Coral not growing… light?

clownaround4giggles · May 11, 2024

Hi ! I’ve got a fluval evo 13.5 with the obvious mods and such, been running for 4 months and my Corals don’t seem to be growing much except for gsp (because they are like the rabbits of the coral world) parameters are normal and i Do dose and test The calc, alk, phos, etc. I do however only have the stock light and im Wondering if that could be a reason why they aren’t growing much/ have decreased in vibrancy. Should I get a new light? Thank you!

James M · May 11, 2024

That light is on the weaker side but you shouldn’t have an issue growing softies. Your water may be too clean for GSP

JNalley · May 11, 2024

What other types of coral do you have besides GSP?

clownaround4giggles · May 11, 2024

JNalley said:
What other types of coral do you have besides GSP?

Frogspawn, lobo, torch, zoas (which also don’t grow), leather, blasto, etc

clownaround4giggles · May 11, 2024

James M said:
That light is on the weaker side but you shouldn’t have an issue growing softies. Your water may be too clean for GSP

No, the gsp is the ONLY one that grows

JNalley · May 11, 2024

A lot of those are slow-ish growers, including some species of Zoa... But if they're also losing vibrancy, it could be light or nutrient related... The stock light with the Evo should be good for most of those, but there's really no telling without a proper PAR map of your tank... I don't know that I would jump directly to lighting in this instance... But if you're looking for a light for that tank, maybe an AI Prime, but I would run it at the 30% at the absolute most to start... You'll definitely want to rent a PAR meter if you buy a new light, cause most lights are made for a much larger footprint and deeper tank...

Spare time · May 11, 2024

You need to test nitrate, phosphate, alkalinity, salinity, and calcium. Avoid API tests in general.

JNalley · May 11, 2024

As a comparison, I got both of these at the same time (about a year ago give or take), they both started as 4 heads on a plug, the front colony has 12-15 heads right now, the one in back has nearly 100. I didn't see any growth on the front colony for like 6-8 months while the one in the rear had two new heads in the first week...

clownaround4giggles · May 11, 2024

Spare time said:
You need to test nitrate, phosphate, alkalinity, salinity, and calcium. Avoid API tests in general.

I do

clownaround4giggles · May 11, 2024

JNalley said:
A lot of those are slow-ish growers, including some species of Zoa... But if they're also losing vibrancy, it could be light or nutrient related... The stock light with the Evo should be good for most of those, but there's really no telling without a proper PAR map of your tank... I don't know that I would jump directly to lighting in this instance... But if you're looking for a light for that tank, maybe an AI Prime, but I would run it at the 30% at the absolute most to start... You'll definitely want to rent a PAR meter if you buy a new light, cause most lights are made for a much larger footprint and deeper tank...

I’ve ruled out nutrients because I feed them once weekly and dose whenever something goes low that shouldn’t be. Also my zoas like some nitrates so I don’t totally eliminate them. I had a previous tank with a Nicrew 50 and the Colors were very vibrant, but that tank crashed due to improper filtration.