A beginner talking about beginner corals and how fast they grow!

MoshJosh

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Just wanted to share my experience with my “beginner” corals and how fast they can grow! People aren’t kidding when they say growing like weeds!

keep in mind that all the times I provide are just guesstimates, as I don’t know exactly when I added all these corals.

also, I’m NOT Posting trying to brag or anything, all these corals are known to be beginner friendly and are known to grow super fast! I’m not an expert keeper, as stated in the title I’m just a beginner. I have certainly made mistakes and had failures, and I assume I will continue to do so. Just wanted to show my beginner progress with my beginner corals, might be helpful for other beginners looking at these corals

My pulsing Xenia started as a single “stalk” about 3 1/2 months ago, now it’s 4 plus stalks with an additional 3 “baby” stalks that sprouted elsewhere in the tank:

3 1/2 months ago
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Today
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Anthelia is about 3 months old and taking over the rock it’s on, you can see it crusting over the shell it started on and onto the rock

day one
D49EACA7-55B4-43EC-A49D-39B705F7E380.jpeg


today
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montipora added about 3 months ago, broke it while gluing it. It’s regrown where it broke and is getting big:

3 months ago
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today
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If you look close you can see where it started/the algae from the store and the new growth
image.jpg


last my pavona, added about the same time as the monti, about 3 months ago, it’s starting to crust on the rock. . . Despite being move a few time, and being fragged once

No good pics of when I added it, but here’s a pic of it in crusting and the frag
image.jpg


the frag
image.jpg
 
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mdb_talon

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Looking great. Even easy corals can be tough at first so u doing some things right for sure.

On a related not though this is why I am not a fan of some of these being marketed as "beginner corals". Xenia and anthelia are great if that is what a person wants in their tank, but often stores sell them as cheap easy corals without pointing out that they can quickly become a nuisance and a battle for that beginner to prevent them from taking over the entire tank. Something like a monti cap also can grow very fast but is much easier to control through trimming if desired.
 

MaxTremors

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I’ve had GSP in my current tank for nearly a year and a half. In the first few months it fully covered the rock that it was on and then seemingly stopped growing. It actually didn’t though, it started sort of umbrella-ing out and then about a month ago it finally connected with the back wall, and in that month it’s grown about a 3”x3” mat on the back wall. A lot of the time you don’t notice growth day to day, but then you look at photos from months ago, and it’s crazy how quickly some corals grow.
 

Rick's Reviews

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I had to scroll through months of photos which reminded me of the more challenging times, my GSP is one of my first corals added in sep, growing over my island nicely, my rhodactis (I think) was just one head but now looks like a tree with 5... Maybe more, candy cane approx 1 month and firework clove about 2 months (was 10 heads) I count 14 -16 now soo glad it's on an island
 

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MoshJosh

MoshJosh

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What do you dose?
I dose kalk, though, just broke my ATO on the EVO so that’s on pause. I dose Chaeto Grow, “Zooplankton” by Seachem, and microbacter w/ water changes. Feed phyto and oyster feast plus “reef snow” most days. But still needing to dial everything in, on the bare bottom tank especially. . . Just had a nutrient spike and did some big water changes. . . Probably cause that tank actually has fish (probably over stocked)
 

dannyd_

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The progress is great! Tank looks very nice. What is the clam/mussel/thing in your tank? I have seen them before in tanks thought they looked very interesting.
 
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MoshJosh

MoshJosh

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The progress is great! Tank looks very nice. What is the clam/mussel/thing in your tank? I have seen them before in tanks thought they looked very interesting.
You’re probably talking about the flames scallop, it is pretty cool, but unfortunately I didn’t read a lot of about them before I purchased it/her. they are exclusively filter feeders and most sources say the at home aquarium cannot provide them enough food for them to thrive.

I trade off broadcast feeding and spot feeding a number of small liquid foods in attempt to keep her happy, but again sources say it’s probably not enough. Anyway, if you’re interested I recommend doing lots of research first. Also, technique not a scallop, but that’s what they’re called.
 

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