramaters are and what kind of flow and par ratings there are and you have made your own but it won't hold true for everyone unless we all replicate your tank perfectly

[Tigre9]

I really am shocked and surprised that there is little information available when there are so many research and preservation groups out there as well as the coral farms, local propagators and large distributors. A data base or spread sheets are not hard to create, but not found?

If the information is unavailable, as everyone has said - then I may just have to start collecting! Variables will always exist in nature and in science however perfect conditions are not needed to show an est growth of any species. (Plant, Animal, or even Physical formations such as a Volcano)

Maybe this is really a challage now for others to submit more information regarding general growth of corals they are familiar with and then other to provide specifics that worked also. *** I dare everyone to be more productive and work toward a goal of having a document we on Reef Central could refer to and update as new information is provided! ***

I hope this can turn into a great resource for anyone interested.

[woofu]

it really depends on how constant your water perameters are and what kind of lighting you use... my friend has some of the same corals as i do and the growth rate seems to be quicker in my tank... and like my local fish store nothing ever grows there.. or fedder tentecles never come out... it would be impossible to make a chart on growth rate imo.. also because i have tons of different chalices that grow at different rates,, as well as all my acropora grow at different rates..

[NirvanaFan]

I had an orange cap that grew like a weed in my tank. I would say it could put on about an inch a month in my tank. I gave a 4"x4" frag to a friend with 2x250 se MH with pc actinics. The coral has barely grown for him in the 7 months or so he has had it. He keeps his parameters more stable than me too.

[ldballoon4]

coral prices vary. Same frag can cost you $50 or $5, depending who you know.

[sedor]

Originally Posted by NirvanaFan

I had an orange cap that grew like a weed in my tank. I would say it could put on about an inch a month in my tank. I gave a 4"x4" frag to a friend with 2x250 se MH with pc actinics. The coral has barely grown for him in the 7 months or so he has had it. He keeps his parameters more stable than me too.

Sometimes it seems that not trying so hard delivers better results doesn't it.

[vbsaltydog]

I think the original poster is suggesting that a database be built where you can report your growth rate for a specific coral as well as your parameters via the web:
(ex.
coral|temp|lights|calcium|ph|...
orange cap|78 degrees|250w MH|450mg/ltr|8.2|...
)

Then others could go there, enter their coral and parameters and see the growth rates for that coral under similar conditions as reported by others to gauge what to expect and or see an average growth rate under those conditions. Perhaps after time enough data could be gathered for the site to recommend corals to the buyer based on their tank specs.

Ex. you go to the site and enter your tank specs and based on the reports of others, get recommendations that orange caps will grow fast but Tubbs Blues will not. That would assist buyers in getting the correct corals for their tank parameters on average.

Another scenario. You want to begin a tank. You go to the site and enter the corals that you would like to keep and based on averages of previous data, the site recommends the tank specs of what is likely to grow the corals you entered.

Databases are used this way all of the time. It would be great but like many things, has requirements not easily attained. A database admin to run it for free unless it is a paid service and equally important ... people to report their growth rates regularly and that is where this idea falls apart.

[Tigre9]

Finally someone noticed!!! I am trying to get information on the growth rates of different species of coral, even if parameters are not the same which is always going to be the case.

Lookin for people to tell about their experiance in the growth of their corals in general. Not eveything starts with exact science. For example an Oak tree will grow at a different rate in different climates, but if you look into how fast an Oak tree will grow, you will be able to find a general answer.

Please look at posting your experiance regarding a corals growth. I will worry about the data being placed into a list (or data base/ excell sheet). No admin needed if I get enough information, which so far everyone is saying it can't be done and the internet does not have available in any way.

It is hard to believe no one wants to look at getting this going!

Let's see what happens............................

[10001110101]

if any of us even knew, we'd let you know.

LPS usually grow pretty slow, relatively speaking.

it all depends on so many factors, and is incredibly variable from month to month even in the same tank.

[10001110101]

Originally Posted by Tigre9

Finally someone noticed!!! I am trying to get information on the growth rates of different species of coral, even if parameters are not the same which is always going to be the case.

Lookin for people to tell about their experiance in the growth of their corals in general. Not eveything starts with exact science. For example an Oak tree will grow at a different rate in different climates, but if you look into how fast an Oak tree will grow, you will be able to find a general answer.

Please look at posting your experiance regarding a corals growth. I will worry about the data being placed into a list (or data base/ excell sheet). No admin needed if I get enough information, which so far everyone is saying it can't be done and the internet does not have available in any way.

It is hard to believe no one wants to look at getting this going!

Let's see what happens............................

there is far less variability in the growth rate of oak trees than their are of corals...

coral growth is mediated by so many more factors, they are much more sensitive to a wider variety of environmental conditions than say an oak tree is.

just even the amount/direction of water flow can dramatically change a coral's growth rate.

lighting position, color spectrum, intensity, type, salinity, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, iodine, strontium, molybdenum, presence of allelopathic chemicals produced by other corals, presence of heavy metals, microfauna, microflora (bacteria, zoo&phytoplankton, copepods, amphipods) what food you feed your FISH with, what kind of fish you have, all effect grwoth.

this is an incredibly short list of variables that all have direct and significant impact on coral growth rates.

then even among the same species/variety, different color morphs will have incredibly different growth rates.

whenvever a hobbyist buys a coral, he cannot in any way really predict how fast it will grow... for example, many have noticed that if you put a chalice coral on a slope it will grow much faster than if it is placed on the top of a rock surface.

this question is really just impossible to answer.

also coral growth is just going to be too difficult for the average hobbyist to measure... marine scientists measure coral growth in reefs primarily by calcium carbonate deposition... which really only applies to stony corals anyways... it would be very difficult for a hobbyist to measure every dimension of his growing corals to accurately measure growth.

and referring to the guy who was talking about that monti cap that exploded in his tank, put it in his friends tank and it pretty much stopped. well this happens too, any time something changes, corals will kind of "stress out" and stop growing, and many changes such as increased lighting or increased feedings can take months to show results, then suddenly you wake up and your corals are growing 10x faster than before.

[Tigre9]

Originally Posted by 10001110101

there is far less variability in the growth rate of oak trees than their are of corals...

coral growth is mediated by so many more factors, they are much more sensitive to a wider variety of environmental conditions than say an oak tree is.

just even the amount/direction of water flow can dramatically change a coral's growth rate.

lighting position, color spectrum, intensity, type, salinity, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, iodine, strontium, molybdenum, presence of allelopathic chemicals produced by other corals, presence of heavy metals, microfauna, microflora (bacteria, zoo&phytoplankton, copepods, amphipods) what food you feed your FISH with, what kind of fish you have, all effect grwoth.

this is an incredibly short list of variables that all have direct and significant impact on coral growth rates.

then even among the same species/variety, different color morphs will have incredibly different growth rates.

whenvever a hobbyist buys a coral, he cannot in any way really predict how fast it will grow... for example, many have noticed that if you put a chalice coral on a slope it will grow much faster than if it is placed on the top of a rock surface.

this question is really just impossible to answer.

also coral growth is just going to be too difficult for the average hobbyist to measure... marine scientists measure coral growth in reefs primarily by calcium carbonate deposition... which really only applies to stony corals anyways... it would be very difficult for a hobbyist to measure every dimension of his growing corals to accurately measure growth.

and referring to the guy who was talking about that monti cap that exploded in his tank, put it in his friends tank and it pretty much stopped. well this happens too, any time something changes, corals will kind of "stress out" and stop growing, and many changes such as increased lighting or increased feedings can take months to show results, then suddenly you wake up and your corals are growing 10x faster than before.

I believe that if you look into forestry, that most if not all of the variables you listed above affect how an Oak tree grows or dies. Don't forget that this is a small world we live in.

The challenge is still out for more information regarding growth. Not just replies that say it can't be done!



Thanks for your viewpoint, always appreciated.

[justgettinstarted]

I would not say that this cant be done, or that results could not be collected and compiled, but i dont think they could be used as a projection of what should be expected!

In my SPS experience it was totally tank dependent. My friend who was as anal as I am gave me frags and they would explode in my tank under nearly identical water parameters and overall flow parameters. However I would have 2 frags, one placed in a 30g cube, and one in my 100g main and they would grow at different rates even though they shared the same water and overall flow... but the microclimate of each was obviously different. Our main systems were nearly identical but still we would see drastic growth rate differences.

I think there are either too many variables or that there is such a non linear dependence on so many things that its just not realistic to be able to do something like this.

[tuumi]

I think it's an interesting idea. Don't say it can't be done. Any one of us can measure the parameters of the tank and then measure growth.
I think anyone interested in the topic is smart enough to understand the variability involved. Posting it can't be done over and over again isn't really helpful.
I know I would be interested in seeing the results other people get in their tanks.

[vbsaltydog]

The problem with this is not the potential for results as much as lack of subject involvement.

You can tell by the general attitude of the responses that the populace does not want to do this even though it is a valid effort and the results would be appreciated by many hobbyists.

Harvesting the data, regardless of whether that data can shows conclusive results or not, is the problem. Solve the data collection problem FIRST and then bicker over how accurate the results are.

The size of the data sample must be more than just a few people for a proper scientific experiment so why don't you start simple and select ONE popular coral to test, get a large data sample of say 500 people, get their AVERAGE growth rate over a 6 month period to weed out the month to month variations in growth, get their environmental variable data and then crunch those numbers to see if the average reported growth rate for that coral over a 6 month period can be validated by the populace and if so, THEN expand your effort to include more corals and publish the results.

[Tigre9]

Well, this was an attempt to get some data from as many people as possible. However so far no one is giving anything that can be measured. If people would just state what they do know with regard to size or timeframes (variables understood) then an average could be obtained in the end results.

I believe that nothing is impossible, however people sometime make it more difficult to reach a goal by not providing and instead adding the negative to a possible solution. The solution to data collection is to have some data first, weather it is valid, invalid, accurate, inaccuarte, or just partial.

I will keep asking for what people have learned while keeping fish,coral,and inverts. Somewhere along the process there will be a relatively simple collection of data that can be documented. "For every problem, there is a solution", "For every question, there are many more questions".

[TiTAN]

I think it would be a great project to start documenting growth rates.

I would suggest we start simple.

Coral ID:
Coral Size:
Lighting:
Water Flow:
Water Parameters:

Pictures to document the Growth Sequence.

This will not get exact results because all systems are different but you will see a overall picture.

PM me if you want to take it further.